“Burning Neon” by Mario H. Treviño has been released worldwide. This explosive, 380-page novel follows Cortéz Kelly, a career firefighter and investigator on the front lines of the Las Vegas Arson/Bomb Squad. With a storied past involving high-profile fires and prestigious leadership positions, Kelly is the obvious choice to lead an investigation around a series of arson attacks in the city’s affluent Northwest area, but as the crimes continue, he finds evidence of a much darker conspiracy.
Inspired by his own career as a first responder and the harsh realities faced by those working in fire service and law enforcement, Treviño delves into the harrowing, often traumatic experiences faced by people in these professions with candid detail. While fictionalized, these “war stories” parallel the real-life hazards of public service, as well as the unseen damage that can tear apart personal lives through PTSD, high divorce rates, depression, and even suicide.
With this chaotic lifestyle of emergencies, danger, and the resulting psychological pressure at the fore, the backdrop of Las Vegas adds further tension to the story’s unfolding criminal investigation. Known for excess, indulgence, and risky behavior, Las Vegas has also long been home to organized crime and shadowy figures who will do anything to get rich.
These factors, drawn together by circumstance, culminate over a six-month period in 2001, between Elvis Presley’s birthday and the anniversary of his death, when Kelly finds himself at the center of a complex case during the worst heatwave in Las Vegas history.
Through ferocious action, unexpected twists, and a vivid look into the life of a high-profile arson investigator, this novel is a slick, hard-hitting thriller that pulls readers into a realistic world of fire and crime.
Burning Neon (ISBN: 9798218150969) can be purchased through retailers worldwide, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The paperback retails for $20.99, and the ebook retails for $2.99. Review copies and interviews are available upon request.
From the back cover:
It’s 2001 and everyone agrees that Cortéz Kelly is the best Fire Investigator on the Las Vegas Arson/Bomb Squad. As a new investigator, he’d been part of the massive investigations into the infamous MGM and Hilton Hotel fires of the 1980s. This led to his being appointed as a member of a federal task force trying to solve a massive series of arson fires in Seattle. Recognized as a national expert, he’s been on the front lines in Vegas for years, becoming accustomed to navigating through the craziness of a 24/7 gambling and party town. Unfazed by the drugs, the hookers, the scammers, the Elvis impersonators, or even by the occasional Mafioso he has come across along the way, he has the best clearance-rate of the entire team. But when he gets assigned to look into a series of suspicious fires in the growing Northwest part of the city, he discovers that working this case is going to be different. His pursuit of the potential suspects takes him down a very dark path, where he stumbles on a criminal conspiracy; the fires may be linked to organized crime and political corruption. He now faces vastly powerful enemies on both sides of the law, threatening everything and everyone he loves. No one is safe, not even his fellow firefighters. But with fewer allies to work with every day, who can he trust? Meanwhile, even more arson fires are erupting around him, and they’re becoming increasingly deadly. He has to fit all the puzzle pieces together in the darkness to be able to see this investigation through to the end. But when he tries to illuminate his path forward, he finds that the atmosphere around him has become… explosive!
About the author:
Mario H. Treviño, MPA, was a career firefighter and fire officer. He served for over four decades in various positions and geographical locations, including as Las Vegas Fire Chief. He has authored multiple fire service articles, including the widely read “We Danced With The Devil,” chronicling his own line-of-duty cancer experience. This is his first work of fiction.
About Manhattan Book Group:
Manhattan Book Group (“MBG”), located on Broadway in New York City, is a registered trade name of Mindstir Media LLC. MBG is widely known as a premier hybrid book publisher. We have combined the best of traditional publishing with the best of self-publishing to provide authors with the “best of both worlds” in a sense.
To learn more about MBG, visit https://www.manhattanbookgroup.com/
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