Hi, everyone!
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for TRIAL BY FIRE: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost and A 15-Year Search for Truth by Scott James.
This is a nonfiction book about a horrific fire by an author who did exhaustive research for the truth which reads as smoothly as a work of fiction. I could not put it down!
Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links.
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Book Description
In only 90 seconds, a fire in the Station nightclub killed 100 people and injured hundreds more. It would take nearly 20 years to find out why—and who was really at fault.
All it took for a hundred people to die during a show by the hair metal band Great White was a sudden burst from two giant sparklers that ignited the acoustical foam lining the Station nightclub. But who was at fault? And who would pay? This being Rhode Island, the two questions wouldn’t necessarily have the same answer.
Within 24 hours the governor of Rhode Island and the local police commissioner were calling for criminal charges, although the investigation had barely begun, no real evidence had been gathered, and many of the victims hadn’t been identified. Though many parties could be held responsible, fingers pointed quickly at the two brothers who owned the club. But were they really to blame? Bestselling author and three-time Emmy Award-winning reporter Scott James investigates all the central figures, including the band’s manager and lead singer, the fire inspector, the maker of the acoustical foam, as well as the brothers. Drawing on firsthand accounts, interviews with many involved, and court documents, James explores the rush to judgment about what happened that left the victims and their families, whose stories he also tells, desperate for justice.
Trial By Fire is the heart-wrenching story of the fire’s aftermath because while the fire, one of America’s deadliest, lasted fewer than two minutes, the search for the truth would take twenty years.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53074800-trial-by-fire
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
TRIAL BY FIRE: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost and a 15-Year Search for Truth by Scott James is a new nonfiction book about the horrific fire at The Station nightclub in 2003. The author uses exhaustive research and intersperses personal accounts into a work of nonfiction that reads as easily as a work of fiction. I could not put it down!
It was supposed to be a night of fun and partying watching the hair metal band Great White perform at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island. After local warm-up bands, the lights go out and suddenly the band’s road manager sets off four large pyrotechnics which catch the foam on the back wall on fire. The foam is on all of the walls and ceiling and is as effective as gasoline at spreading the fire and within seconds the inside is filled with a black fog of smoke and the entire building is engulfed in flames.
The author takes the reader through the entire tragedy and introduces the reader through family and friends accounts to some of the individuals who died that day, some of the survivor’s stories and the families of both. Then the story follows the investigations into who is responsible, while continuing to intersperse victim’s stories. The author points out the mistakes made and reported and the series of events and decisions that led to unintended consequences and the terrible number of deaths.
I was completely engrossed in this story. (I remember the terrible story when it was on the national news, but like all other news stories, unless you were personally affected it fades from your life.) Mr. James takes the reader to the very beginning and through his research and the passage of time which separates actual facts from the hype and rush to judgement immediately after an event like this, he writes a narrative that illuminates the cascade of errors made and continues to follow survivor’s stories. I believe the author does an excellent job of illuminating the truth about the good and bad of all the major players involved in this tragedy.
I highly recommend this book!
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Author Bio
A New England native, Scott James first came to prominence for exposing government waste and malfeasance by creating the long-running investigative series “You Paid for It” at WLNE-TV in Rhode Island. His work in television news received three Emmy awards and numerous journalism honors, including the prestigious Associated Press News Station of the Year, twice. He’s a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Since 2009 Scott’s reporting has appeared in The New York Times. His eponymous weekly column about the San Francisco Bay Area ran from 2009 to 2012, and his stories received national and international coverage from other media, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, “The Colbert Report,” and “Chelsea Lately.”
In the world of fiction, writing under the pen name Kemble Scott, he’s the author of two San Francisco Chronicle bestselling novels, The Sower and SoMa, which was a finalist for the national Lambda Literary prize for debut fiction and the #1 bestseller in the Doubleday Book Club’s InSightOut division.
Scott lives in San Francisco. He’s a member of the board of directors of Litquake, the city’s literary festival, and co-founder of the Castro Writers’ Cooperative, a co-working community for writers.
Social Media Links
Website: http://www.scottjameswriter.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kemblescott
Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/kemblescott
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20273590.Scott_James
