The synopsis at one time interested me, but sadly by the time I tried to pick this up, I couldn't. Thank you for the early opportunity though!

COMBUSTION is a heart-in-mouth, can't-catch-your-breath thriller, as human evil and psychosis combine with the ravages of Nature. Well-developed characters, realistic plot threads, reasonable character evolution'--and that Wildfire! Quite suspenseful and frequently scary! I found it especially poignant in view of last year's California wildfire ravages.

I could not get in to this novel - it wasn't the writing as much as the storyline never hooked me. Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel.

This was a great mystery, thriller, fast paced and really hard to put down until the shocking end. I loved the characters, great and different story with a raging wildfire in the background! Highly recommend this book.

Martin J. Smith has written several novels, but this is the first one reviewed in MRB. “Combustion” is a well-titled murder mystery since the concluding scene takes place in the midst of the Southern California wild fire season in the midst of a new home development project that is about to go up in flames. Paul Dwyer was the primary developer of the Inland Empire near San Bernardino. He was a ruthless businessman who was also a drunk and was physically abusive with his wife and daughter. Shelby was well aware of her husband’s serial infidelities, something she chose to ignore out of her fear of him. His abuses were well hidden from the public since his wife colluded with keeping the bad behaviors in the dark. Fellow contractors got rich from working for Dwyer, and Dwyer and his wife, Shelby, gave millions to local charities through their foundation. It seemed everyone wanted this cash cow to keep going.

Shelby had always been a social climber, a gold digger, and when she married Dwyer, she left behind her high school lover Ron Starke, a police detective who still carried tender memories of their time together. And Ron had a problem. He was recently passed over as Chief of the department when Donna Kerrigan, an outsider from LA, a rising star there, was hired for the position. It was clear to Starke that Kerrigan saw him as a threat and she wanted him out of the department.

Then Paul went missing, and it was a month later that his body was discovered in the pond of one of his new massive developments. He had been shot in the head. As Paul’s secret life was being uncovered, it was also discovered that Shelby had her own secret life, one that was linked to an internet fantasy site, a place where she felt she found someone who would listen to her, understand her problems.

Smith’s characters were believable and the drama was intense. This book was a one-day read. Certainly the fire scene at the end was fitting in that lives and life-dreams were going up in smoke as the true villainy unfolded. The subplots were well used to flesh out the qualities of his main characters. The author tied together all of these stories, and while I did not see the ultimate “bad guy” revealed until the end, I was ultimately disappointed with the conclusion as being a bit too unbelievable. Those of us that love this crime genre novel must be willing to suspend reality judgments to a certain extent, but there is a limit to that suspended judgment – and Smith carried this one a bit too far. Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining read, one that you might enjoy on a flight from LAX to O’Hare (hence, it falls into my category of airplane books).

This is my first book by Marin J Smith and it won't be my last. I started this book about 6 months ago and life got completely crazy and I didn't have time to really read. When that happens, I usually have to start a book over or I get bored because I can't read on a normal basis. That was not the case with this book, which means that if I was able to read at normal pace, I would have been through it very quickly!! It has a few twists and turns and is all around a great mystery! If you love mysteries, thrillers or police investigation type books, I highly recommend this one!

Combustion is set in a small town in southern California, where Ron Starke has lived his whole life and worked his way up the police ranks. One of the locals goes missing and his body is found a few weeks later. While Starke is investigating, there is a huge wildfire on the brink of the town and he is dealing with a new boss who doesn't like his relationship with the victim's wife. It turns out that there are lots of people who wanted the victim dead and leads Starke on wild goose chase right up until the very end.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the review copy!

Diversion Publishing and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Combustion. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Investigating a brutal murder can lead the police far and wide from their original assumptions. The murder of Paul Dwyer was no different, as police officer Ron Starke was soon to discover. Having a prior connection to the victim's wife, Ron was surprised to find her less than cooperative. Between a boss with a vendetta and the case slowly gaining ground, will Ron be able to solve the crime before time runs out? Will a threat to the small town of Los Colmas destroy the evidence that Ron needs?

I am a big fan of police procedural thrillers, but I am finding it difficult as of late to enjoy them fully. It seems that authors have been giving their main characters a good amount of character flaws and this book is no exception. I wish that the focus was squarely on the case at hand, instead of split between the personal lives of the police and the investigation. That being said, I found Combustion to be very readable and a great way to pass an afternoon. I would read more by this author in the future and would recommend Combustion to readers who enjoy police procedural thrillers.

Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.

Very good. Fast paced and exciting. Well done. (starred review on Amazon)

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this book. It was the first one by Martin Smith I've read and I was not disappointed.
In this book we meet detective Ron Starke, and I could identify with him from the start. Having been overseen for promotion to be replaced by someone supposedly better than me, I understood his frustration and anger towards his new boss. , Chief Kerrigan.
The book was well written, and worth the effort.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I had not read any of this author's previous books, but I now count myself as a fan! This was a fast-moving, intriguing mystery with a nice twist.

Taking place in Southern California in the midst of dry season with wildfires looming, a dried-up pond gives up a dead body - that of a wealthy businessman who had disappeared weeks ago. The detective investigating soon finds himself with a long list of people who didn't like the deceased.

The detective, Ron Starke, is a great character. On his own since his wife died, he lives a lonely existence while also caring for his father with dementia. When a new police chief comes into town and gets the job he thought he deserved, more tension is added to the story.

A great read!