I purposefully read this before Horse Whisperer (which I saved till last), to get a sense of progression. Having now read all of his books, except the one that was out of character, I'd say this was my favourite.

Very strong character development, how they dealt with (or even more interesting, failed to deal with) the curve balls life threw at them.

So in a sense reading his best first, defeated the whole aim of saving Horse Whisperer. However 4 out of 5 amazing books all in all, one of the highest hit ratios among my favourite authors.

Almost identical to a photo in Nick Evans, Smokejumper Published today in NY Times

https://www.librarything.com/pic/10297176

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El alce surgió de entre los árboles en llamas y se detuvo en la cresta de la montaña. Tenía el pelaje ennegrecido y las cornamentas ardiendo como una antorcha. Se quedó allí inmóvil, mirándole, y él se sintió como un pagano ante una antigua deidad o demonio de otro mundo. Levantó lentamente su cámara y tomó una fotografía. De pronto el animal desapareció, como si nunca hubiera estado allí. Connor sabía que era un augurio pero desconocía aún qué presagiaba.

Highly recommended.

FROM AMAZON: The fire that was to change so many lives so utterly started with a single shaft of lightning. It struck a mountain ridge on a still and moonless night and nestled like a pupa of death in the desiccated heart of an ancient pine. There were witnesses no doubt to this sudden splintering of air and wood, but none that was human. The woman, camped nearby with her group of troubled teenagers, slept on and heard nothing.

She has brought them here by court order on a youth program to help them find themselves. But one among them will be lost forever. For soon the cocoon of fire will hatch to engulf the entire mountain and exact its deadly toll. And into this inferno will come ... The Smoke Jumper.

His name is Connor Ford and he falls like an angel of mercy from the sky, braving the flames to save the woman he loves but knows he cannot have. For Julia Bishop is the partner of his closest friend, Ed Tully, an ambitious young musician. Julia loves them both but the tragedy on Snake Mountain forces her to choose between them and burns a brand on all their hearts.

With his blond, blue-eyed looks and laconic cowboy charm, Connor is the only child of a Montana rancher and a rodeo queen. Until that fateful day, he has been happy to spend his winters nurturing a career as a photographer and his summer vacations with Ed, “smoke jumping” — being dropped by parachute to fight remote forest fires.

In the wake of the fire, he embarks on a journey to the dark heart of human suffering, traveling the world’s worst wars and disasters to take photographs that find him fame but never happiness. Reckless of a life he no longer wants, again and again he dares death to take him, until another fateful day on another continent, he must walk through fire once more.... ( )

Mixed response. The first section was interesting, because I learned about firefighting and each of the main characters had work they were passionate about. The romantic triangle was obvious, however. The second section was more staid, full of guilt and noble responsibility. The third section, mainly in Africa, was stretching plausibility quite a bit as the characters go through adventure to realize what has true value in their lives, and reunite. I did briefly enjoy the interchange of Connor with the Bantu guide, as it brought back memories of Laurens Van der Post's novels of the bushmen (and which may have been the inspiration for Evans here).
Running the Rift gave a more gut-level knowledge of an intertribal genocidal war in Africa.
Nothing in the book to motivate me to give it shelf space, but I'm not sorry I read it. ( )

OK... Ammetto che, in parte questa è una storia d'amore e, dato che io proprio non le sopporto avrei dovuto "dare fuoco" al libro non appena mi è finito tra le mani.
Invece, però, mi sono convinta a leggerlo e ho scoperto che ha veramente poco delle storie d'amore che conosciamo tutto e che, dietro alle apparenze si nasconde qualcosa di veramente prezioso.
Ho letto questo libro un'infinità di volte (va beh, non proprio un'infinità ma saranno state almeno cinque o sei...!) e sento nuovamente il bisogno di prenderlo fra le mani e immergermi nuovamente nel mondo di Nicholas Evans, a volte, forse, un po' troppo dolce ma pieno di entusiasmo e di colpi di scena indimenticabili... ;) ( )