Frack­ing for nat­ur­al gas has turned dead­ly in Brad­ford Coun­ty, Pa. Not only is the water con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed, but peo­ple are dying. A prime sus­pect: Yukon Oil and Gas whose round-the-clock oper­a­tions may have poi­soned a res­i­den­tial well and a town’s water sup­ply. Who is con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing the water wells and why are con­trac­tors dis­ap­pear­ing? Mike Jacobs, a 29-year-old Jew­ish envi­ron­men­tal lawyer with Pennsylvania’s envi­ron­men­tal agency is back in this roman­ti­cal­ly-charged envi­ron­men­tal legal thriller about the real out­comes and dan­gers of frack­ing and drilling for nat­ur­al gas.

Mike ful­fills the man­date of pro­tect­ing the Earth, and does not shy away from his roots and the anti­se­mit­ic chal­lenges he must face. Mike is a Jew­ish every­man who nev­er con­ceals his Jew­ish­ness, embrac­ing it in all of his actions. He’s will­ing to stand up for what is right at all turns. While Mike doesn’t loud­ly pro­claim his Jew­ish­ness, he rep­re­sents it. It’s fair to say Strange Fire is com­plex and intel­li­gent, deft­ly plot­ted and char­ac­ter rich. It is also like a col­lege course in frack­ing and being a mensch.