Downloaded this because I’m a sucker for a Scott Brick-narrated action thriller. This lived up to my expectations — some cringey “men being men” dialogue, some fun surprises, a lot of shooting stuff, with a side of wildfires. Thoroughly enjoyable and made me want to listen to more books by Hood!

Being an ex-con is hard. Trying to become an elite smoke jumper is harder. Story moves quickly with likeable characters and a major deception in the end.

This is my first book by Joshua Hood though I doubt it will be my last. Burn Out has a unique premise as an ex-con turned forest fire fighter (a "smoke jumper") named Jake Slade is tasked with finding a missing DEA confidential informant against a major drug cartel operating in the California woodlands. The book starts with Jake preparing for a smoke jump. Of course, there's the prerequisite Biff Tannen type supervising him who thinks Jake is nothing but a criminal, and Jake's own struggle to be accepted. Jake soon proves himself a hero in the blaze after going against orders, and then a DEA agent finds him and tells him Jake's old friend, the DEA's CI, is missing, launching into a search to find him before the cartel does. There is plenty of action, although at times Jake seems more like Wolverine than "just a guy", and a few predictable plot twists with one less predictable twist near the end. I feel like I've learned about smoke jumpers simply by reading this book (without needing to use Google) and although in the early chapters I wasn't fully hooked, once the DEA recruits Jake I became compelled to keep reading to the conclusion. Scott Brick as always does a fine job narrating, with each character sounding distinct. Thank you to Joshua Hood, Blackstone, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, first of all, I read this as an audiobook and the narrator is incredible. I recognized his voice immediately, although I’m still not sure where I know it from. Probably other books.
Burn Out is one of the most action packed books I’ve read in a while. It was a cross between the tv show Fire Country and a Jason Statham movie. You have your bad boy turned good fire fighter and tons of action. I was trying to think what weapon didn’t make an appearance and all I got is slingshot. Everything else was there. The action started and it just kept going. There were times I had trouble keeping track of good vs bad guys but that’s because we had some double agents in there.
Now I’m going to go find some more books by this author.
I did receive this book as a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.

3.5 stars.

Burn Out tell the story of Californian smoke jumpers, a topic I knew nothing about. Essentially fire fighters that parachute into a fire zone and prevent the fire from jumping containment lines. Add in a drug cartel, corrupt officials, workplace bullying and men with chips on their shoulders. This was definitely outside of my usual reading box but I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish.
The narrator did a great job of differentiating between the different characters, including some with accents. Recommend the audiobook version.

Military fiction with some thrilling moments, but I confess that discovering the real drama of the who, why, and how was more interesting for me than the moments that may have qualified as "thrilling".

I couldn't get invested in any of the characters as none pulled me in, or like I was feeling emotionally tied to them. Instead, I felt like I was witnessing and listening to a varied pool of testosterone vying for lead position in the storyline. However, I did find a few touching moments with Slade, as a father who cares about his daughter and in a scene or two, I don't want to give up lest it becomes a spoiler.

One thing I would have preferred in the story is the elimination of so much gratuitous profanity. Not a fan of the f*bomb. I get when an author wants to punctuate anger, emotion, and stress, but to swear for the sake of swearing, I feel is unnecessary and plain annoying. It doesn't work for me, nor would I be inclined to share the book with a teen or older one.

Burn Out - I didn't love it, didn't hate it. Frankly not my cup of tea where the thriller genre is concerned. I finished listening to it for the sake of seeing how it played out in the end, which also to me was not a surprise. Scott Brick did a respectable job of narrating.

2.5 Stars rounded down.

Thanks to NetGalley, Joshua Hood, and Blackstone Publishing Audiobooks for an AAC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Burn out by Joshua Hood.
Provided by NetGalley
Narrated by Scott Brick

I wanted an action novel and that’s what I got. However, regardless of genre, I do like each character to have their own voice. Names aside, apart from Buck, all the other characters were generic soldier types. This made it very difficult for me to connect to them; not because they were soldier types, but due to the genericism. In my opinion, this was down to the writing, not the narration. I think the narrator did a fine job.

One reason I don’t often read action novels is not their outrageous events—which can sometimes be fun—but the injuries that the characters sustain in one scene and in the next they’re carrying on like nothing has happened. This novel does suffer this failing, but in the scheme of things it wasn’t too bad.

Another thing was the lack of depth. I suspect it came down to the little things that usually go unnoticed but feed into an overall impression. For example:

"Slade let out a pained groan and rolled into a sitting position, a quick scan of the drop zone showing the rest of the team already on the ground. Now playing catch-up, he got to his feet and, after shoving his harness and chute into his gear bag, limped to the edge. A look down showed a fifty-foot drop with razor-sharp rocks and smoldering tree stumps waiting for him at the bottom."

In this paragraph, he let out a pained groan, but we don’t know why. Then he limps to the edge, so we know his leg, foot, or perhaps his hip is hurt. Nothing more is said about it, but in a paragraph or so, he’s running up a hill. It’s not a big deal, but when it constantly occurs, it undermines the importance of events and keeps everything on a superficial level.

My inability to connect with the characters and a lack of depth was what ultimately dragged the rating right down for me.

This story hits the ground running and doesn't stop. It is action packed from the moment it begins.

In Burn Out, firefighters fighting California wildfires entangled with illegal growing farms and drug cartels. Police informants, firefighters, DEA agents, dirty officials all collide.

As I said, this is action packed. So much so that I kind of found it overwhelming in the beginning. You have a lot of characters and multiple POVs. It was a bit much to detangle. The middle was great. The end was okay.

Scott Brick narrates the audiobook and does a good job.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book. A thriller in which a man is running for his life and reaches out to the one person who might be able to help. The man who might be able to help is Jake who has turned his life around and is now a smokejumper. But Jake gets drawn in anyway. It is a rush to find his friend, Boone, before the bad guys do. But that bad guys look an awful lot like the good guys at points and Jake doesn't know who to trust. Or whether he will make it out alive.

This was a decent thriller. I did not see the final big plot twist coming and it threw me for a big loop. And I love books that can do that to me. Joshua Hood is a good writer and this book will definitely keep you guessing. It's full of action and there are not spots where it drags. If you like thrillers and action books, you'll like this book.

Wow! This is an edge of your seat, action packed, hell of a ride! Burn Out is a testosterone filled action thriller that moves at breakneck speed and holds your attention from beginning to end.

The narration by Scott Brick was perfection! I can’t imagine a better narrator for this book.

I look forward to more books by this, new to me, author. I won’t be mad if Jake Slade becomes a recurring character.

This book was go go go all the way to a killer ending!

This book was so fast paced I could feel myself bouncing from foot to foot!

Jake Slade is a smoke Jumper. He has left behind a life of deliquency to become something more but when an old friend is in trouble, the DEA come a knocking!

This book is loaded with intrigue, drama, betrayal and adrenaline. The storyline was solid and I couldn't find anything I didn't like except it did go into a lot of details during the fires and I didn't need that.

I really enjoyed this book and now I need to get more from this author.

4 stars

Audiobook review - When listening to a book, the narration sets the tone and ambiance of the story. Therefore for a book about forest fires and DEA the narrator you picked hit the nail on the head! The mountain scenery in this intricate tale offers you the opportunity to get absorbed so much so you can smell the pine!
The tale of heroism, betrayal and double bluffs offers you hope followed by desperation leading to a conquering climax - smashing

An interesting premise introducing us to the world of smoke jumpers. In between that world, there is an entire other plot line going on surrounding jumper Jake Slade.

Things begin to unfold little by little. Apparently, Jack has a record due to incidents in his past. As he tries to better himself, he has now joined the smoke jumper ranks. This is apparently a huge feat in itself and he finds himself in the middle of a pretty crazy situation involving a cartel.

I enjoyed the world created by Mr. Hood and the story itself ended up having several twists and turns that I wasn't expecting.

The audio was narrated by Scott Brick - whom I have been a huge fan of for years - so that was a bonus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for the opportunity to listen to and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book will be out for publication on August 13, 2024.

This is my first Joshua Hood book. I wasn’t sure but it’s narrated by Scott Brick so I took the leap. I’m so glad I did!

A man in prison is given the opportunity to expunge his record IF he becomes a SMOKEJUMPER and hunts down a friend turned CI!

You quickly realize & after his 6 weeks of training, this is where Jake Slade wanted to be! His character is developed & he really grew on me! The plot is fast paced as Slade is targeted!

This is a thrilling thriller! Edge of my seat & in one sitting! I adored the ending & hope we see more of Jake Slade! A reluctant hero. I recommend this story if you need a good character & plenty of action!

Thank you NetGalley & Blackstone Publishing, more Slade!

I went into this one completely blind and i will say it took a few chapters to catch my attention but by chapter 3 i was fully invested. Also hearing scott brick made my day because he is in the top 3 of my favorite narrators. This is a fantastic book i really enjoyed it. When i didn’t pay enough attention going back and re reading a chapter kept my interest, a
I have never listened to a book before that was about a fire jumper so the uniqueness was a huge plus. Highly recommend.

Jake Slade is a smokejumper for the US Forest Service. He has went through intense training. He finds himself facing a wildfire connected to unsolved murders. This puts him in the middle of a DEA investigation with a lead investigator (Buck) who has one foot out the door to his retirement and the drug cartel leader wanting to keep the murders under wraps. They’ll both have to survive the chase.

I loved learning more about the smoke jumper role in general and liked how they added the drug cartel plot in.

This is my first book by Joshua Hood and I will definitely be reading more. This book reminded me of the thrill I feel with T. J. Newman.

Even though I listened to audio at 2x speed, I can tell the narrator had an urgency in his voice to add to that action thriller element.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 8/13/24!

Lots of action scenes throughout but listening to the audio version I had a hard time differentiating between the different characters and found myself getting lost as to what was really happening. The narrator did a fair job, but the characters just didn't resonate with me and the storyline felt disjointed.

This is a new author for me, and I’d certainly listen to more. I choose this action thriller which isn’t my usual genre for the narrator Scott Brick, but he wasn’t as great as I’d hoped, still good though and worth the listen.

Jake Slade is a rookie smoke jumper with a criminal past. His friend Boone is an informant for the DEA but has gone missing before the start of the trial. Slade agrees to help find him.
We also get the POV of Keller a Federal agent nearing retirement with a few hiccups in his career to live down . Not everyone looking for Boone wants him to testify, there’s a contracted hitman in the mix to ensure that he doesn’t to protect the Cartel.

I found the back drop of the story with the smoke jumpers fascinating, there’s some great descriptions of a smoke jumpers role, you really get the feel of a raging wild fire with its inherent dangers. It’s an action thriller so there’s much more involved than wilderness fire fighting. There’s certainly plenty of action for ongoing interest, there’s more emphasis on the action than character development but I liked Slade’s transition during the book. There some bits of humour thrown in that had me chuckling at times.

If like me you’re new to the genre of action thrillers it’s an easy one to get into.