Firewatching

By Russ Thomas

"A pitch-perfect blend of the best of the old and the best of the new--all the traditional strengths and charms are here, with a fresh and relevant twenty first-century edge. I loved it."--Lee Child

A taut and ambitious police procedural debut introducing Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler, a cold case reviewer who lands a high-profile murder investigation, only to find the main suspect is his recent one-night stand . . .

When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he'd gone on the run from his creditors. But then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright's burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive.

As the sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but he knows this is the case that might finally kick start his floundering career. Luckily, he already has a suspect. Unluckily, that suspect is Cartwright's son, the man Tyler slept with the night before.

Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. Soon their investigation will come up against close-lipped townsfolk, an elderly woman with dementia who's receiving mysterious threats referencing a past she can't remember, and an escalating series of conflagrations set by a troubled soul intent on watching the world burn . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Feb 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9780525542049

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

[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.

[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.