This was an excellent book! The band was not suppose to use pyrotechnics, but they did anyway. When the walls and ceiling were on fire, the show goers thought it was just a part of the show. Even though there were four exits from the building, the majority of people went to the main exit where they entered the building. Several were unable to exit the building, some ended up kicking out the windows. The author talked about the foam used to mute the sound used in the construction, that caused the fire to rapidly spread. The foam caused many attendees to be burned as it melted. The owners of the bar ended up being sued for all the deaths incurred. ( )

This was one of those reads that was difficult but fascinating.

Barylick was actually one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs of The Station fire, so he has an insider's knowledge of everything that happened. The Station fire was the deadliest fire in an American nightclub, with 100 people dying due to fire, smoke, and stampedes.

I had to take breaks while reading the parts describing people getting trapped in the nightclub, the descriptions were really detailed and horrifying.

What was fascinating to me was the mystery of it all, the way photos and video and audio and physical evidence all came together to help everyone figure out what had really happened, and who was responsible. ( )

I am an avid reader of disaster-related books, having read nearly 80 of them, and I have to say that this is among the very best, certainly top five, of such books I've ever read.

This is the gripping story of the February, 2003 Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, which killed 100 people and injured many more. Initially, I was disappointed that only a relatively brief part of the book deals with the actual events unfolding during the fire that night--who was where and how they did, or didn't, get out. However, the coverage of the actual second-by-second events, though short, was quite interesting. In all other respects, including pre-fire goings on and, especially, the medical and legal aftermath, the book is excellent.

Not surprisingly, since it's written by one of the lead plaintiffs' attorneys, the portions dealing with post-fire legal issues are outstanding, as the author has a great knack of putting complex legal terminology into Plain English. I was especially struck by the portions dealing with whom the team decided sue, especially the nonobvious defendants such as Anheuser-Busch, and how the $176 million in settlements and later, victims payouts, were handled.

The author also does an excellent job explaining complex concepts in fire science.

Because both the criminal and civil legal matters were settled without trials, much of the information in the book has not been widely available, which makes this a completely fascinating read.

Highly, highly recommended!! One of my best books of the year, though obviously, a very painful book to read. ( )

This book is a detailed account of the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island 2003. It includes the events leading up to the fire and the years of legal wrangling that followed. The author introduces us to many of the victims in the chapters leading up to the actual fire. This made reading the second by second breakdown of the fires' first few moments hard because you had some idea of who these victims were. Greed and incompetence appear to be the two underlying factors that helped cause this tragedy. We are given a glimpse of the pain and suffering of the survivors and their families without the author overdoing it.
The last part of the book shows us how difficult it became to hold people responsible for causing the deaths of 100 people. The legal struggle to compensate the survivors and the deceased's families makes up the last section of the book.
The author was a plaintiffs attorney in the lawsuits that followed the fire. He had access to all of the investigative research done regarding this fire and presents it in an orderly understandable way. I enjoy reading this type of non-fiction but this book was harder to read because of the subject matter, 96 people perishing by fire in minutes, with 4 more passing away later from their injuries. ( )

Ten years ago, pyrotechnics used by Great White ignited the sound-deadening foam at The Station nightclub. I'm sure with those details everyone can recall the first images they saw on the news, as well as the video shot by a cameraman who was covering a story there that night.

This book covers not only the first itself, but the history of the club (and the many, many illegal alternations made to it), the reasons leading to the using of the sound-deadening foam, as well as the legal aftermath for the victims and families. It's an excellent work, thoroughly researched yet neither dry in tone or edging into sensationalism. It's engaging and, most importantly, brings a humanity to not only the victims, but also to the other players involved. Appendices include the names and ages of the victims, as well as the corporations and people named in the lawsuit as well as the settlement awarded. The source list is massive and complete.

All in all, while this can be a difficult book at times to read, it is an excellent read of one of the worst nightclub fires to take place in the U.S. ( )