Firewatching

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Second, Tyler attracts attractive gay men like he's the Pied Piper; they're coming out of the woodwork like termites! Overall I thought this was a fantastic read with a fascinating plot that held my attention throughout the book. Tyler’s grudging but eventual ties with his Detective Inspector Jim Doggett along with a determined young Constable Amina Rabbani, promises the potential for the Detective Sergeant to forge stronger working connections—but Russ Thomas leaves that up in the air for readers as a nice lead-in to the next book in the series. As the reader learns a little more about him, we come to realise that his barriers are a form of self-preservation. With a pyromaniac on the loose - taunting the authorities with cryptic and wildly popular blog posts, Lily - a little old lady with a secret she can’t remember, and a police constable with a lot to prove in her first plain-clothes job, will DS Tyler find the murderer or the arsonist?

Because we’re seeing most of the story through Tyler’s eyes, we’re also led along by his hopes, assumptions and fears, which in turn distracts the reader from the fairly obvious clues.Tyler doesn’t expend the time or energy on making friends or influencing people, and he doesn’t seem to care. Once one the case,Tyler blunders around from one place to another, without any loss of enthusiasm, trying to solve things. Well almost, except I found Firewatching over-complicated and unsophisticated, with hard-to-follow action scenes. Though I am sure there are many authors who will point out, writing is a proper job especially when you are published – eventually.

A body is found bricked up in the cellar of a derelict house and the evidence seems to link the macabre find to a missing persons case from years before. So much so that I could almost smell the fire from the bombings in London and feel the biting cold too. I know I am not the only Boomer that wants to smack that obnoxious character, and so Tyler endears himself to me by not going there. That leads us to DI Jim Doggett the lead and Constable Amina Rabbani, whom Tyler is responsible for, after a year of her trying to get into CID she’s finally on her first case.In this book, which is set in Sheffield, England, sees Adam Tyler force his way into an investigation, because he feels it falls in his remit as a cold case officer (though why it has to be him, given he's just a DS is beyond me).

Firewatching‘ introduces us to a fresh new take on the police procedural, featuring an original protagonist. Their first outing sees them investigating a cold case in which a body has been discovered by workers renovating a fire damaged house. The story unfolds well with twists and turns, some shocking revelations, there’s tension and suspense and it has an almost Gothic/dystopian ‘Mad Max’ feel which adds an extra dimension.I loved the addition of blog posts from the firewatcher dispersed occasionally throughout the book and the inclusion of information on historical fires. With an arsonist and a murderer on the loose, Tyler has no time to lose, except on his nights off, when by chance he ends up in the bed of Oscar, the murder victims son. Firewatching is the first in the Adam Tyler detective series, and also the first novel written by Russ Thomas.

Fairly often a lead character will overshadow the others, but this author has put just as much into all of them. Right to the end I was convinced I knew who'd done it, but alas, I was wrong as Thomas in a final flourishing twist swept my confidence away from me with a surprising denouement. I’m hopeful that this is the start of a new crime series staring DS Tyler as I’d love to read more of him!The descriptions of the arsons are terrifyingly real and, while the person responsible taunts the police with cryptic blog posts, readers are presented with the sense of the urgency felt by Tyler and his colleagues.