Twenty five years after Milwaukee Fireman Harry Dennison’s best friend and firefighting partner Mike died in the line of duty, Mike’s spirit starts talking to Harry. He comes in dreams and other strange ways with the message that Harry will have a choice to make and there will only be one correct decision. With that decision, “You (Harry) will play an important part in a critical intersection of time, and it will be soon.” In his new novel, Harry Dennison, Steve Kemp explores Harry’s actual life and the effects of Harry’s encounters with the paranormal.
The novel explores Harry’s myriad relationships. Harry and his wife have never had children, but they’ve been a constant presence in the orphaned children’s lives. Now the children are grown and Harry is mentoring the son, Coleman, during his training and first days in the fire department. Harry has a good marriage and great friends in the fire department. But the ghostly visits from the deceased partner shake him. This is the pivot around which Kemp explores the many aspects of Harry’s life.
The book builds on the mystical warnings and Harry’s response to those warnings. Each chapter I wondered if this was where the choice had to be made. Is Harry going to die making this decision? Will he be able to save Coleman from his father’s fate? Will Harry even realize what is happening when the time comes? Can he make the right decision? You’ll need to read the book to find out.
To me, the most interesting relationship was that among the firemen and firewomen. The members of the entire department exhibited a great deal of camaraderie. But the firefighters assigned to the individual firehouse were a family. They lived together and worked together. They depended on each other for their survival. They had an amazing intimacy that served them well. Kemp is a firefighter in real life. His experiences flavor the novel with incredible authenticity and love of the lifestyle.
Kemp also uses his lifetime experiences as a firefighter to explain the work of fighting fires. The chapters where the characters go in to deal with real life situations educated me on how the firefighters actually deal with the variety of situations. It also gave me some insight into the broad range of emergencies they encounter.
Meet Steve Kemp on Saturday, September 24 at 2 at Bookmamas, 9 Johnson Ave. in Irvington. Talk to him about his book, his life as a firefighter and the paranormal aspects of the firefighter’s life. Robert Snow will also be there to talk about the paranormal experience that led him to write Portrait of A Past Life Skeptic: The True Story of a Police Detective’s Reincarnation.
