Mattie McCulloch is the first woman with the U.S. Forest Service to be assigned as Incident Commander of a forest fire -- the Justice Peak Fire in Montana. For her entire career she has battled the ingrained sexual discrimination against a woman in a male-dominated profession. Mattie soon discovers that the supervisors are enjoying perks and better food than the crewmembers, and she ends the preferential treatment immediately, which adds to the animosity some of her co-workers feel -- among them is the one who’s keeping the journal.

Mattie’s nontraditional profession has taken a toll on her family life. Her ex-husband has given her little support in raising their son, but Mattie has persevered and gradually risen in the ranks until she qualified for command. Others in her family have fought forest fires, and her son Jimmy is just beginning his career with the Forest Service at Justice. He is a member of a hotshot team that includes two women, one named Cat. Mattie barely has time to seek him out after arriving at Justice before he and his crew return to the fire.

A famous journalist, Gerry Spencer, is covering the fire. Early in her career, Mattie saved his life when he was caught in another fire. Even though their lives have taken them in very different directions, they are strongly attracted to one another.

The fire takes an unexpected turn killing several members of a crew, among them Cat and Jimmy. Mattie is relieved of her command when investigators arrive. The evidence points to this not being a natural disaster but rather that the fire was deliberately set. Mattie, with Gerry’s help, is determined to discover the source of the fire that killed her son.

Smoke Eaters suffers from a lack of focus. The unnamed journal-keeper comes across more vividly than the heroine (his segments are printed in a different font so are easy to identify), and the myriad of personal problems plaguing Mattie -- particularly her being the rare woman in a macho male-dominated profession -- are introduced but never really explored. Even the romance seems perfunctory -- she feels alienated from her co-workers and Gerry’s convenient --and does little to advance the plot. The reader is privy to Mattie’s thoughts and feelings, but she never really comes alive. Her conduct seems most convincing when she’s trying to handle the job demands created by deaths of several of her firefighters while simultaneously grieving for the loss of her only child.

The plot frequently detours to divulge the life histories of several secondary characters (is it really necessary to know why Ivan got his name?), and the pace and intensity suffer as a result. The book’s most successful aspect is its portrayal of the villain. His malevolent thoughts and goals give the story a compelling atmosphere lacking in the rest of the book. The dust jacket describes Smoke Eaters as a thriller, but with all the stop and go and switching gears, the story often loses momentum and the thrills are usually low-key at best.

The central mystery --who set the fire that killed Cat and the other firefighters --is intriguing. (I confess that I had no idea who was the guilty one.) As long as the book concentrates on the mystery, it’s an involving story. Unfortunately too much other stuff going on that interferes with that thread. Readers who are searching for a mystery with a different setting may be interested in Smoke Eaters. Readers who prefer a taut, focused story may be disappointed.

--Lesley Dunlap