Title: The Fire Child
Author: S.K. Tremayne
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction
First published: June 16th 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Finished reading: July 26th 2016
Pages: 400
“Maybe nothing could extinguish the yearning of human love; maybe it travelled on for ever, through the darkness. Like the light from dead stars.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and HarperCollins UK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
The Ice Twins was on my list of most-anticipated 2015 releases, so as soon as I found out S.K. Tremayne was publishing a new psychological thriller I just knew I had to read it as well. And I have to say, The Fire Child didn’t disappoint. In fact, this story turned out to be even better than her first novel! There is no doubt S.K. Tremayne is excellent at setting a spooky atmosphere for her chilling and dark psychological thrillers. The descriptions of both the Cornish setting, the house and the events themselves really make it seem like as if you were right there with the main characters. And those months/days before Christmas definitely become spookier by the minute! The main characters are all well developed and I especially liked Jamie and Rachel. They are not perfect and not reliable either, but their stories are without doubt intriguing and work perfectly for many surprising plot twists. The plot itself is quite simple, but it’s the characters, excellent descriptions and spooky atmosphere that make The Fire Child into such a great psychological thriller. Trust me, you won’t see the ending coming! If you enjoy reading the genre, make sure to consider both S.K. Tremayne‘s thrillers. They’re worth it!
It’s easy to say Rachel has had a difficult childhood, but everything seems to be falling into place when she marries dark, handsome and rich David. She went from a small flat in London to living in a huge and beautiful house in Cornwall… A house that has been in David’s family for a thousand years and even has its own name: Carnhallow. David still works in London, and only travels to Cornwall during the weekends to be with his new wife and his son Jamie. Rachel seemed to be getting along well enough with her new stepson in London, but things changed when she moved into the big Carnhallow house. Jamie’s behavior changes and Rachel’s perfect life slowly begins to unravel. He doesn’t seem to be over the death of his mother Nina (and David’s first wife) and both claims to see her ghost and makes disturbing predictions. Is it Jamie’s way of punishing Rachel for taking his mother’s place, or is he more traumatized that she thought? When Rachel starts digging into the past, she starts to suspect her new husband wasn’t telling the whole truth about what happened to his first wife…
Now I’ve read both thrillers, I can easily say S.K. Tremayne is one of my favorite newly discovered authors. She is without doubt excellent at setting a spooking atmosphere, creating characters that are both intriguing and unreliable and describing the setting in such detail that it almost feels like you are right there in Cornwall. The Fire Child is well written, has well developed characters and is filled with many surprising plot twists. If you enjoy reading psychological thrillers, I can definitely recommed this one!
