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Book Summary and Reviews of What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall

What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall

What Fire Brings

A Thriller

by Rachel Howzell Hall

  • Critics' Consensus (9):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2024, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A writer's search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she's supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she's not there to write a thriller―she's there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham's property.

The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are―for the other women who have also gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Nothing is what it seems in this tour de force." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Classic gothic and Hitchcockian themes take on post-COVID-19 twists here, fueling paranoia and shifting realities as Hall crafts harrowing what-ifs around writers' relationships with their stories." ―Booklist

"An aspiring suspense writer searches for her missing friend in this intricate…chiller from bestseller Hall." ―Publishers Weekly

"Rachel Howzell Hall is a master of the psychological suspense thriller. What Fire Brings delivers shocking secrets, surprises on every page, and a killer twist that will leave you breathless. A must-read!" ―Melinda Leigh, #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author

"This one will keep you guessing! Hall's considerable talent is on full display as she expertly deploys misdirection and subterfuge in a riveting tale of intrigue and suspense where nothing is as it seems. The past collides with the present to forever alter the future while the twists keep coming until the final shocking reveal. If you love an intricate plot with well-crafted prose, incisive insight, and complex characters, do not miss this propulsive mystery by a superb storyteller!" ―Isabella Maldonado, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

"Crackling wildfires, dark secrets, and a serial killer on the loose. Rachel Howzell Hall's What Fire Brings is a captivating and creepy thrill ride through the California canyons, right up to the final and fiery twisty end." ―Wanda M. Morris, award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets and Anywhere You Run

This information about What Fire Brings was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Rachel Howzell Hall

Rachel Howzell Hall is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last One; What Never Happened; We Lie Here; These Toxic Things; And Now She's Gone; They All Fall Down; and, with James Patterson, The Good Sister, which was included in Patterson's collection The Family Lawyer. A two-time Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist as well as an Anthony, Edgar, International Thriller Writers, and Lefty Award nominee, Rachel is also the author of Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes, and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series. A past member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America, Rachel has been a featured writer on NPR's acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast; she has also served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Rachel lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. For more information, visit www.rachelhowzell.com.

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