Edward Yatscoff was born in the Niagara Peninsula and now resides in Alberta, Canada. He’s backpacked the world, visited six continents, and lived in Australia. From steelworker to assembly lines to construction work he finally settled down to a 32-year career as a firefighter. He’s played drums in a Big Band, climbed the Great Wall of China, honeymooned during the Grenada Revolution, snorkeled with a marlin, tried smuggling a Playboy into Communist Russia, egged an Aussie PM, and met his future wife on a freighter in the South China Sea. He manages a writer’s group, does occasional renos, travels, camps, and reads profusely. He has written 11 novels YA, MG, and adult crime. Among his notable awards are winner of the John Bilsland Non-Fiction Award and a Crime Writers of Canada Finalist. Visit his website and read some short stories
Canadians are only too happy to supply liquor to thirsty Americans during U.S. Prohibition. Jarrod Hooker, 17, steps in for his injured father on a rum running crew smuggling liquor across Lake Erie. It’s a lucrative job they cannot afford to lose. Jarrod’s young age is resented by the rumrunners and they set out to sabotage him and confiscate his father’s boat. Carving out respect for himself among rough men will take a mighty effort. But Ill winds begin to blow across the lake when money from liquor shipments goes missing and the U.S. Coast Guard steps up smuggling patrols. Worse yet, an American gangster, a rogue from the notorious Purple Gang, tries to seize control of the operation.
Whatever happens on the next run will change everything for everyone. Amid sabotage and bullets flying, Jarrod must put his trust in a very dangerous man. Although Canada is only a few miles offshore, it may as well be a world away.
Reviewed by Long and Short Reviews
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/book-reviews/the-rumrunners-boy-by-e-r-yatscoff/
Fire Captain Gerry Ormond is launched to national prominence and receives the prestigious Governor General’s Medal of Valor. He visits his hometown after a twenty-year absence and unwittingly unleashes a killer--a vengeful arsonist with ties to an old murder and theft of a Philippine treasure by a teenage fraternity. Gerry was one of the frat members. Karen, his high school sweetheart, ignites a dangerous obsession. Her husband looks good for a recent arson/murder. Nick Modano, ex-fraternity president, now ruthless drug dealer, is the only other participant in the old crime. Nick never forgets or forgives Gerry for running out on him during their old crime. Samantha ‘Sam’ Markham, a crack fire investigator, begins to hound Gerry, believing his past is connected to the present crime wave. For Gerry, the almost forgotten past has risen from the ooze and taken on a life of its own. As a man used to chaos control, he is powerless to close the door to his evil past and haunted by a fire dream. Confessing his old crime will help track down the arsonist but it could destroy him. It’s a tightrope he walks in a town where old friends are now enemies.
Ex-fire captain Gerry Ormond figures his new position as Niagara Falls Fire Chief will be an easy gig. He not only discovers a dysfunctional department, but a corrupt one as well. Winning each battle will be difficult, but the administration has taken away his bullets--he’s only a figurehead. Karen, his partner, is savagely beaten by Branko, her estranged husband while Gerry is scapegoated after a tragic car dealership fire. Add to all that a disaster waiting to happen, as the brutal Red Mafya sinks its talons into an iconic hotel casino project. The criminals may be somehow linked to his administration. When he attempts to find a connection he is warned to back off. The Mafya sends their new enforcer Branko, to change his mind. The more Chief Ormond investigates, the more men die, as forces he barely understands push back--hard. Out of his league and alone amidst the carnage, he declares war. Winning the war means dealing with the devil--Branko and the Red Mafya.
The Polar Vortex has grown stronger with every winter, ravaging a major Canadian city until springtime. Fire Captain Jack Sellars and his firefighters are contracted by Vulcan Securities and have one mandate: do not to let the city burn down. With no power or gas, and every citizen gone, what could possibly happen?
But when an SUV flips over on a snowy freeway with a body, an AK-47, and diamonds scattered inside, the captain and crew have reason to get very concerned. They stumble upon rival gangs of thieves and murderers systematically looting the city. The captain and his men realize they are the only witnesses. Cut off from communication, abandoned by Vulcan, and isolated in a frozen world, they struggle to survive in the constant shadow of death and disaster. In the midst of a gang war, the city begins to burn, and bullets begin to fly as their fire station comes under siege. The enormous weight of snow threatens to collapse the station roof.
The firefighters, dedicated to saving lives must now decide to take them. For Captain Sellars, keeping his sanity and his men alive may require a miracle.