From the author of global phenomena, The Girl on the Train and Into the Water comes a fresh, propulsive new novel.
‘What is wrong with you?’
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. She has spent most of her life being judged. She’s seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous.
Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She’s only recently lost her estranged sister. She trusts no one: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace?
And Miriam is the nosy neighbour clearly keeping secrets from the police. Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes, it doesn’t mean she’s a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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. Innocent or guilty, everyone is damaged. Some are damaged enough to kill.
Paula Hawkins needs no introduction – The Girl on the Train was a multi-million-copy global phenomenon and was made into a film starring Emily Blunt. Her second novel, Into the Water, also sold its socks off. With A Slow Fire Burning, we now know what to expect, and that’s the unexpected. Polished writing, unreliable narrators, and enough twists to warrant a trip to the chiropractor after reading are assured. Other than that, it’s a page-by-page experience with Hawkins – unpredictable to the end.
A Slow Fire Burning simmers with page-turning tension. Hawkins builds the story and the suspense, moving back and forth in time to slowly reveal the backstories of her deeply flawed, yet compelling characters. Told from alternating points of view, everything you think you know will, at some point, be challenged.
Setting plays a major role in the book, with the murder taking place on a riverboat on London’s Regent’s Canal. There’s a nod to The Girl on the Train with mention of the boy on the boat.
We can safely say that Hawkins is here to stay. A Slow Fire Burning is another unpredictable page-turner.
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