A Slow Fire Burning

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She hesitated, then nodded. "He had a visitor. A couple of times, perhaps? It's possible he might have had more than one visitor, but I only saw the one. A woman, older than he was, closer to my age, perhaps in her fifties? Silver-gray hair, cut very short. A thin woman, quite tall, I think, perhaps five eight or nine, angular features . . ." Paula Hawkins earned her label of a psychodramatic writer when she blew us away with The Girl on the Train. A Slow Fire Burning is an atmospheric, suspenseful, psychotic thriller that will have you gripping the edge of your seat. To say I was not confused is an understatement, but I remember having that same feeling with her first one, but yet it reels you in at a tantalizing rate of emotions that you will revel in this when your finished. Well, I didn't. I thought it was clever. A new way to tell a story like that, makes you think, doesn't it?" Theo Myerson and his wife Carla, who had the start of an incredible marriage, until their young son Ben died accidentally at only 3 years of age. They are both hiding enough secrets to bury any average human being. You may think you know their secrets, BUT JUST WAIT UNTIL THE ENDING!!!!!!!!!! A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Through its vivid descriptions, A Slow Fire Burning paints a vivid picture of rural life and its unique challenges. She noted this at the time. Not that she was about to tell the detective that. When I first saw him, I got this strange feeling. . . . He'd think she was a nutcase. In any event, she realized now what it was, what she'd felt. It wasn't premonition or anything ridiculous like that, it was recognition. I thought the title was very apropo because of the slow burn of anger, hatred, jealousy and deceit brewing within these characters. A Slow Fire Burning is an engrossing narrative that expertly captures the complexities of human relationships. Pike makes deft work of these unreliable narrators who span several generations, imbuing their voices with a defensiveness and vulnerability born from past disappointments and trauma. Miriam is forever second-guessing the judgment of strangers who she knows see her as a lonely busybody, while Laura is chaotic and brittle-sounding, convinced that none of the calamities that befall her are ever her fault. In particular, Pike captures the melancholy of the widowed Irene, whose frail appearance and occasional mishaps prompt others to condescend and patronise rather than treat her as a sentient adult. This being a Hawkins novel, the plot twists are sprinkled liberally to keep listeners on their toes, though the story is sustained by the humanity of these expertly narrated characters whose secrets are slowly brought to the surface.A Slow Fire Burning will be seen, rightly, as a return to form; a London book from an excellent writer on London, and a tender portrait of characters that stay in the mind long after you’ve finished reading. Hawkins is resigned to the fact that the Cinderella story of the first book will always outshine all the others and, while trying to remain divorced from the mania, is grateful for what it has brought her. She bought a nicer flat. She stayed in more expensive hotels when she travelled. And she bought a car – “but it’s electric. It’s not a Ferrari.” A Slow Fire Burning is the latest from Paula Hawkins, the woman whose words haunt your dreams. . .We follow three women close to the deceased—an ex, an aunt, and a neighbor. Each has kindled a hot-burning anger against the man in question, and Hawkins happily fans the flames.” — Glamour A Slow Fire Burning is a treat: utterly readable, moving in parts and saturated with the kind of localized detail that made The Girl on the Train so compelling…a return to form.” — The Guardian A young man in his twenties is found stabbed to death on the houseboat where he had been living. I admit that I've always been entranced by the idea of living in one, minus the murder of course. A woman who lives in another of the boats is the one to find his body and at first glimpse she seems like the typical busy body type of person, always looking, judging. Soon though, there will be two other women involved, unreliable narrators all. There are connections between these women and the dead man, but these are uncovered slowly. The police interrogated Laura, but then let her go because they did not have enough evidence to charge her. While visiting Irene, Laura noticed that Carla had left her purse in the hall of Angela’s house while she was clearing out Angela’s things. On impulse, Laura stole the purse and then took it to her home. The police searched Laura’s house and discovered a bloody knife and a shirt covered in Daniel’s blood.

The first half of the book would have easily been rated a 2 or 3 stars, just average if not a bit overly complex. However, the last half of the book was extremely entertaining and had some twists that I was not quite expecting. At the last half of the book, it was revealed why the book was so complex. Miriam is a middle aged woman, living just several boats down from the boat where Daniel is brutally murdered. She sees, hears and knows a lot. She also has a vendetta against at least one of the characters.After being introduced to Ms. Hawkins with her psychological, twisty thriller “Girl on the train”, I was so drawn into her story about complex, broken, unreliable characters. Overall: maybe this book may have been promoted as contemporary fiction, I could have a chance to like it more. From the beginning of the novel, I expected something big, earth shattering, surprising will happen or something so smart will come out to fool me but none of them happened. That’s why I still hear the choo choo sound of disappointment train. And her brand new work “A slow fire burning” has exactly the same problems! 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. But unfortunately this book couldn’t be defined as a mystery. It looks like a contemporary fiction about crowded and very unlikable characters’ connections with each other! The atmosphere is dark, the small group of characters unlikable, harboring secrets and truths. 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. There are many misdirections which change the story in small and big ways. A book within a book which also serves to confuse. The pacing is slow, but there are constant revelations and the truths are slowly revealed. There’s a great sense of suspense and tension. The story gets more engrossing as it goes along. This is a book where I was shaking my head in amazement/disgust at several points. It’s deliciously twisty and just when you think everything has been resolved, there’s one more twist waiting.

A Slow Fire Burning is not only her most complex, twist-filled tale yet, but it’s also the most mature, intricately detailed, and superbly paced book of her career.” —shondalandOne of the most unpredictable and saddest characters in the book is Laura. Deeply damaged mentally and physically in a car accident and left abandoned by her mother and father. Her life is complicated and scarred by a number of abusive events. She confides and cared for by Irene, another character with a tie-in and side story. An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored. Laura, a young woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was ten, is the prime suspect in the murder of Daniel, a young man who is found dead on his houseboat. Laura’s mother had been having an affair with a man who left their house and hit Laura on his drive home. Her mother had run out to the accident and urged the man to run away so that she would not get caught cheating. Laura spent three months in a coma and then underwent a series of painful surgeries to rehabilitate her body, which never fully recovered. When she got out of the hospital, her mother left her father and Laura felt abandoned and angry. As an adult, Laura worked at a laundromat and had extreme emotional and mental problems, including poor impulse control. The night before Daniel died, she met him at a bar and slept with him. In the morning, he called her a gimp and they got into a physical fight that ended with her biting him. He left the boat and she went home, stealing his watch, but then someone else murdered him. Because of her involvement with him, Laura became the prime suspect in the detective’s case.

A Slow Fire Burning twists and turns like a great thriller should, but it's also deep, intelligent and intensely human.”– Lee Child There was an opportunity here. She'd had that thought when she first realized who the boy was, but she'd not known how best to take advantage. Now that he was dead, however, it felt as though this was all meant to be. Serendipity. Overall, I am greatly looking forward to reading this book again. It has the complexity of The Great Gatsby - everything was set up perfectly and was surprising at the end. However, the greatness of this novel is not apparent in the first half of the book.The plot is tightly structured yet full of surprises, keeping the reader engaged until the very end.