During the time they were dating, Zak continually crossed and annoyed Nadine’s former wealthy boyfriend William Potter III, known as Scooter. Scooter cruised around with his gang of similarly well endowed and aimless friends “stuck in a netherworld between reckless brats and self-satisfied billionaires.”

Apart from flashbacks, Primal Thread truly opens in late August as Zak and his friends, some of whom are firefighters, are planning a cross country biking trip through the Cascades. Because of the drought, the area has been declared off limits to motor vehicles, bikers, hikers, and horseback riders. Notwithstanding the state’s fear of fires and edicts to the contrary, Zak and his firefighting buddies head into the forbidden area. This is my first criticism of the book, as the writer is either deliberately portraying Zak and his friends to be as immature as Scooter and his buddies, or telling the reader it is OK for those who fight the fires, to ignore the safety precautions and standards others are being held to.

If it is the former, the novel is merely a death struggle between two very immature groups of adults which certainly reduces the tension one feels in novels where good is pitted against evil. If it is the latter, then readers may not like the statement being made.

Back to the plot…Nadine inadvertently lets Scooter know that Zak and friends are biking in the Cascades. Scooter and his motorcade contrive a preposterous story and manage to get all of their vehicles through the manned barricade to follow them. They find Zak soon enough and set up their camp just below them on the mountain.

The taunting begins, and as can be expected matters get out of hand very quickly resulting in the first death. As bitterness and hatred escalate, the struggle becomes a matter of survival for all involved.

Emerson is a seasoned writer and author of the eleven books in the Thomas Black series, and some other stand alone novels. It is surprising that one finds as many clichés as are present in a story presented by one with so much publishing experience. Somewhat of a balance is found, however, by the vivid and memorable descriptions of the Cascade Mountains and the terrors of raging fire.

The main characters are developed adequately but the secondary characters are more or less presented by a series of one paragraph per character, creating a disjointed rambling effect that seems difficult to build upon. In many ways Primal Thread is a powerful novel with a lot of potential that falls short.

--Thea Davis