Many moons ago I read Man and Boy by Tony Parsons and was pleasantly surprised by this warm and delightful story of family relationships and a father faced with the responsibility of being the sole parent for his small son. I was aware that he had written a detective series, for some years I avoided but often wondered how it could be possible to produce such emotive writing in a totally different genre. Girl on Fire has been an amazing read combining all Parson's warmth from his earlier books with a gritty fast paced detective story engaging and shocking in equal measures.

 

"I woke up and found the world was gone" These are the opening "explosive" thoughts of DC Max Wolfe as he recovers and surveys the aftermath of a terrorist attack at a local shopping centre. Wolfe is a member of a specialist firearms unit of the Metropolitan police. Following the explosion he and his team are tasked with finding the individuals responsible, made all the more urgent when it becomes clear that an unknown number of Croatian hand grenades have..."found their way across from the Balkans to our streets"....They have been traced to two brothers Asad and Adnan Khan who also appear to be linked in some way to the shopping centre explosion. The race is on to expose the terrorist cell before more death and destruction "bloodies" the streets of London.

 

This is an astounding, intelligent, up to the minute, thriller that not only addresses terrorism on the capital's streets but also the affects such acts of hatred has on both the individuals and families involved. What happens when different cultures and beliefs collide? When social media can be used to brainwash the bad and the vulnerable? And when angry young men and women are prepared to kill for what they feel is a righteous and just cause....But this story is much more than that. The warmth, the love and values that graced the earlier books of Tony Parsons is still present and adds an extra layer of brilliance to some of the best emotive prose I have read in a very long time. There is Scout, Max Wolfe' cherished daughter, living with him but now the subject of a court battle between Wolfe and his ex "model" wife Anne. There is the harsh reality that life in a dangerous frontline policing job means friends and colleagues may be present one day and sadly gone tomorrow. There is the unquestionable love that exists between man and (his) dog (Stan)..."I lie belly-up in the sunshine, happier than you will ever be. Today I sniffed many dot butts-I celebrate by kissing your face"....There is the complex often hypocritical belief in religious teachings and the affects and fallouts that all in society must bear witness to.

 

There is an explosive start to Girl on Fire and an equally harrowing "I never expected that" conclusion. Tony Parsons has accomplished what I never thought possible by creating something new and deeply heartfelt in crime fiction. In DI Max Wolfe we have a vulnerable antihero and a story that brilliantly moulds all the jagged edges of this sorry tale together. We as readers understand and appreciate Wolfe's weaknesses. The story is real, the action is real, the people the emotions, the daily turmoil, the highs and lows of modern living are all so real and on these pages..wonderful stuff...wonderful writing.

Many thanks to the publishers Random House UK, Cornerstone Century and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. Highly highly Recommended.

After finishing the first book I went immediately to the bookstore in order to buy the sequels. On the one hand I was really curious to figure out how to story would end, but on the other I was a little scared because the first book seemed rather closed for me.

While The Girl Who Played with Fire felt like a completely different book, with a different style and a completely different kind of mystery to it, I still liked it, though maybe not as much as the first book in the series. While this was a very fast paced read, it would take years for me to actually pick up the third book.

Book: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

 

Author: Rae Carson

 

Genre: Fiction/Young Adult/Fantasy/Romance

 

Summary: Elisa has always felt powerless, useless. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king - a king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess. And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could save his people. And he looks at her in a way no man had ever looked at her before. Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn't die young. Most of the chosen do. - Greenwillow Books, 2011. 

Girl of Fire - Norma Hinkens Trattora lives on the planet Cwelt with her adoptive parents; the chieftain and his wife. Trattora was adopted from traders’ years ago. Although she has always loved and cared very much for her adoptive parents she has always wanted to know who her birth parents were and where she came from. Trattora is the next in line to be leader after her father as chieftain of Cwelt but she has always wanted to have her own ship so that she could travel the universe and explore other planets.

One day a trader ship comes for a visit on Cwelt and is hoping to make a big discovery on the planet that would make them rich. Trattora and her best friend play host to the traders while they are snooping around their planet. Trattora in hopes of one day owning her own ship like the traders and thinks that if the traders find what they are looking for then her dreams may come true.

But before her dreams or the traders are fulfilled Cwelt is attacked which sends all of Trattora’s people in hiding. Trattora and her friend don’t have time to make it to their hiding place so they hop on board the trader’s ship to escape and hope to return one day to save her people.

Trattora’s dreams are finally coming true in a way she is getting to travel on a ship but just not the way she planned. But Trattora is a tough girl and makes the best of the situation that she is dealt. Now Trattora’s plans are to get her own ship, travel around the universe, rescue the people on Cwelt, and find out who her birth parents were but not necessarily in that order.

I will have to say that I have truly loved traveling from planet to planet with Trattora and all her friends. I felt as if I was visiting old friends again myself like Spock and Captain Kirk and flying around on the Enterprise. I enjoyed reading about all the different technology and learning all the words but I would like to have had a list or index to refer to on occasion to help keep my mind refreshed on what their meanings were.

If you like reading science fiction or traveling around the universe or like old shows like Star Trek then I think you are going to love Girl of Fire and its new trilogy The Expulsion Project I know I am. I can’t wait to read more about The Expulsion Project.

This ebook included three additional essays but none of the original essays in the book. They were pretty interesting. The Mockingjay essay helped me better understand why I dislike that book so much.

 

I'm not really finding what I'm looking for in these supplemental books though. I guess I really want an authorized encyclopedia of what Panem is like, more information about the other districts and the Dark Days... I guess I'll just have to fill in the holes for myself.