A Slow Fire Burning is Paula Hawkins’ third novel, following on from the global phenomena The Girl on the Train and Into the Water. Readers, I devoured it in two days.
Paula Hawkins (Photo by Alisa Connan).
Main characters Miriam, Laura and Carla have all experienced a singular tragedy that has changed the trajectory of their previously happy lives. It has left them broken, trying to navigate through life with wounds that refuse to heal, simmering in the background of their lives, threatening to erupt.
There are secrets and lies winding round and round, with Hawkins ratcheting up the tension. The title of this book is the perfect descriptor of the characters’ emotions, with only a spark needed to set the whole situation aflame (the eruption comes with the discovery of a body on a houseboat in London). Hawkins reveals piece-by-piece the characters’ lives and interactions, slowly but surely tightening the web of the connections between them. They all have a connection to the victim, and as these bonds are explored by the police investigating the crime, further ties emerge and soon they are all under the microscope. Is one of them capable of such a heinous crime?
Each of the characters are deeply flawed, capable of both kindness and cruelty, and this is something that Hawkins is immensely skilled at, allowing the reader to ‘dislike’ a character but still be invested in their story. As a reader, you are ultimately drawn into their complexity so well that you begin to wonder, ‘What would I have done?’. This is what makes a great psychological thriller, disturbing the moral status quo, challenging where the reader really stands, and also exploring whether good people can do bad things given the right set of circumstances.
The pacing of the novel is perfectly pitched, creating an atmosphere of a ‘slow burn’ while not allowing the narrative to drag — a feat not many authors can achieve. The resulting book is an engaging page-turner which doesn’t need to rely on excessive plot twists, extreme revelations or any other gimmicks frequently appearing in today’s thriller genre. The novel speaks of an author confident in her writing and the story she has to tell.
If you’re looking for a smart, well-written mystery, then this is the book for you.
—A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins (Penguin Books Australia) is out now.
A Slow Fire Burning
'What is wrong with you?'
Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She's seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous. Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes, that doesn't mean she's a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She trusts no one: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace? ...
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