An insider account of the high-risk world of elite wilderness firefighters who parachute into deep-wilderness fire zones reveals the unique skills that smokejumpers must employ to fight dangerous fires and stay alive.

"Brendan McDonough was on the verge of becoming a hopeless, inveterate heroin addict when he, for the sake of his young daughter, decided to turn his life around. He enlisted in the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of elite firefighters based in Prescott, Arizona. Their leader, Eric Marsh, was in a desperate crunch after four hotshots left the unit, and perhaps seeing a glimmer of promise in the skinny would-be recruit, he took a chance on the unlikely...

Irrepressible individualist and iconoclast Pat Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract in May 2002 to enlist in the United States Army. Deeply troubled by 9/11, he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in Afghanistan. Though obvious to most on the scene that a ranger in Tillman's own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered...

Boston PI Spenser faces a hot case and a personal crisis in the latest adventure in the iconic New York Times best-selling series from author Ace Atkins. The fire at a boarded-up Catholic church raged hot and fast, lighting up Boston's South End and killing three firefighters. A year later, as the city prepares to honor their sacrifice, there are still no answers about how the deadly fire started. Boston firefight Jack McGee, who lost his best friend...

Late one afternoon in April, 2012, while Travis and his men were on a routine mission near a remote village in Afghanistan, the unthinkable happened. While patrolling for improvised explosive devices, the minesweeper missed one, and Travis Mills's world changed forever. Thousands of soldiers die every year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third...

Recounts a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, that resulted in the deaths of eighteen Americans and more than five hundred Somalis, examining the rationales behind the disastrous raid.

Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone isn't looking for trouble when it comes knocking at his Copenhagen bookshop. But narrowly surviving a ferocious firefight convinces him to follow his unexpected new ally--an American Secret Service agent--and help him stop the Paris Club, a cabal of multimillionaires bent on manipulating the global economy. Only by matching wits with a terrorist-for-hire, foiling a catastrophic attack, and plunging...

"In October, 1947, after a summer-long drought, fires began near Bar Harbor and raced along the coast of Maine, ravaging two hundred thousand acres--the largest fire in Maine's history. In the southern part of the state, people were forced into the sea to escape the flames. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband Gene joins the volunteers fighting to bring the fire under control. Along with her...

Includes discussion questions. Alex Brady shuts out all relationships when he loses his beloved father in the Twin Towers. Will he have the courage to open his heart to love again?