What happens when the person who investigates the cause of a fire is actually an out of control deliberate fire setter themselves.
Dr Catherine (Red) Carter is known to the Police Officers, and Fire Investigators, she works with as the Fire Guru.
She has the ability to read fire patterns and work out which direction the story travelled so that she can ultimately identify where the fire started.
She has the ability to look closely at the seat of the fire and scientifically work out what caused the fire.
This is why she works for an independent Fire Investigation firm in London.
Most people think that she honed her skills when she was a Firefighter, whilst studying for her Forensic qualifications and writing her doctoral thesis.
What they don’t know is she has a psychological fascination with, and for fire.
She is a fire setter. She has set numerous fires but never knowingly put anybody in danger.
Until now. She had been planning a fire in a boarded up council house. She’d cased the building, gone in an and set the scene, but she wasn’t meaning to start the fire that night.
She hears a voice in her head, Scarlett is the personality driving the fire setting. Usually Red can keep her under control but in a moment of weakness she goes to the house and sets it alight.
The next day she is surprised to be asked to attend the scene to investigate the cause of the fire. It should have been a simple cause diagnosis for the Fire Service.
The problem is the fire didn’t go as she planned it, and worse, there was a body found in the upstairs bedroom.
Now she is tasked with investigating a fire she set. But the deeper she looks the more convinced she becomes that the fire the Fire Service encountered when they arrived at the scene, was not the one she’d set.
As the guilt of killing somebody is replaced by the knowledge that somebody else set a bigger fire, after she set hers, she begins to worry that she may be a target.
I’m going to have to review this book in two parts, firstly as a crime fiction fan, reader and book blogger, and secondly as a Fire Investigator.
As a Crime Fiction Reader.
I loved the story and Red is a great character.
The weaving of the narrative to take the reader on a route that brings all sorts of suspects to the fore, without ever actually giving us a firm reason to suspect them, elevates the story to another level.
Red herself may be one of the best characters I’ve encountered for a while. She is flawed, and there is no way I should have felt any empathy with her, but I just couldn’t help myself liking her.
She drinks too much, she’s self destructive, she’s a fire setter, yet somehow she comes out of this as a good person.
As a Fire Investigator
I spent thirty years in the Fire Service, nineteen on fire engines at all ranks, and eleven as a dedicated Fire Investigator, all in a busy Metropolitan Brigade, so forgive me for being picky.
There are too many procedural errors to overlook, things that just either don’t happen or wouldn’t happen, and yes I understand the need for license in fiction but to me the basis of a good story is being as accurate to real life situations as you can.
There are some technical issues about the observations made at the scenes which I found too much of a stretch.
For example I would imagine every firefighter, or Fire Investigator will have the same thoughts as me about the fact Red thinks it unusual for a fire setter to start multiple fires at the same incident. Multi seated fires are one of the main indicators of deliberately started fires.
But as I said, I’m being picky. It’s just that a lot of people who read my blogs would be surprised if I didn’t bring these things up.
Does this put me off recommending this book.
No it doesn’t. I would recommend it as a great story with a great character.
In fact, I’m hoping for a second instalment.
Pages: 320. Publisher: Wildfire. Publishing Date: 25th March 2027
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