Firewatching: The Number One Bestseller

By Russ Thomas

'Clever and compulsive' LOUISE CANDLISH 
'A fantastic read' JAMES DELARGY
'I loved it' LEE CHILD
‘It's everything you could want from a crime novel' SARAH WARD
'A bold and brilliant new voice in crime fiction' KATE RHODES

A WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH
_____________________________ 

One wrong move will ignite the city . . .
 
A body is found bricked into a wall of the Old Vicarage. From the state of the hands, it’s clear the dead man was buried alive. When the man is connected to an old missing person’s case, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is called.
 
After an ‘incident’, Tyler needs this case to go well in order to prove himself and get his career back on track. But he soon discovers that he has a connection to the case that hopelessly compromises him. He makes the snap decision not to tell his superiors, certain that he is the only one that can solve the crime. Now Tyler must move carefully to find out the truth, without destroying the case or himself.

Meanwhile, someone in the city knows exactly what happened to the body. Someone who is watching Tyler closely. Someone with an unhealthy obsession with fire . . .

A taut investigative thriller bursting with character and tension, introducing an enigmatic, fresh lead detective unlike any you have met before. Perfect for fans of Adrian McKinty, Tana French, Steve Cavanagh and Sharon Bolton.

 
PRAISE FOR FIREWATCHING
 
‘Taut, intelligent and fast moving, Thomas tells his story with admirable skill' DAILY MAIL 
‘An intriguing start to a new series, introducing a pleasingly misanthropic new hero with the requisite traumatic past' OBSERVER
‘A gripping new British gay crime thriller that kept us guessing right up to its incendiary climax . . . We couldn’t put it down' ATTITUDE 
'Totally absorbed me’ CASS GREEN
'Intelligent, pacy and compelling’ SARAH WARD
'A fantastic read with a plot that left me guessing and a cast of very real and well imagined characters' JAMES DELARGY 
‘A cracking read with a terrific new detective lead. Red hot debut for 2020’ SARAH HILARY
‘Russ Thomas is a bold and brilliant new voice in crime fiction, his talent blazes as fiercely as the flames that rage through his book. Really wonderful, imaginative writing’ KATE RHODES
‘DS Adam Tyler navigates a complex cast of villains and victims in a cold case that suddenly turns very, very hot' LOUISE CANDLISH  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781471180941

Russ Thomas

Russ Thomas was born in Essex, raised in Berkshire and now lives in Sheffield. After a few 'proper' jobs (among them: pot-washer, optician's receptionist, supermarket warehouse operative, call-centre telephonist and storage salesman) he discovered the joys of bookselling, where he could talk to people about books all day. His highly acclaimed debut novel, Firewatching, is the first in the DS Adam Tyler series and published in February 2020. Nighthawking and Cold Reckoning, the second and third books in the series, followed in 2021 and 2022.  To find out more, visit his website or follow him on Twitter:  https://russthomasauthor.com T: @thevoiceofruss

Reviews for Firewatching

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

DS Tyler, who works in the cold case unit, wangles his way onto the team investigating the discovery of the body of a man who went missing six years ago, bricked up behind a wall in his cellar.I liked Tyler, and I found the police procedural parts very readable. However the arson blog posts were long and took me out of the story, and I got tired of the drip feeding of clues from Lilian too. I felt Tyler and his DC Rabbani didn't really gel as a duo, so if they are going to appear in future books there is work to do there. My other issues with the story include all the pointless interviewing, where the police asked a few questions of people they could tell were lying or withholding information, and then just left it at that. Finally, the solving of the case necessitated the arsonist explaining (and it took pages) exactly what had happened. While this explanation did tie things up neatly, it wasn't particularly emotionally satisfactory and depended on most of the characters having felt it was best to cover up terrible crimes for years.

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Firewatching – A scorching debutFirewatching is the debut thriller of Russ Thomas and a gripping one at that. Thank God he escaped from doing a proper job and stuck with writing. Though I am sure there are many authors who will point out, writing is a proper job especially when you are published – eventually.Firewatching besides being Russ Thomas’ debut thriller it is also the introduction to a new crime fighting detective, DS Adam Tyler. Based in Sheffield and with the South Yorkshire Police Force, Tyler is unusual for anyone from SY Police, he actually finds criminals, maybe the real South Yorkshire Police might like to give that a go for a change?Called out to a cold case in an old vicarage where the body of a long-deceased body has been found behind a wall in the cellar. So begins a story, of sexual deviancy, abuse, and murder, which somehow Tyler will have to work, sometimes in spite of himself, and maybe even to prove some of his colleagues wrong.Used to working on his own, he has been partnered up WPC Rabbani, an aspiring detective, who gets put upon by DC Doggett and DS Daley. She has a grudging respect for Tyler, especially when he remembers they are supposed to be working as a team.With an arsonist and a murderer on the loose, Tyler has no time to lose, except on his nights off, when by chance he ends up in the bed of Oscar, the murder victims son. Tyler cannot workout if Oscar purposefully made a play for him, but he does trust his friend Sally-Ann.Little does Tyler know, how much this investigation is going to cost him, physically and mentally, it might even cost him his job. Trying to do the right thing, he has to omit facts that will come back and bite him later.It does not help, the village where the Old Vicarage is like the village of the damned. Everyone has a secret, could be the killer and someone likes burning things, even the church. What Tyler has to hope is that he does not become the target of the Firewatcher at any point.This is an excellent debut thriller with a few twists, that will leave you breathless and impressed. When you think you have worked out who the killer is, there is that twist that shows you how wrong you are.This is certainly a scorcher of a debut, which starts with a fire and possibly ends with a fire, with plenty of excellent story telling in the middle.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler works cold cases. When a body is found behind a brick wall in an unoccupied manor, Tyler thinks this will be a case for him. The manor belonged to Gerry Cartwright who had been presumed to disappear on his own one step ahead of law enforcement six years earlier. But the detective who worked on the case before wants to be the one in charge this time too.Tyler is sort of on his last chance as a police officer. He's a gay man who attacked a superior who was harassing him and is only on the force because his godmother who is a higher ranked officer stood up for him. He tends to overcompensate in his cold cases and often times makes the original detectives look bad which doesn't endear him to them. He does manage to force his way into the case only to find that the main suspect is the man he had a one night stand with the night before. Oscar Cartwright looks like a perfect suspect and the detective in charge is ready to arrest him but Adam isn't so sure.Throw in a woman with dementia who is being blackmailed for something she doesn't remember and a series of suspicious fires and the plot gets nicely complicated. It also adds complications that the murder occurs in a small town where everyone knows each other and everyone had some sort of relationship with Gerald Cartwright including a number of the police officers.I enjoyed this mystery and was surprised when the villain was revealed. Tyler is an interesting and comlex character that I want to read more about.

[nicx27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been looking forward to reading Firewatching for ages and boy do I wish I had read this fabulous book sooner. DS Adam Tyler solely represents South Yorkshire Police's Cold Case Department. When a body is found in a house at the edge of the Peak District he finds it's linked to a cold case and he quickly becomes involved in the investigation. The title of the book refers to somebody who is setting fires and whilst this isn't the focus of the book initially, it soon becomes clear that there may be more to it than first meets the eye.What a protagonist Adam Tyler is. He's a gay man struggling to survive in a toxic environment where anyone who falls into a minority group is ridiculed and bullied. And yet he's a strong person, using his standoffishness as a defence mechanism. I really enjoyed how he strengthened relations with his colleagues as the story progressed.The book is set in Sheffield and, as a Sheffielder I loved that. It's always such a delight to recognise the backdrop to a story. The small village in the Peak District that features strongly was also portrayed perfectly. The sense of everybody knowing everything about you really came through and I was enthralled as everything unravelled.At 430 pages this is not a short book but I raced through it. The plotting is superb. Russ Thomas is so skilled at building up the story without giving anything away to the extent that I was totally pulled into the unfolding events with not a clue where any of it was heading, right the way up to the denouement which elicited a "what?!" from me. I had no idea!I suppose you could call Firewatching a police procedural. It's mostly about the police investigations, with added input from two elderly ladies who live in the village. But where some police procedurals seem to be to be rather dull, this one is so alive with tension and intrigue it's practically on fire (see what I did there?).In case you hadn't guessed, I thought this book was an absolute cracker. I couldn't put it down and found it thoroughly engrossing. I'm now counting down to book two, Nighthawking.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Firewatching is a gold mine for character-driven readers. So much of this investigation revolves around the relationships between the characters both past and present. It was a bit difficult warming up to Adam Tyler because he works so hard to keep everyone at arm's length, but I finally did, and it had everything to do with those relationships I mentioned. Constable Amina Rabbani shows a lot of promise as a detective if a bit too much zeal, but she's been working hard to prove herself-- not only to her fellow police officers, but to her family who wants her to remain immersed in their strict Muslim culture.Occasional chapters, or blog posts, from the killer/arsonist have more to do with the story than merely deducing whodunit. I found the mounting numbers of page views, followers, and comments on these posts disturbing. This is a book that has a lot going on, and all the elements blend together nicely. I should have figured out the identity of the killer, but I was trying too hard to find out what made Tyler tick.Russ Thomas is a strong new voice in crime fiction, and I am definitely looking forward to more investigations with Adam Tyler.