Fire

By C.C. Humphreys

First came Plague, now comes Fire. The epic tale of the hunt for a serial killer threatening London's rich and poor during the Great Fire of London. Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom and Conn Iggulden.


Fires don't start by themselves. They need someone to light them. What are friends for?
     As the Great Plague of London loosens its grip at last, Charles II's court moves back to the city, the theatres reopen and a new year arrives.
     1666. It cannot be more terrible than the previous year, surely?
     But it can. For many will strive to make it so; to finally rid London of the curse that brought the plague upon it. A wholesale cleansing is required if society is to be born again.
     What's more it seems that a serial killer who stalked hand in hand with the Plague might not be dead after all. Together with actress Sarah Chalker, highwayman William Coke and thief-taker Pitman come together as one, determined to stop the brutal murder of London's rich and poor once and for all.
     But another threat is on the way. It hasn't rained in five months. London is a tinderbox—politically, sexually and religiously. The Great Fire of London is about to ignite. And the final confrontation between Coke, Pitman and Sarah Chalker and their murderous adversary will be decided against a background of apocalypse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9780385679909

C.C. Humphreys

An award-winning novelist, playwright, actor and teacher, Chris Humphreys has written 22 novels including ‘The French Executioner’ - runner up for the Steel Dagger for Thrillers, UK -‘The Jack Absolute Trilogy’, ‘Vlad–The Last Confession’, and ‘A Place Called Armageddon’. Chris adapted his 12th novel, ‘Shakespeare’s Rebel’ for the stage and it received its premiere in 2015 at Bard on the Beach, Vancouver, Canada. His novel ‘Plague’ won Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in 2015. ‘Chasing the Wind’ follows the daring adventures of 1930s aviatrix, Roxy Loewen. His modern crime novel, ‘One London Day’ was published in 2021. He recently completed his epic fantasy series for Gollancz, ‘Immortals’ Blood’, beginning with 'Smoke on the Glass'. His novels for young adult readers include, ‘The Runestone Saga Trilogy’ published by Knopf, as well as ‘The Tapestry Trilogy’. His latest novel is 'Someday I'll Find You', a WW2 epic romance. It was published by Doubleday Canada on June 6th 2023 and around the world on Spetember 5th 2023. His novels have been translated into thirteen languages. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of British Columbia, has been keynote speaker and Guest of Honour at several conferences - including the HNS North American Conference in Denver 2015. A busy audiobook narrator, as an actor Chris has performed on stages from London’s West End to Hollywood. Visit him at: https://www.authorchrishumphreys.com/

Reviews for Fire

[passion4reading_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

After reading about Pitman and Coke's first outing in Plague, I was looking forward to finding out about how the characters deal with a quite different terror. However, I gave up after only three chapters. Not only is the villain known from the first, thereby mirroring its predecessor, but the author introduces a supernatural sub-plot that seems at odds with the rest of the narrative. I realised by leafing through the pages that the account of the Great Fire, which was my main interest in the book, doesn't start until p. 213, so that just over 100 pages are devoted to it, which makes it appear almost like an afterthought rather than the main plot angle. It looks like the majority of the preceding pages is made up of another sub-plot, this time religious and involving the Fifth Monarchists, thereby again mirroring its predecessor.While I appreciate historic authenticity, this doesn't necessarily apply to the language used in the book, except for the odd historic term that anchors the narrative in time. The author chose to use archaic English not only for the dialogue (fair enough) but also for the majority of the omniscient POV, which slows down the pace considerably. I found that I could not engage with the characters this time and decided to cut my losses. Time is scarce and there are more appealing books on the shelf waiting to be read.