Thermal Image

From Publishers

In firefighter-turned-novelist O'Keeffe's first novel, fireman Steve Jay is battling more than just flames. He's also dealing with a pair of problems that almost have him licked: his love-hate relationship with his prodigal girlfriend, Jenny, who has just returned from a brief but heated fling, and a mounting debt problem. To solve his money woes, he accepts an assignment from an old friend. The assignment involves working after-hours for an insurance company, investigating a fatal warehouse fire likely caused by arson-and likely the latest in a series of blazes tied to a wealthy family. Jay is endearing in his down-on-his-luck way, a weary but noble character who learns the business of detection by trial and error. The book opens with vivid scenes of firefighters at work, but the majority of the tale is spent following Jay as he investigates the complex family ties that connect the fires and eventually bring the case back home to Jenny. The book would benefit from more of the gritty firefighting sequences hinted at in the opening chapters, but crisp, realistic dialogue keeps this savvy story moving at a brisk pace.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

The Sunday Telegraph

“… the plot, involving arson and murder, is skillfully brought to an exciting climax.” --

Burn Out

From Publishers

Wales is supposed to be a rest cure, a chance to exorcise the demons of injury, guilt, and betrayal. But before Steve Jay has even reached the remote clinic, he’s had to deal with a house fire and a clear case of murder. And then he finds himself caught in a deadly forest fire. Seeking rest and isolation, Jay has instead landed in the midst of a vicious eco–war between the Welsh and a multi–national mining conglomerate. By degrees, he’s drawn into the battle, lured by a woman with a past—a past that will engulf him. He returns home, not healed but resolved to regain his position and self–respect. But he scarcely has time to settle in when a building explosion presents him and his crew with more danger than they’ve ever faced—the eco–war has followed him to London. Jay is forced back to Wales to discover the truth, but not before a woman he thought he’d never see again returns with trouble on her mind and Jay in her heart. Pat O’Keeffe, a London fire fighter, is the author of Thermal Image.

Blowtorch

From Publishers

Pat O’Keeffe’s fire fighter hero is once again on the front line in a vividly real story of arson, drug dealing and murder in modern London. By the time Steven Jay reaches the screaming woman it is too late - her killers have butchered her, leaving Jay and a young fire fighter to explain themselves to a crowd that won’t listen to reason. But that is only the beginning of the trouble. As London simmers through a heat wave, racial tension mounts across the East End. A religious leader has died; a political leader fans the flames; an embittered immigrant community’s anger grows. Then an arsonist sets fire to an Asian cinema leaving hundreds dead, and the mob goes on the rampage. Their first target is the Fire Brigade - and some of them have picked Steve Jay as their victim. Jay has stumbled into a whirlwind of violence where big-time drug dealing exploits an embittered immigrant community’s alienation. And to get out alive, he will have to nail a ruthless criminal.

Reviews

01/05/2004
‘The plot is convincing, the background detail of how firefighters go about their business is absorbing. The combination provides another winner for O’Keeffe.’ Scotsman on Blowtorch

11/07/2004
‘Gripping mysteries.’ Sunday Morning Post on Blowtorch

 Bangor Chronicle on Thermal Image
11/04/2006 04:00:27
'...a great writer of fearful, fiery fiction'

Sunday Telegraph on Thermal Image
11/04/2006 04:00:27
'O'Keeffe...brings an authentic feel to his descriptions of fire fighting, and the plot, involving arson and murder, is skilfully brought to an exciting climax'

 Publishing News on Thermal Image<
11/04/2006 04:00:27
'...authentic realsim...packed with far more incidents than an episode of London's Burning'

Suffolk Journal on Thermal Image<
11/04/2006 04:00:27
'A gripping debut novel'

Current Work:

My latest novel, Blind Chance has just been completed and is a fast moving Crime Thriller set Amsterdam and London.  It was researched in the Netherlands with the help and assistance of the Public Prosecutors Office in Den Bosch.