Firewatching

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Fairly often a lead character will overshadow the others, but this author has put just as much into all of them. The case is led by DI Jim Doggett, who beneath his bluster is keen to have Adam on the team, and lets him bring on board the ambitious Constable Rabbani, providing he accepts responsibility for her. Added to this is Lily’s confusion over the events of the past, apparently a result of her being an Alzheimer’s patient, though through the occasional lucid flash of memory the reader is given a little more of the story to work with. When I found myself drifting off while reading the digital review copy, I went to Seattle Bibliocommons and checked out the audio book. I loved the addition of blog posts from the firewatcher dispersed occasionally throughout the book and the inclusion of information on historical fires.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Russ is such a stand up guy and helped make hosting the panel a real joy, as did the other panellists.

He grew up in the 80s reading anything he could get his hands on at the library, writing stories, watching large amounts of television, playing videogames, and largely avoiding the great outdoors. The chapters with the old ladies were really well done, leaving the reader in more than a little doubt as to what was or has been going on. His highly acclaimed debut novel, Firewatching, is the first in the DS Adam Tyler series and published in February 2020.

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 came through the same route as myself for writing with very familiar names cropping up in the acknowledgements. So much so that I could almost smell the fire from the bombings in London and feel the biting cold too.

It would have gone undiscovered for years – but someone just sneaked into the Gardens and dug it up.