Firewatching: The Number One Bestseller Paperback – 15 Oct. 2020

I’ve been meaning to read this series for a while and I’m so glad I’ve finally read the first book because it was just as excellent as I’d heard and I cannot wait to read the rest! Firewatching is a tense, smart and utterly gripping piece of crime fiction featuring a compelling lead in DS Adam Tyler. He is a layered, complex and intelligent detective with an intriguing backstory that we are slowly introduced to whilst he deals with a now very hot cold case and a dangerous adversary. The plot is propulsive and clever, making it difficult to anticipate which direction it will head in from one moment to the next. The cast of characters is varied and includes both some loathsome individuals and some, like the determined Constable Rabanni, who are easy to root for. I found Firewatching addictive, intense and evocative from beginning to end and would highly recommend if to anyone who enjoys taut and razor sharp crime fiction with an intriguing lead.

Full of bad endings. A good, dramatic thriller that sadly ends in histrionics.

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). The case is a local bigwig's death, after going missing years before. The bigwig is a cross between Silvio Berlisconi, and Harvey Weinstein. So a classy guy.Once one the case,Tyler blunders around from one place to another, without any loss of enthusiasm, trying to solve things. Along the way, he manages to borderline screw things up, but we're supposed to pull for him, because he's gay, and had a tough life, or just reasons I guess.As his investigation progresses, there are more (Agatha Christie, country house style) urders, and a series of fires, the first of which helped find the first body, so there is a gradual cranking up of the pressure, as the book progresses.the book was fine, it's just I wasn't really gripped by the book, and didn't really care what happened to the main characters.

If I had to describe Firewatching by Russ Thomas in one word, it would be WOW. And if I'm honest, that doesn't even give this book justice.Told over the period of a week and set in the sleepy village of Castledene, Sheffield, Firewatching is a dark and twisty police procedural introducing Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, a cold case reviewer with a troubled past, and the sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit. When the skeleton of corrupt businessman Gerald Cartwright is discovered bricked-up behind a false wall in the cellar of the Old Vicarage, Adam lands himself this high-profile murder investigation, only to find himself in hot water. The good news is that they have a prime suspect. The bad news? That suspect is Oscar, his recent one-night stand.Russ is unbelievably good at writing character. I love a memorable, flawed protagonist and Adam does not disappoint; I found myself rooting for this tenacious character from the very beginning. Along with ambitious Constable Amina Rabbani and despite his link to the suspect, Adam manages to stay on the case, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Will this be the case that finally allows him to show his superiors what he's made of?And then there's Lily Bainbridge and Edna Burnside, an elderly couple who looked after Oscar as a child. The hand-delivered notes that keep being pushed through Lily's door terrify her. I know what you did. If only the dementia wasn't stopping her from knowing what she did.As more and more fires spring up all over Castledene, it's clear that a pyromaniac is on the loose, dead set on watching the world burn. But why? Told from the perspectives of Adam, Rabbani, Lily and a mysterious, anonymous blogger known only as the Fire Watcher, this story scorches with a tangle of threads that I challenge even the most seasoned of thriller readers to tie together before the incredible, unpredictable ending. An ending I did not see it coming. At all.Firewatching is a tense, suspenseful read that is as intriguing as it is gripping. The writing is sharp and meticulously plotted. I blazed through this unputdownable book in a matter of days, and I'm confident you will too.

This has ITV drama written all over it. That may come across as dismissive, but is intended as praise. Russ Thomas tells a good story, and evokes the sort of atmosphere you find in a 9pm cop show. Enjoyable book. Look forward to the next.

Firewatching‘ introduces us to a fresh new take on the police procedural, featuring an original protagonist. For me, hinting at Tyler’s backstory while racing to stop more deaths, felt really natural and kept a realistic balance to the story. Thomas’s writing is taut and compulsive, hitting the right balance of plot and visceral descriptions.The plot is strengthened by the cast of characters, particularly Lily who can’t remember the secret she’s keeping on account of the dementia that’s ravaging her mind. The characterisation in ‘Firewatching‘ is absolutely perfect, with Thomas portraying Lily’s dementia accurately and sensitively.Thomas pulls the reader in and creates empathy for his protagonist by laying bare the bigotry that Tyler faces regularly. By pairing Adam with PC Rabbani, Thomas is also able to explore institutionalised racism. Again, he does this with a light touch that leaves the reader in no doubt about the difficulties these officers have to deal with – and that’s before you factor in the crimes they’re investigating.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.If you’re looking for original characters, a strong plot and vivid descriptions, ‘Firewatching‘ is the novel for you! I can’t wait to read ‘Nighthawking‘, the next in the DS Adam Tyler series.