The Bookseller
'...debut in a series to feature detective Lena Gamble is thoroughly unpredictable, which is what thriller reader want.'
Independent on Sunday
'Definitely a good one.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Three stars but a high three stars.
Lena Gamble is alone in the world. Her parents died when she was young and she and her brother ran away from foster care. Her brother became a successful music star and she joined the police. When he died she was devistated. She's now a detective, still wondering about her brother's unsolved murder.
Her family are her fellow cops. Her partner Novak is almost a substitute father figure and he decides to give her the next case for her to lead for the first time. It looks straighforward enough. A wife killed by a husband, but there's something not quite right about it and when a second happens with similar methods the husband is no longer a suspect and when they start digging things start getting more complicated. Lena finds herself as a focus for the murderer.
Along with this the cold case investigation of her brother's death progresses.
It's a gritty fairly realistic thriller and while some of the coincidences are a little overdone the story winds its way to it's conclusion well. Some of the twists took me by surprise and kept me wondering about motives and reasoning. It's one of those stories where the reader knows the murderer from fairly early on, but the detectives know little about what's going on until near the end. I found it a satisfying read but nothing spectacular.
Lena Gamble is alone in the world. Her parents died when she was young and she and her brother ran away from foster care. Her brother became a successful music star and she joined the police. When he died she was devistated. She's now a detective, still wondering about her brother's unsolved murder.
Her family are her fellow cops. Her partner Novak is almost a substitute father figure and he decides to give her the next case for her to lead for the first time. It looks straighforward enough. A wife killed by a husband, but there's something not quite right about it and when a second happens with similar methods the husband is no longer a suspect and when they start digging things start getting more complicated. Lena finds herself as a focus for the murderer.
Along with this the cold case investigation of her brother's death progresses.
It's a gritty fairly realistic thriller and while some of the coincidences are a little overdone the story winds its way to it's conclusion well. Some of the twists took me by surprise and kept me wondering about motives and reasoning. It's one of those stories where the reader knows the murderer from fairly early on, but the detectives know little about what's going on until near the end. I found it a satisfying read but nothing spectacular.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Hollywood Robbery-Homicide Detective Lena Gamble is the central character in a contemporary serial killer thriller set against a backdrop of forest-fire ravaged Los Angeles. The media cynically nickname the vicious killer Romeo, not the most accurate of descriptions as there is nothing romantic about his modus operandi. But the reader knows exactly who Romeo is from a relatively early stage, knowing his name, where he works and most importantly his motives and twisted psychology. Meanwhile the burden that Lena Gamble perpetually bears is the memory of her late brother, a successful rock star who was shot dead five years earlier but whose murder was never solved.
The most interesting character in City of Fire is probably Romeo, the serial killer everyone wants to track down. All the others, including Lena Gamble, are rather forgettable individuals which means that the novel depends heavily on the basic story. Fortunately that element comes to the rescue of the book's quest for success, because not only is it a mostly gripping story from start to finish, it also contains what were for me a couple of thick and juicy surprise twists at the end that I really hadn't seen coming at all. There's a degree of clever reader manipulation going on here, because your emotions will swing one way then the other and maybe swing yet again, in a novel containing characters that you start out liking but end up detesting, and vice versa. In truth though that's suggesting that I really cared about the good guys when there was never a time that I did. I'm not sure if this is the first in a series to feature Lena Gamble, but it's a marginal call as to whether she cuts it sufficiently to carry one alone. The inevitable comparison would be Harry Bosch, created and perfected by Michael Connelly who gives this novel a plug on the front cover. But Bosch is several leagues above in terms of characterisation and how much the reader cares, because Lena Gamble is nothing special.
In spite of that, the novel is definitely worth reading, and although it's a touch too long in the middle the ending is excellent and full of surprises, so it's not a mistake to reveal the killer's identity so soon by any means. In hindsight, it couldn't have been done any other way. One of the highlights was the detailed examination of Romeo's psychopathic personality, something that few serial-killer novel writers attempt to do but Ellis does so with conviction and skill.
The most interesting character in City of Fire is probably Romeo, the serial killer everyone wants to track down. All the others, including Lena Gamble, are rather forgettable individuals which means that the novel depends heavily on the basic story. Fortunately that element comes to the rescue of the book's quest for success, because not only is it a mostly gripping story from start to finish, it also contains what were for me a couple of thick and juicy surprise twists at the end that I really hadn't seen coming at all. There's a degree of clever reader manipulation going on here, because your emotions will swing one way then the other and maybe swing yet again, in a novel containing characters that you start out liking but end up detesting, and vice versa. In truth though that's suggesting that I really cared about the good guys when there was never a time that I did. I'm not sure if this is the first in a series to feature Lena Gamble, but it's a marginal call as to whether she cuts it sufficiently to carry one alone. The inevitable comparison would be Harry Bosch, created and perfected by Michael Connelly who gives this novel a plug on the front cover. But Bosch is several leagues above in terms of characterisation and how much the reader cares, because Lena Gamble is nothing special.
In spite of that, the novel is definitely worth reading, and although it's a touch too long in the middle the ending is excellent and full of surprises, so it's not a mistake to reveal the killer's identity so soon by any means. In hindsight, it couldn't have been done any other way. One of the highlights was the detailed examination of Romeo's psychopathic personality, something that few serial-killer novel writers attempt to do but Ellis does so with conviction and skill.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A brutal and frightening crime begins this thriller set in LA during a summer of forest fires. We soon realise that this is to be an ongoing spree of violence. Seen mostly through the eyes of relatively new detective Lena Gamble whose brothers death seems to have some connection with current events we are twisted this way and that as the red herrings pile up for detectives on the case.
Yet the reader knows something they do not - we are in on the identity of the killer from very early on.
You'd think this might spoil the suspense somewhat - it doesn't.
You'd think this might proclude the usual "all is revealed" ending" - it doesn't.
Well written, well plotted and intriguing - I look forward to reading more from Ellis and more about Lena Gamble.
Yet the reader knows something they do not - we are in on the identity of the killer from very early on.
You'd think this might spoil the suspense somewhat - it doesn't.
You'd think this might proclude the usual "all is revealed" ending" - it doesn't.
Well written, well plotted and intriguing - I look forward to reading more from Ellis and more about Lena Gamble.
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