Book Review: Blazing Obsession

Matador publishing out of the UK provided me with a copy of one of their new titles called Blazing Obsession.A novel about a serial arsonist and the long road to justice one of his victims must endure.

BlazingThis novel was a little outside what I normally read. Amateur sluths proving the police wrong is not something I as a police investigator typically find entertaining. But given the aspect of the fire/arson element I decided to give it a try.

Wow am I glad I gave it that try. This was a book that was hard to put down. With every twist in the plot I felt the need to know what was going to happen next.

The basic plot is about a guy named James Hamilton. He owns a string of car dealerships in London England. The story opens with the death of his family in a house fire while he is at work. The story then flashes back to when James meets his wife.

The next few chapters tell the tale of the troubles their relationship has. Her ex-husband is jealous and kidnaps his son from her. Once that plot is resolved the story is back to the events of the family being killed in the fire.

Arson is obvious right from the start of the investigation. Quickly a DNA match is made to a suspect, but he will never be found guilty of his crime. That then kicks off James’s journey to find why this arsonist set the fire. He also needs to find out if that suspect is actually the person who did it or not. There are a few twists and turns that cause the finger of blame to be pointed at a number of people.

Speaking of pointing blame… The police suspect James as a prime suspect right from the start. They think he killed the family for a number of reasons including insurance pay out and an infidelity issue. So not only is he hunting the killer he has to keep the police off his back.

Being set in England made the story interesting to me. Some of the terms and the process they use is different from what I use here in the US. Even if fiction it gives insight to how police someplace else work.

So in the end if you are looking for a thrilling read in the form of a page turing mystery check out Blazing Obsession.