A book with few likeable characters such as Paula Hawkins’ A Slow Burning Fire, is difficult to recommend. Granted, the mystery element is strong with several suspects, but it almost doesn’t matter who-dunnit if there isn’t one for whom to root.
When the body of a young man, Daniel, is found brutally stabbed on a London houseboat the immediate suspect is Laura who was seen leaving his place covered in blood shortly before the body is discovered. Yet other suspects include Miriam who lived on the neighboring boat, and Carla, Daniel’s once-estranged aunt.
The back stories for these major characters factor into the present-day mystery. Laura was in a serious bicycle accident as a child and has dealt with anger management issues ever since.
Miriam is without friends or family. As a teenager she was abducted, and these many years later she remains a broken, unkind person.
Carla, the deceased man’s aunt, had a tenuous relationship with him based on guilt for how she treated his mother/her sister. Fifteen years earlier, Carla’s three-year-old son died while in the care of her sister. Her nephew discovered the child’s body.
Hawkins offers plenty of credible twists throughout, including several instances where it seems obvious, beyond a reasonable doubt who killed Daniel.
Laura is befriended by Irene, an elderly woman (who interestingly lives next door to Carla’s late sister’s home). For the younger woman, this is significant: Irene genuinely cares about her. Consequently, Irene is finally a character the reader can actually appreciate.
A Slow Burning Fire
Three Bookmarks
Riverhead Books 2021
306 pages
The Blue Page Special 
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