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emilyrainsford's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
And Fire Came Down, the second in the Aussie crime series about deaf PI Caleb Zelic, opens as its predecessor did - straight into the action. A woman seeks Caleb out while he's out for a run and attempts to communicate with him in poor sign language before stepping in front of a van and dying. She must have known about him to have attempted sign, but who was she and why did she need his help? Driven by guilt and his demons, the trail leads him back to his home town of Resurrection Bay.
This one is even darker in tone than the previous one, I would say. Caleb is suffering PTSD from his experiences in book 1 and his life is slowly crashing down around him. He is drawn into uncovering a tangled web of darkness in the Bay, including drugs, underage sex work and racially motivated violence. Will he risk his tenuous relationships with the only people he loves - brother Ant and ex-wife Kat - to discover what happened to the woman he watched die?
I wouldn't call this one edge of the seat in terms of caring about the mystery element, but then the previous one wasn't for me either. The real meat of these books is the characters and how invested you become in them. The mystery itself is almost peripheral to Caleb's personal journey. I really like the character of Ant - he's like the Ruhn of contemporary crime stories. Kat I find myself getting a bit frustrated with - she needs to take her own advice on the open communication front IMO, and maybe cut my boi Caleb some slack. But I find myself really enjoying my time with them and wanting to know what happens to them.
Once again, I have to say I definitely did not pick the outcome or whodunnit of the mystery aspect, although I have to admit that I wasn't as invested in that as the characters (similarly to the first).
This is definitely a pretty heavy, gnarly read, with trigger warnings including suicidal ideation and a lynching. But I'm actually really enjoying these books and I'm glad there are more to continue on with.
This one is even darker in tone than the previous one, I would say. Caleb is suffering PTSD from his experiences in book 1 and his life is slowly crashing down around him. He is drawn into uncovering a tangled web of darkness in the Bay, including drugs, underage sex work and racially motivated violence. Will he risk his tenuous relationships with the only people he loves - brother Ant and ex-wife Kat - to discover what happened to the woman he watched die?
I wouldn't call this one edge of the seat in terms of caring about the mystery element, but then the previous one wasn't for me either. The real meat of these books is the characters and how invested you become in them. The mystery itself is almost peripheral to Caleb's personal journey. I really like the character of Ant - he's like the Ruhn of contemporary crime stories. Kat I find myself getting a bit frustrated with - she needs to take her own advice on the open communication front IMO, and maybe cut my boi Caleb some slack. But I find myself really enjoying my time with them and wanting to know what happens to them.
Once again, I have to say I definitely did not pick the outcome or whodunnit of the mystery aspect, although I have to admit that I wasn't as invested in that as the characters (similarly to the first).
This is definitely a pretty heavy, gnarly read, with trigger warnings including suicidal ideation and a lynching. But I'm actually really enjoying these books and I'm glad there are more to continue on with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Addiction, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
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