I’m pleased to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for The Burning Men, first in an exciting new crime series by Will Shindler. Thank you to Jenny Platt and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.
About the book:
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 gritty Finn and Paulsen series – a British detective series that ranks with Mark Billingham, M.J. Arlidge, Staurt Macbride.
About the author:
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.
My Review:
The Burning Men by Will Shindler is the first in a brand new crime series featuring DI Alex Finn and his partner DC Mattie Paulsen. Alex has recently been widowed, but is determined to return to work to head up the investigation into ‘the burning men’, a series of horrifying deaths that appear to centre around a devastating fire that happened five years previously.
There isn’t anything I didn’t love about this book! It’s always exciting to discover a fledgling new series to sink your teeth into, so I jumped at the chance to read this one. And I’m so glad I did! I liked DI Finn from the outset, his grief at the loss of his wife palpable as he tries to throw himself back into work. Partnered with Mattie Paulsen, a DC with a hard exterior and somewhat difficult past, Alex begins the arduous task of trying to find out the truth behind the deaths.
What follows is a gripping and fast paced thriller that once started I could not put down. With twists, turns and surprises throughout, this is a book that kept me guessing right up until the final reveal. With a strong plot and a cast of memorable characters, Will Shindler has written an impressive debut that has left me wanting more. I can’t wait to see more of DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen in the future! An unlikely partnership, but one that works incredibly well in this new and exciting police procedural series.
Highly recommended.
The Burning Men by Will Shindler is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 