Book Review - The Fire Child by SK Tremayne

Title - The Fire Child

Author - S.K. Tremayne

Publisher - Harper Collins

Purchase link - click here

Synopsis from Goodreads -

When Rachel marries dark, handsome David, everything seems to fall into place. Swept from single life in London to the beautiful Carnhallow House in Cornwall, she gains wealth, love, and an affectionate stepson, Jamie.

But then Jamie’s behaviour changes, and Rachel’s perfect life begins to unravel. He makes disturbing predictions, claiming to be haunted by the spectre of his late mother – David’s previous wife. Is this Jamie’s way of punishing Rachel, or is he far more traumatized than she thought?

As Rachel starts digging into the past, she begins to grow suspicious of her husband. Why is he so reluctant to discuss Jamie’s outbursts? And what exactly happened to cause his ex-wife’s untimely death, less than two years ago? As summer slips away and December looms, Rachel begins to fear there might be truth in Jamie’s words:

‘You will be dead by Christmas.’

My Review

 

I was so keen to read this book as I'd heard so much about the Authors other book "The Ice Twins".

The main characters in the book are Rachel, her new Husband and her young Stepson Jamie. Rachel, who comes from a dysfunctional and fairly poor background, marries rich widower David and moves into this family mansion in Cornwall. It's by the coast and on the edge of the mines, which have been in David's family for years. These mines hold many bad memories.

 

The house is enormous and David's Widowed Mother lives in one wing of the house. The description the author gave of the house was very vivid and I could picture it in my mind as the author took you through it. This was a great strength of the author; the descriptions not just of the house but of the area, the mines and the coastline.

 

There were some very strange "going's on" in the house and the book does have a slight dark side to it. Who is Jamie talking to? Sometimes the threads to the story were left hanging.

 

The relationship between Jamie and Rachel was well written; sometimes trying; sometimes moving. I didn't feel any connection with any of the other characters in the book though and sometimes felt them lacking a little substance.

 

The plot to me, was a little slow going and I found it hard to get into sometimes as it didn't grip me liked I hoped it would. There was a twist at the end of the book as you would expect but I felt a little let down with where the book went after that, right at the end. I was left wanting more and was disappointed. It's just that this book to me, seemed to be missing something but I can't quite put my finger on what. Sadly just not gripping enough a read.

 

It doesn't put me off though, and as several people have recommended it to me, I will still read the Ice Twins.