Los Angeles Police Department Detective Michael Gideon and his K-9 cop dog Sirious were caught in a vicious fire in Benedict Canyon while searching for Ellis Haines, a serial murderer the media called the Santa Ana Strangler, causing severe burns over Michael’s body, including his face. Sirious was also severally burned.

A year later Michael returned to work in the Special Case Unit created by the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department because he thought that was where the detective could be best put to use after his traumatic experience. The Chief also believed Michael was not physically able to work at his former position in Felony Homicide.

The Chief also allowed Sirious to continue working with Michael. Sirious was born and raised in Germany his first three years so Michael continued using German commands and had a unique relationship with the German Shepard.

Two cases kept the duo busy. The one Michael was most passionate about was the dropping off of babies at the Catholic Church and other areas. He soon joined forces with an advocate who made sure the babies were given a funeral and were buried in a special Garden of Angels at the cemetery, as Michael tried to find the mother.

The second case involved Paul Klein, a senior at Beverly Hills High school, who was found crucified on an oak tree in Runyon Canyon Park. Klein and his friends were known to bully a number of fellow students and many were not surprised by his horrific death.

Michael worked with Robbery Homicide in an attempt to solve the vicious killing. What he found during the investigation shocked not only Michael, but shook up the school and created media frenzy, especially since the young man’s father was a famous television producer and was outspoken about the case.

Burning Man was written by Alan Russell, the author of ten novels as of this writing. This book was a fast-paced, hard-hitting story of life in the center of the fifth largest police department in the United States.

The story felt real to life and it was not difficult to get emotionally involved in the main characters, especially Michael Gideon.

The novel has a little bit of everything including a requisite love story as Michael begins to move on after the painful death of his wife. Although the author includes side stories and a greater depth of material than many novels, the inclusions never slow down the pace, but adds to the pleasure.

This review was based on the novel that I picked up through Amazon Kindle. Burning Man is available at Amazon.com.