Firewatching

Product Information

Far from a simple murder mystery, Thomas leads readers into a story defined by secrets and intrigues, horrors and vengeance, lies of omission and commission, weaving past and present together and complicating the investigative procedural in various ways, including a cold case and what becomes the race to catch not only a killer but an arsonist as well. As his investigation progresses, there are more (Agatha Christie, country house style) urders, and a series of fires, the first of which helped find the first body, so there is a gradual cranking up of the pressure, as the book progresses. Several more interesting characters here: DCI Jordan - - Adam's godmother who is protecting him on the job, DI Jim Doggett - - the veteran homicide detective who strangely seems to want Adam's help, and Constable Amina Rabbani, young Muslim officer who desperately wants to make it to a homicide job. Lily is getting hand delivered notes from an anonymous sender stating that they know what she did, but the problem is that she cannot remember what that might be.

The thing that makes this a great first novel is the fact that it doesn’t try to be anything more than it is, a relatively straightforward whodunnit. There are plenty of triggers including rape, pedophilia, physical and spousal abuse so be careful if you about to read this. The characters felt authentic to me - flawed and vulnerable, I was drawn to the main character Adam Tyler - a disgraced officer relegated to cold cases. The writing is excellent, the plot is tight and well crafted, the characters are terrific, and the double mystery (two murders and an arson case that may or may not be related) kept me guessing until the end (as usual, I didn’t see the end coming).Set in and around Sheffield, England, this debut novel introduces a unique and somewhat unusual team of police officers.

I like the Firewatcher online posts as they not only contain cryptic information but also historical fires which I find very interesting.A strong police procedural with themes of family secrets, arson, and perversion which reads more like the work of a seasoned and successful novelist, rather than the debut novel which it is.

The story isn't pretty, quite painful to read about the disturbing scenes that occurred in the past. The secondary plot involving the victim’s neighbors, Lily and Edna, is an emotive backstory, and Thomas does a fine job creating a powerful, believable storyline with the two women while keeping the narrative moving at a steady pace. Russ Thomas is a bold and brilliant new voice in crime fiction, his talent blazes as fiercely as the flames that rage through his book.Tyler doesn’t expend the time or energy on making friends or influencing people, and he doesn’t seem to care. I know I for one will be looking out for more from Russ Thomas, and I sincerely hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of DS Adam Tyler. He spent five years trying to master playing the electronic organ and another five trying to learn Spanish. Despite being compromised, Adam stays on the case which turns out to be a messy, tangled affair with numerous threads.

The pacing was nigh on perfect with the interruption of the narrative caused only by the insertion of blog posts by the 'Firestarter' - and these were essential to the plot. Adam has a difficult family background and has gone through a rebellious teenager stage to end up following in his father's steps and joining the police force. If you love a good mystery and procedural with plenty of twists, turns, and intrigue, Firewatching is a sure bet. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The pacing is slow, with too much given to Tyler worrying about his sexual history with the suspect.

Well almost, except I found Firewatching over-complicated and unsophisticated, with hard-to-follow action scenes. Tales of crazed arsonists are generally irresistible, and there haven’t been a lot of them published lately. There were no twists I didn't see coming, including Gerald's parentage and the identity of the killer. Alongside Tyler, we also have DI Jim Doggett, a no-nonsense, seemingly stereotypical bigoted cop from the old-school, and Constable Amina Rabbani, a uniformed cop trying hard to get into CID despite the hurdles in front of her.