ARC Review: “A Killing Fire” by Faye Snowden

“A Killing Fire” by Faye Snowden

Publishing Date: August 8, 2019

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

Synopsis:

The first time Raven Burns saw her father kill, the victim was her mother. Afterwards, Floyd “FIRE” Burns set the house on fire, making Raven watch as the flames slithered across the yard like some unknowable language. Then he took her on a multi-state killing spree. She could’ve told or killed him in his sleep. But there were his constant whispers, his wet lips close to her ear saying that little girls who told were sent to hell, and their mothers were called down from heaven to take care of them.

By the time he is executed, Raven has become a cop with the sole purpose of putting men like him away. But she can’t escape Floyd’s terrorizing voice in her head, somehow guiding her steps while reminding her of the horrors he had forced her to witness. And she can’t escape the questions that continue to haunt her: Did witnessing make her complicit? Had the same evil that lived in her father taken residence in her soul?

The town of Byrd’s Landing, Louisiana appears to have made up its mind. The community accepts that Raven had nothing to do with Floyd’s crimes. But when Raven shoots a teenager who points what turns out to be an unloaded weapon at her, stories about Floyd resurface. The whispers begin. No voice is louder than wealthy socialite Hazel Westcott. When Westcott turns up dead in the backyard of her Big Bayou Lake estate, the doubting voices reach a deafening crescendo, and the ghosts of her past rise up to greet her. To catch Westcott’s killer, Raven must come to terms once and for all with who she is. And who she is not. (description from Goodreads)

Review:

This story follows Raven Burns, a homicide detective in the midst of a murder case.Raven struggles with the fact that she is the daughter of Floyd Burns, a notorious serial killer. She works as a cop to prove to herself and others, that she is nothing like him. She can’t seem to escape from the past, no matter how hard she tries.

The story is set in the present day, but has numerous flashbacks to the past. We see how Floyd has affected Raven and pulled her into his web and also the pure evil is as he destroys the lives of the innocent. His charming demeanor is offsetting to the reader because we know what all he’s capable of.

Raven fights a internal struggle through the novel because her tumultuous childhood and a tragic case from her job as a cop. She wants to make the right decisions in her job, but it’s difficult because it’s hard to look at everything through a “black and white” lens. People are not as they seem.

Billy Ray (her partner) and Raven work really well together as a duo. They read each other minds and are also good at discovering the subtlest of clues. They have a brotherly/sisterly relationship in which they can really confide in each other. As they solve the case, secrets about the town’s police department, local government, and people come to light making it for a thrilling read.

What I enjoyed the most about this book is though it follows some classic mystery genre tropes it stands out among many other mystery books I’ve read. Snowden lures her readers into a tangled web of lies inviting them to solve the mystery. The characters were diverse and complex which I appreciated. Readers are not sure of who to trust (including our narrator, Raven) and I like the way their backstories are pieced together as the plot progresses.

I would love to read more from Snowden in the future! The novel was gripping, intense, and suspenseful-everything I want in a crime fiction novel.

*Trigger warnings: Violence, Death

Final Verdict: