Publication: 6th February 2020 – Hodder & Stoughton
When a development in South London catches fire mid-construction, a close-knit team of fire fighters runs in to save a man spotted at the window.
They come out without a body. They quit the service. They plan never to speak to each other again.
Five years later one of them is set alight at his own wedding. Soon after, a second is found, nothing but a smoking corpse. It appears that someone knows what they did that night. What they chose over their duty. And there are still three men left to burn . . .
DI Alex Finn and his new partner DC Mattie Paulsen are an unlikely pairing, but they need to discover who is behind these killings before the next man faces the fire.
This is first in Will Shindler’s Finn and Paulsen series – a British detective series that ranks with Mark Billingham, M.J. Arlidge, Stuart MacBride.
Amazon.co.uk: https://amzn.to/31Cm2hy
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I am delighted to welcome you on my stop of The Burning Men, the gripping debut novel by Will Shindler.
That’s exactly what I needed… another police procedural series to get addicted to, but I couldn’t help myself because The Burning Men grabbed my attention and didn’t let it go.
The protagonist of the series is DI Alex Finn. He is back at work right after the death of his wife so he is not 100% on the job as he struggles with his grief and the ghost of his wife. Working with him is DC Mattie Paulsen. She’s just joined Finn’s team, but she doesn’t seem interested in interacting with her colleagues. She has her own demons to fight and it takes a while (almost the entire novel) to warm up to her, but I am already looking forward to read more about this character.
The case they are investigating started five years earlier when firefighters entered a burning building to save a man and came out empty-handed… or so it seemed. Now, someone is targeting them and the police needs to find the killer before he kills all of them.
As you read, the story seems very straightforward but there are so many twists that you won’t see coming and that will take you by surprise. If you are looking for murder, you will find plenty of it. There is also corruption, robbery, and blackmail, all wrapped up together in a story that is fast-paced and intense. The characters are well-portrayed and feel very authentic.
If you are still not convinced, there is an ending that will leave you holding your breath. And I am not talking about the final revelations and surprises that close the story, but I am talking about the very last line that made me gasp in surprise. Simply brilliant!
I’d like to thank Jenny and Hodder & Stoughton for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a copy of this fantastic novel.
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Will Shindler has been a Broadcast Journalist for the BBC for over twenty-five years, spending a decade working in television drama as a scriptwriter on Born and Bred, The Bill and Doctors. His time on these leading prime time dramas has given him a rich grounding in authentic police procedure, powerful character development and gripping narratives. He currently combines reading the news on BBC Radio London with writing crime novels and has previously worked as a television presenter for HTV, a sports reporter for BBC Radio Five Live, and one of the stadium presenters at the London Olympics. The Burning Men is his first novel.
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