Firewatching

By: Russ Thomas

Narrated by: Anthony Mark Barrow

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

"A pitch-perfect blend of the best of the old and the best of the new - all the traditional strengths and charms are here, with a fresh and relevant twenty first-century edge. I loved it." (Lee Child)

A taut and ambitious police procedural debut introducing Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, a cold case reviewer who lands a high-profile murder investigation, only to find the main suspect is his recent one-night stand....

When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he'd gone on the run from his creditors. But then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright's burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive.

As the sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but he knows this is the case that might finally kick start his floundering career. Luckily, he already has a suspect. Unluckily, that suspect is Cartwright's son, the man Tyler slept with the night before.

Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. Soon their investigation will come up against close-lipped townsfolk, an elderly woman with dementia who's receiving mysterious threats referencing a past she can't remember, and an escalating series of conflagrations set by a troubled soul intent on watching the world burn....

©2020 Russ Thomas (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Firewatching is a UK cop novel with a pitch-perfect blend of the best of the old and the best of the new - all the traditional strengths and charms are here, with a fresh and relevant 21st-century edge. I loved it." (Lee Child)

"[An] excellent debut.... This stunning police procedural marks Thomas as an author to watch." (Publishers Weekly)

"The richness of Tyler's character and the vividness of his negotiation of his own sexuality and the casual bigotry in his community are effective. The subsidiary characters are lively and believable, the arsons are particularly well described.... This is a rewarding entertainment. A good detective in an incendiary procedural." (Kirkus Reviews)

No. Just no.

Aha! , I thought, a new police procedural series! Unfortunately no. The protagonist is inexperienced and, well, boring. The author seemed determined to use evey clichê in the genre, yet even those old war horses led nowhere. The ending was overly dramatic and tried, but failed, to explain all of the actions and relationships in the book. Didn't work for me. Not a series that I will follow.

Great narration of an excellent mystery novel

Strongly plotted, an array of great characters, a fascinating world and tremendous twists. Definitely Recommended