Review of “The Arsonist” by Ken Coulson

Score: 89/100 (8.9 out of 10)

The Arsonist is a somewhat-romantic romance and somewhat-thrilling crime thriller by Ken Coulson about a man's struggles to repair his broken marriage, stop a corporate Ponzi-ish scheme, hypocritically stop a workplace sexual harassment scandal, and survive being gored by bulls in the middle of Latin America!

At some point, arson is involved in this as Cal decides to burn down his house, but that's neither here or there. Gosh, this book really should've been called Man versus Corporation, Home Wrecker, or I Think I Love My Wife? or something.

This novel follows Calvert (“Cal”) Minor, a somewhat-lecherous, somewhat-womanizing businessman who has recently let his wandering eye destroy his relationship with his long-time wife and friend, Beth.

He finds a new calling with a corporation called Atlas Holdings, owned by the unscrupulous CEO Hank Henleman, a man who is even more immoral and unethical than Cal is. Hank is such a terrible person that he even hopes to capitalize on the 9/11 attacks and climate crisis to fill his own pockets. He also happens to be a bit handsy, akin to Cal.

Cal is aware that his boss is probably evil and possibly working with mafioso mercenaries, but he also needs a job (and a need to belong).

Along the way, he teases an affair with the voluptuous, beautiful, and very hot blonde bombshell who works the front desk, Sarah Quinn. Sarah is definitely a candidate for “Hottest Character!” Cal's sexual fantasies about her are frequent, detailed, vivid, and quite a bit wild. There's one line in which Cal imagines having oral sex and “her feminine musk mixed with the smell of coconut and rose water.” Well... this is erotica now, isn't it?

So, here's what we'll say about this book: it is VERY fun and surprisingly interesting, but it's incredibly unfocused. It's like the author couldn't decide on what genre they wanted to write in or what book they wanted to write, so they decided to write in every genre that came to mind and to combine the plots of multiple books into one.

So, is this supposed to be a book about a man's torn relationship with his wife and his extramarital affairs? Is this supposed to be a book in which a man realizes that his side-chick is his true love? Is this supposed to be a book about corporate greed and corruption manifested by Hank? Is this supposed to be a book about mafioso mercenaries led by Arik and John? Or is this supposed to be a book about a man exploring a new experience surviving racing with literal bulls?

Or is this supposed to be a story about an arsonist committing... I don't know... arson?

We actually got a story about an arsonist last year. It was called Prometheus' Gift by John Sangster in which we got a rather complex deep-dive into the life and mindset of the arsonist. While Cal's plight is somewhat relatable, it doesn't seem to justify him wanting to literally burn everything to the ground. And that brings us to another point: Cal is a terrible person. He may not be as terrible as Hank, Arik, or John, but he comes across as incredibly self-destructive, self-sabotaging, and unlikable. How are we supposed to cheer for this guy when everything bad that happens to him is literally his fault?

At least that's what we'd normally say about a character like Cal. Yet, somehow, we still found ourselves fascinated by Cal's alien thought-process. It's like watching a Karen go crazy on a store clerk or watching a car crash in slow motion—it's bizarrely fascinating!

Check it out on Amazon!