A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins #BookReview #MysteryThriller #Suspense #Crime — Rain ’n’ Books

My Rating

5 of 5 stars

A Slow Fire Burning sums it up exactly with that apt title. An extremely slow fire is burning, cooking this plot to something so undefinable until the end and that is probably the exact reason why this latest thriller by Paula Hawkins would be rated as low as 2 stars by some and as high as 5 stars by others. The author, of course, needs no introduction, with the massive success of The Girl On The Train in her bag, which I am a huge fan of, both the book and the movie format and I have been thru them countless times. The sheer brilliance of twists that the author conjures up is freakishly amazing and it is the same in A Slow Fire Burning.

There are multiple POVs which takes time to get used to, the number of characters and their connections and relationships is so vast and confusing, that the first half of the book took a long time for me to sink my teeth into, but once that is done, the story flew like a rocket soaring into the sky and just when I thought, I have found a way out of this convoluted mind game the author is playing with me, there she comes with another shocker form far out of the left field.

The women protagonists are damaged, suffering from the trauma of the past, and thereby unreliable and with secrets that can burn a kingdom. Most of the characters are also unlikable and then there’s the added tension of the traumatic death of a child. There is also a sub-plot running about a story written by a character in the book which is a true drama of another character in there. I know…I know…it all seems terribly messy and crazy and challenging and unbelievable but hold your horses’ dear friends, the author does take you for a thrilling ride, the pinwheel rotating and gyrating in different directions before it comes to a stop and allows us to see the myriad leaf-like curls forming the pinwheel.

This merry go around is brilliant but climb on it with oodles of patience.

The scorching new thriller from the number-one ‘New York Times’ best-selling author of ‘The Girl on the Train’.

When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim. Three women who are — for different reasons — simmering with resentment. Who are, whether they know it or not, burning to right the wrongs done to them. When it comes to revenge, even good people might be capable of terrible deeds. How far might any one of them go to find peace? How long can secrets smolder before they explode into flame?

Look what you started.

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