A Slow Fire Burning

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The three women’s back stories are shared in flashbacks while their lives intersect as the novel builds toward its climax. I thought the title was very apropo because of the slow burn of anger, hatred, jealousy and deceit brewing within these characters. When a young man is found brutally murdered in his houseboat, an investigation immediately ensues and we are introduced to three main suspects, all females who each seem to have plenty of motive, opportunity and means to commit the heinous crime!

The title, “A Slow Fire Burning” reflects the emotional simmering of the female characters, all who have reasons for revenge. She dropped the bra on the floor too, clambered into the bathtub, and turned on the shower, then stood shivering under the paltry trickle of scalding water (her shower offered a choice of very hot or very cold, nothing in between). With so many characters in the plot, one would begin to wonder, if these deaths are in any way connected? Intricately interwoven plots and subplots, propulsive twists and a neat finale, while it’s no The Girl On The Train, A Slow Fire Burning is a deliciously easy psycho drama to hungrily tear through.

Overall: maybe this book may have been promoted as contemporary fiction, I could have a chance to like it more. Speechify lets you listen to any text, including all books in the world with the best voices out there! Add to this a mother who is not supportive and a father who is emotionally absent and you have one troubled young woman. The young woman Laura, a tragic past, I felt sorry for and Irene a older woman, with a big heart, the only character I actually liked.

The various characters and their backstories were interesting, but the reason for the crime still escapes me: I really had to suspend my disbelief to accept the summing up. The next chapter introduces Carla, the aunt of the deceased, who is already mourning the death of her sister just weeks earlier. The author decided to create a slow burn mystery which could be helpful to build high tension and increase the expectations of the readers as the pace gets faster at the second half. This was this month’s book club pick, and I loved The Girl on the Train by the same author, which I read some time ago a couple of times, which is quite unusual for me, so I was really excited to get my hands on a copy, so much so that I bought myself a hardcover copy thinking I would love it. He glanced at the bookcase filled with paperbacks, at the dusty peace lily sitting on top of it, the framed photograph of a homely couple flanking their big-boned child.

A Slow Fire Burning book reminds me of The Great Gatsby because it is so perfectly woven together, unexpected, but it also has characters trying to do the right thing and imperfectly loving other people. I am not sure who was responsible, despite someone being convicted of the crime, and some of the characters didn’t really have any input at the ending.

I just put it down to the mental instability of the murderer and all the supporting cast members in this long, drawn out drama. The first half of the book was a bit slow and it took some time to figure out each character's personality and how it played into the storyline. I wouldn't say I read an awful lot but I do know that if I had to pick a favourite author at the moment I would say Paula Hawkins.The lives of the women was the interesting part of the story but again it didn’t offer anything particularly new and exciting. I’d enjoyed the author’s hugely successful mystery thriller The Girl on the Train and so despite my normal aversion to fiction set in the UK (too close to home, not escapist enough, yadda yadda yadda) I was excited to get hold of this one.