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First, I have to say that I was very disappointed to see that several reviews here have spoilers for this book! I always come here first to read reviews BEFORE reading a book...if you're doing so, be warned because several reviewers gave most of the story away!

So...on to the book. After reading both of Nicholas Evan's other novels, this one was a bit disappointing. However, I did enjoy it, it was written beautifully, it just didn't move or inspire me like The Loop or The Horse Whisperer.

Without giving too much away, this story is about Ed, Connor and Julia. Ed and Connor are best friends and smoke jumpers in Montana together each summer. One summer Ed brings his new girlfriend Julia along, as she's a counselor for troubled teens in a near-by camp. What ensues is much adventure, as they all have jobs that lean towards the dangerous side. After the summer fades, their lives all take very unpredictable turns, leading them each in their own direction. Will they all stay friends, down these roads life leads them?

What I enjoyed most about this book was that the story was so unpredictable. Evans did a good job of taking us down a path that was amazing as it was surprising. Again, it's not my favorite of his, but he took a chance with something slightly different and did a pretty good job of it.

Nicholas Evans is perhaps the one male author of adult romance novels who best conveys the essence what love between a man and a woman can be like when it reaches an almost mystical level of awareness, interaction, and commitment. In Mr. Evan's newest novel, THE SMOKE JUMPER, he continues the same theme that resonated throughout his first bestseller, THE HORSE WHISPERER, which centers on an extremely passionate and unrelenting love between two people who, for reasons beyond their control, are unable to fulfill this potential for a life-long relationship with each other. Connor Ford is a Montana cowboy who has a passion for two things: photography and smoke jumping. During the summer months of each year in the state of Montana, Connor joins an elite group of fire fighters known as "smoke jumpers." They are the ones who are dropped in by parachute to fight the raging forest fires that pop up throughout the state. When Connor finally meets the new girlfriend, Julia Bishop, of his closet buddy and fellow smoke jumper, Ed Tully, it's love at first sight. Julia, of course, feels the same way about Connor. This is the conflict that they will have to wrestle with throughout the rest of the book because Ed is a great guy whom they both love dearly, and neither one of them wants to hurt him. This becomes more evident when Ed is seriously injured during a rescue attempt to save Julia and a group of teenagers during a forest fire. Julia later marries Ed out of a sense of obligation, and Connor takes his camera and heads overseas to the war-torn countries of Bosnia and Uganda to learn his craft as a photojournalist. After many years have passed, a time comes when Connor learns that the lives of Julia and her young daughter are in grave danger and that he's the only one who can save them. He will don a parachute once again and put his life on the line as he jumps alone into a raging inferno of fire and bullets to save the two people who mean the most to him. THE SMOKE JUMPER is a powerful novel of love, adventure, sacrifice, and heroism in its most pure form. Written from the heart by an author who understands that the process of love is never easy and will often lead its recipient on a quest of historic proportions, this novel is one that will definitely appeal to both men and women, allowing them to catch a glimpse into the nature of what it truly means to love another human being. I especially enoyed the author's poem, "Walk Within You," and its poignant message about the transcendence of love after death. Also, the scene near the end of the novel, when Connor Ford goes to the rescue of Julia and Amy gave me goose bumps and caused a big, silly grin to erupt across my face. I'm a sucker for these kinds of heroic moments in any novel, but more so when love and the heart are involved. I found THE SMOKE JUMPER to be a fantastic reading experience, equal to that of THE HORSE WHISPERER, and my only wish is that Nicholas Evans was more of a prolific writer, publishing a novel every twelve-to-eighteen months, instead of every three years.

This book is by far the best work of a brilliant writer. Evans creates wonderful charactars that are easy to care about, and will keep you turning pages. This is a beautiful story of human emotion, choices, and love. I highly recommend it.