Someone is torching the forests in the Northwest. Is it George Drake the owner of the Bridger Railroad against whom a settlement of $40 million has just been awarded? Could it be Dale Callahan whose catering company charges $6/meal for each firefighter. Perhaps Butch Roman whose construction company is called in after each megablaze to reconstruct fire-damaged homes. It might even be Katrina Mason now suffering financial hardship and whose trees have become even more valuable.  

Hunter Lee is the top litigator for a tony New York City firm who has won nearly a billion dollars in claims for his company. The managing partner who is also his mentor sends him to Fort Mason (named after Katrina's great - great grandfather) where he wins an award for $40 million against George Drake's company when the company COO  admits during the trial that Bridger Railroad knew the train tracks needed repair causing four tank cars filled with liquid anhydrous ammonia to derail. Four died and ten were blinded after the gas was released.

After Hunter rests his case, his wife serves him with divorce papers necessitating a quick trip back east for final negotiations after which his brother Strat, who lives in Fort Mason, convinces Hunter to move to Montana and to help him discover who is torching the forests.  

Early on, Hunter and Paul Brule become fast friends when Hunter stares down a grizzly bear earning him the nickname Grizz. Brule, the son of the senior senator from Montana, wants nothing to do with his father's family lumber business due to a mysterious confrontation in their past. Instead, Paul works as a fire jumper parachuting into wilderness fires in order to tame small fires before they become megablazes. Paul's brother Jeremy is running the company. But, much to the dismay of his senator father not very well at all.

  Although a story about forest fires is certainly timely, Hell's Gate has too many characters with too little development, too many subplots, and an ending which is a real downer. Readers would be better served reading the Christian Gillette series.

--Jerry Solot