The Flaming Forest by James Oliver Curwood

The Flaming Forest Reviews

• 
  Tweety

  
  
  When David Carrigan of the Canadian Mounted Police is sent on a mission to catch Black Roger Audemard he feels he has picked up an unusually difficult, but enjoyable job. He is to bring his man back, dead or alive. But after a peaceful weeks journey into his trip he is attacked by an unknown enemy and his trip comes to a sudden and jarring end.
  
  Guest or prisoner, he is now in the control of the one who shot at him, a woman. Now, he has another mission, to find out why she shot at him and if she has anything to do with Black Roger. Sometimes, at night in the camp he hears a watery voice crying, "Where's Black Roger ?" And the fading into nothingness.
  
  David feels torn. And the book is focused on what his final decision will be. While he follow the law, bring Black Roger to justice or will he let a pretty woman turn his head, something that's never been done, even by the beautiful lady outlaw he had tried to pin a case down on?
  
  I loved this book, I feel like I've said that a lot lately about the books I've been reading. But seriously, this book was good. It might classify as a dime novel adventure, but it wasn't completely predictable. I did not guess the true villein, the "half-breeds" were not stereotyped and the heroine surprised me. The ending was on-the-edge-of-your-seat good and overall I couldn't rate this lower.
  
  PG Some shooting, boxing (not detailed or blow by blow), banter about boxing and a few kisses.
• 
  Thom Swennes

  Everyone is familiar with the idiom “We always get our man” in reference to the diligence displayed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but does this also apply to the fairer sex? David Carrigan, sergeant in the R.C.M.P., is given the assignment to track down and arrest Black Roger Audemard, a known criminal. His duty is clear and he embarks on it with no doubt of its outcome. That is until he is shot by a beautiful woman and suddenly his priorities blur. James Curwood, with an intimate knowledge of the Canadian wilderness, paints a breathtaking portrait of endless forests. This story was first published in 1921 and as all of the stories I’ve read from that time, love and men’s attitude toward women are both overly chivalrous and naïve. Luckily this tale is more than just a love story and does a great job in keeping the reader wrapped in numerous intrigues. It has the makings for an enjoyable afternoon of reading.
• 
  Hannah

  Read this a long time ago and loved it! Never got around to reviewing it because of not having my copy handy to add (it's actually my mom's book), and someone has actually added it now...if only procrastination worked that well every time!
  
  Tweety has written an excellent summary in her review, so I will just say the book was excellent and recommend that you head on over to find your own copy to read. Very good outdoor story!
• 
  Justin

  This is one of my all-time favorite books. Classic pulp-fiction from the early 1920s, your typical adventurer in the Canadian North walking the fine line between love and justice. I read this book every couple of years. One of Curwood's finest.
• 
  Joelb

  I read this book because we toured Curwood's faux castle writing studio in Owosso, MI. I expected this to be a wilderness story akin to those of Jack London, but found it was nothing of the sort. The wilderness barely figures in the plot at all, except as a backdrop for the interactions of the characters. If I'd recap the plot, it'd take about three paragraphs - and they wouldn't be very long. Most of the book consists of overly flowery language describing how buff the main character is, how invitingly beautiful his love interest is, and how noble the guy is for not going after her because she's married. This novel is surprisingly like a Danielle Steele novel (not that I've read any of those, but I've seen the covers) for guys. It's no wonder that Curwood has slipped into obscurity, while London is still respected. It would be interesting, though, to try to do a reception study of Curwood's audience. Who read these novels? What did they see in them? He was tremendously popular in the 1920s, but why?
• 
  Bookworm

  Outstanding!! Kept me on edge, and racking my brains for the answer to the mystery. I love books with Mounties, and this was perfect-had me dying to travel the same empty Canadian wilderness David did. A two thumbs up!
• 
  Helen

  A fun escape to the north woods.
• 
  Larry Piper

  My grandfather-in-law was a huge fan of James Oliver Curwood. When I'd visit my spouse-to-be at her parents' house in New Hampshire, he'd be sitting in a chair reading Curwood. So, I borrowed a copy or two and got interested as well. After he passed away, I inherited his collection of Curwood novels (most of which my spouse recently gave away to our church's annual "Faire"). But, I'm wondering about this particular one.
  
  When we were first married, my spouse and I used to read to each other, and some of the things we read were Curwood (also The Lord of the Rings). In particular, we read this one, The Flaming Forest. We used to jokingly call it The Flaming Asshole. I thought perhaps we were engaging in a play on words, but now that I'm re-reading this book after several decades, I'm wondering if we renamed the book because the main character was one, a flaming asshole that is.
  
  Anyway, we have David Carrigan, a most noble specimen of the Royal Mounted Police. He's off in his beloved north woods, tracking down the ruthless killer, Black Roger Audemard. For many years, people thought Black Roger was dead, but then he was sighted, and Carrigan has been dispatched to bring him to justice.
  
  But, as the book opens, Carrigan is on a river bank, hiding behind a rock because someone is shooting at him. Eventually, he feels a searing pain in the side of his head and passes out. When he comes to, a most beautiful woman is looking at him with concern written all over her face. Then he passes into and out of consciousness and feels like there are actually two women, one with lustrous black hair and beautiful eyes, and one with flaming, golden hair and blue eyes. He gets dragged up into the trees and is then left.
  
  Eventually, a canoe comes by with the stunning woman with the black hair and beautiful eyes and a massive, half breed with long, apelike arms. The half breed lifts him like a feather and deposits him into the canoe and they're off on the river. The magnificent woman is Jeanne Marie-Anne Boulain, and the half breed is Concombre Bateese. They put him in a well-appointed cabin on a rather large boat on the river and head "downstream". I put downstream in quotes, because they are so far north that downstream is actually towards the north further away from civilization. This is tough for those of us in more southerly climes to keep in mind: once you get far enough north, the rivers flow even further north into the Arctic Ocean. Anyway, they're heading north, further into the wilderness. Eventually, they'll go to the Chateau Boulain, the center of one of the richest fur gathering areas in the world.
  
  "Marie-Anne" claims to be the wife of St. Pierre Boulain, the head of the fur trapping business. Why she tried to kill David Carrigan, and many other things will become clear once they reach the Chateau Boulain. In the mean time, Carrigan is locked into the cabin, trying to figure out how to escape so that he can take up his mission of bringing Black Roger Audemard to justice. It drives him mad that some broken shell of a man wanders around on the boat and in the woods, muttering, "Has anyone seen Black Roger Audemard?"
  
  Well, it sounds like it could be quite an adventure. But the greatest part of it is Carrigan living in his mind. Although he is the manliest of men, and a 35-year old virgin, he has the mind of a 12-year-old boy who has just discovered testosterone. He spends much of his time, when he's not thinking about his exceptional manliness, exulting over the beauty of "Marie-Anne" and dreaming of possessing her. Occasionally he'll feel slightly guilty because she is the wife of another. Yes, the word "possessing" is correct. Carrigan is a hair fetishist who believes women are to be possessed, something one owns and cherishes. Certainly they're not real people like manly men.
  
  Well, I could go on, but I don't want to. Basically, we have many boring pages of adolescent-boy drivel, with an occasional bout of manly-man posturing. Not a whole lot of actual action or adventure. Obviously, there is some. The title gives away that there is a forest fire involved as some point in the action.
  
  I'm not sure why I gave this 3*s. It really should be 3*-, but we can't give pluses and minuses. It doesn't totally suck, so is vaguely better than a 2* book, but only just vaguely.
  
• 
  Tracy

  I really like these Curwood books. They are set in the North and it reminds me of my trips to Alaska. There was a mystery in this story that didn’t completely unfold until the last chapter. There was also an element of a love story mixed in with the mystery. Fun book.
• 
  Cindy B.

  Enjoyed the plot - long, twists & surprises, end wrap up and interesting plot. Nicely narrated by Roger Melin, recommended. Other reviewer is correct- it's an early days pulp fiction.
• 
  Dawson

  This was a fun read. The ending had a huge plot twist.
• 
  Selene

  Este libro me sigue gustando tanto como la primera vez que lo leí hace muchos años.
  En él se ve claramente el amor del autor por la naturaleza, (evocado en las amables descripciones que hace de los paisajes), y su opinión sobre el efecto corruptor de la civilización.
  La historia va sobre David Carrigan, un policía montado que va tras los pasos de un peligroso criminal en las hermosas tierras del Norte, pero casi pierde la vida cuando alguien le dispara con intención de matarle. El misterioso tirador parece ser que no es otro que una hermosa mujer, que en vez de rematarle, le cura sus heridas hasta que se repone. Y aquí empieza para el protagonista un duelo entre los que es su deber como policía de entregar a quien ha intentado matarle a la justicia, y el amor que poco a poco se va instalando en su corazón por esa misma persona.
• 
  Sam

  The overall theme of the story is: which is greater - the letter of the law or love?
  
  Three threads - adventure, mystery, and love - intertwine to make this an enjoyable read, with more twists and turns than the river it is set upon.
  
  Written in the early 1920's, this does have the unfortunate language of the time in reference to one character who is Metis but in the story referred to contemptuously as "half-breed" by the white officer of the law.
  
  Overall I enjoyed the book, finishing it cover to cover in two days. It was easy to envision the settings and characters, a credit to the author's descriptive writing ability. Will definitely re-read this one again in a few year's time.
• 
  Steve Voiles

  Loved this escapist tale. A Mountie pursuing a murderer into the vast northern reaches of untamed Canada gets caught up in a series of provocative events where his is injured and then brought back to health by people who are generous and threatening in ways that can't quite be defined.
  
  The grand Canadian landscapes and the old world river travel is portrayed in ways that startle and extend your expectations and the plot twists kept me turning pages to the end.
  
  Is this Curwood at his best?
• 
  Kay

  It a great escape for a lazy afternoon!
• 
  Brandon Robbins

  A good little story.
• 
  Samantha Glasser

  Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg:
  http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4702/4...
• 
  Velvetink

  kindle
• 
  Katherine

  Good story! 4.5 stars!
• 
  Mela

  I am not a big fan of adventures books but it is a fun to read it from time to time (but the good one).
• 
  Jeff Carpenter

  I really enjoyed this book. Curwood is rapidly becoming one of my favorite fiction authors.