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santreads's review
2.0
This book confused me. It was full of woke thoughts mixed with non-woke ones. Is the author just trying to show the dichotomy of life and the people in society or is he just confused and wanted to fuse a bunch of issues together in a book?
The premise of the book is that a gay FBI agent is sent to a small town in Greece to investigate a bunch of fires that are taking place there. This FBI agent, who we are made to try to love in the first chapter itself when he saves a dog from a burning fire. I mean, meh, that felt a little manipulative.
I did however, like the way the author tried to showcase a bunch of societal issues such as the refugee crisis. I thought that was well done where he showed you the two sides of people who react to the crisis - the ones who want to help and the ones who are afraid and think they’re going to pillage their country.
This book promised to be a romance thriller, I don’t know about the romance, but it was a thriller. Though the book did keep me guessing as to who the arsonist is, I was never fully invested in the characters - I thought their arcs were jagged even though the author did try to give us a backstory for most of them.
It still was an okay read and would give this 2 stars. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.
The premise of the book is that a gay FBI agent is sent to a small town in Greece to investigate a bunch of fires that are taking place there. This FBI agent, who we are made to try to love in the first chapter itself when he saves a dog from a burning fire. I mean, meh, that felt a little manipulative.
I did however, like the way the author tried to showcase a bunch of societal issues such as the refugee crisis. I thought that was well done where he showed you the two sides of people who react to the crisis - the ones who want to help and the ones who are afraid and think they’re going to pillage their country.
This book promised to be a romance thriller, I don’t know about the romance, but it was a thriller. Though the book did keep me guessing as to who the arsonist is, I was never fully invested in the characters - I thought their arcs were jagged even though the author did try to give us a backstory for most of them.
It still was an okay read and would give this 2 stars. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.
theunreadshelf's review
2.0
(Thanks to the publisher for the free ebook for review.) Fire on the Island is set on a remote Greek island. Its population struggles with economic depression and the daily arrivals of refugees on its shores. Amidst its problems, small fires have been started across the island. The mayor fears the arsonist is headed towards the fuel tank, sitting in the center of town. A Greek-American FBI agent arrives in town to secretly investigate. Along the way, he starts an affair with the brother of a restaurant owner and gets tangled up in the complicated stories of the villagers.
This book just didn't work for me, and I'm still trying to figure out if it's just personal preference or something more. The setting on the Greek island was interesting - the feeling of claustrophobia that all the inhabitants feel, the long family histories that everyone knows. But the focus of the story was not on the arsons. It was on the complicated love lives of the villagers and their reminiscences of opportunities missed. There are multiple narrators, some of them pretty unlikeable, and there is sexual content that made me shudder (like a teenage girl having sex with a priest). There was very little action around the arson mystery itself, and the anticlimactic ending left me unsatisfied. I also still don't understand why an American FBI agent would be sent to investigate small fires, with no victims, on a backwater Greek island.
This book just didn't work for me, and I'm still trying to figure out if it's just personal preference or something more. The setting on the Greek island was interesting - the feeling of claustrophobia that all the inhabitants feel, the long family histories that everyone knows. But the focus of the story was not on the arsons. It was on the complicated love lives of the villagers and their reminiscences of opportunities missed. There are multiple narrators, some of them pretty unlikeable, and there is sexual content that made me shudder (like a teenage girl having sex with a priest). There was very little action around the arson mystery itself, and the anticlimactic ending left me unsatisfied. I also still don't understand why an American FBI agent would be sent to investigate small fires, with no victims, on a backwater Greek island.
a_robin_reads's review against another edition
3.0
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Information:
- Netgalley ARC ebook
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Review:
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.
The first thing I wanted to mention is that I think this book wasn't marketed well. Is says that it's a romantic thriller, but it's more like a drama I think. Also the synopsis is a bit of a spoiler I think.
What I liked:
The characters
The writing
What I didn't like:
The multiple perspectives were a bit much
The story wasn't that interesting to me
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Review previously placed on my blog:
Review previously placed on my blog:
I'm currently reading Fire on the island by Timothy Jay Smith. I got this book from Netgalley, so thanks to them. I'm really liking this so far. It's well written and has a good pace. Would give it 4 stars right now.
This book was a bit of a disappointment to me. This is marketed as a thriller and it really wasn't. It's more of a drama I think. Also the synopsis gave something away that was only mentioned on like 60% of the book, which was very annoying. Therefore this book was less enjoyable. The story itself was also not very interesting and there were a bit too many character switches for me. The characters were good and fun to read about. The writing, as I said, was nice and the pace was pretty good. Overall a solid book I think, but not awesome. Therefore I gave it 3 stars.
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storiesonmydoor's review
4.0
This book is set in a Greek village and like in any village, people here are full of secrets -- be it the 17 year old Athina or the old priest. The best thing about this book is that despite having so many characters, the author had given us enough backstories and different traits to each character that they were easily distinguishable. I cared for the characters, I was rooting for them, the mystery was engaging. I was trying to guess who the arsonist was. It was fun!
I especially loved the sections from the deaf kid's perspective. I never thought how growing up a deaf kid's experience could be different than my own. Kudos to the author for that!
The book touches the themes of homophobia and xenophobia and I think it did really good job of that. I like this book, I would recommend it to people.
This book got an extra star from me only because of the deaf kid's sections.
I especially loved the sections from the deaf kid's perspective. I never thought how growing up a deaf kid's experience could be different than my own. Kudos to the author for that!
The book touches the themes of homophobia and xenophobia and I think it did really good job of that. I like this book, I would recommend it to people.
This book got an extra star from me only because of the deaf kid's sections.
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