Fire Lover: A True Story

This is the story of perhaps the most prolific fire-bug in the history of the United States, John Leonard Orr, who is now serving a life sentence without possibility of parole, in the U.S. Penitentiary at Lompoc, California, where in due time he will be transferred to the California State system. The story leads the reader through Orr's life as a reject from LA Law Enforcement, a failed LA Fire Dept. academy starter, to the acceptance by Glendale Fire Dept., a much lower-paid position, where over a period of years he became a Captain/Arson Investigator. As an avocation, the Fire Captain, sworn to protect the public from fires, was starting them by the hundreds, and then grabbing attention by solving "How" they were started. He seemed to have an intuitive grasp of where to find the points of origin, and the incendiary devices. Orr was a copy "wannabe," who tried constantly to impress the police with his acuity and bravery, effecting arrests (although it was not his job). He carried guns in the shower. But he was all a sham. Eventually, Orr was caught, of course, and tried, and convicted. The evidence against him was as damning as in the O.J. Simpson case, but there was no race card to throw in, and no jury nullification factor. He caused the deaths of a least four, and perhaps five people, in one fire at Ole's Dept. store, and he wrote a supposedly fiction book, which reads like a very poorly written diary, and the contents of which were damning and led to his conviction. Orr thought he was smater than anyone else, but his own big mouth and braggadocio was his ulitimate dowlfall. I ordered this book and Orr's own "masterpiece", Points of Origin, after watching a presentation by Court TV. He will not profit from his writing, as it goes to restitution, but even if he did, if the quality of his writing talent has anything to do with it, he'll die penniless. Joseph Wambaugh, on the other hand, is a wonderful craftsman, also from the LA Police Dept., where he was a detective sergeant. In addition to this book, he wrote The Onion Field, The Blooding, and The Choirboys. Joseph (Joe) Pierre, Retired Oregon Dept. of Corrections

as a firefighter and one who specializes in fire investigation, this was a captivating read. Highly recommended.

Until Fire Lover, it had been too long since Wambaugh presented us with a new book. If you liked his other stories, you will like this one, too. All his characteristic features are here: authentic cop dialogue, witty, irreverent and cynical, and detailed character development, even for the villains. As always, Wambaugh brings out human qualities in his villains, fictional or real, and never dwells on their dark side to the exclusion of developing their humanity.

Right after this book arrived in the mail, Court TV ran a show on John Orr's case. I thought I'd seen the cat let out of the bag. I'm glad I read the book. It had much greater detail than the TV show did. I was concerned about Wambaugh the former policeman writing about a fire investigation story but it was excellent! Glad to see he's still writing great stuff.

As a child in Los Angeles, John Orr revered firefighters watching them as if he was sitting in front of a TV set. He relished the way the firefighter risked his or her life in the line of duty. As a young adult, John joined the Glendale, California Fire Department and quickly became one of the best. Over time, he became a fire captain and eventually an arson investigator highly regarded by his peers as one of the foremost experts.John also moonlighted as an arsonist who remained undetectable for years and whose fires killed four people and caused millions of dollars in damage. When he finally made an error and was caught, the entire firefighting community refused to believe that one of their heroes could be a serial arsonist. The hardest thing about this true-life crime biography is that it is true crime caused by someone whose dangerous occupation most people respect even more so after 9/11. So chilling is this account this reviewer keeps wanting to paraphrase an old horror movie ad that it's only a book. However, Joseph Wambaugh brings the fiery duality of his subject vividly alive so that the reader observes a criminal considered by the FBI as "the most prolific American arsonist of the twentieth century". Fans of true crime will want to read this account that never slows down as FIRE LOVER: A TRUE STORY is Mr. Wambaugh at his finest.Harriet Klausner