This book had a lot of heart. It was clear that the author really loved Greece, especially the island he invented. That made me really happy as a Greek-American reader. The mystery was fun and light and kept me wanting to read. It was also very refreshing to see LGBT+ characters in this setting. I don't know if publishers actually read it, but some things did bother me. First of all, a Greek person would be named Luka, not Lukas. Second, I felt like the bouncing between characters made me a little disoriented and confused. Still, I had fun reading this and appreciate you representing my culture!

This book was an absorbing read. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop. Timothy Jay Smith writes gorgeous, evocative prose, and he’s a master of re-creating the mood of a particular time and location. Here, he whisked me away to Greece, with all its challenges and beauty, and enticed me to stay with a beguiling story of fire, passion, and mystery.

THE STORY
The arsonist has struck again. Eleven fires in eleven months. Each grows closer to the village of Vourvoulos. Closer to the village’s crumbling church tower, its struggling restaurants, its inhabitants. Closer to gigantic fuel tank that looms over the village. If the arsonist strikes there, the village will be destroyed. But why would anyone want to do this?

Just as Nick arrives in the village, the eleventh fire breaks out. When he jumps in and rescues an endangered dog, the villagers nickname him “superman.” As he’s welcomed into the community, he begins to investigate . . .

THE CHARACTERS
Multiple points of view give us insight into this diverse community. Smith creates very human characters, each with strengths, weaknesses, and motives, and does this with sympathy, understanding, and humor. They felt real, as if I might travel to Greece and eat at Lydia’s Kitchen or see the crumbling church bell tower or wander to the pier to watch the fishermen unload their catches–or see desperate refugees being rescued by the Coast Guard.

We get to meet NICK, the gay FBI agent posing at a writer in search of a book. His new lover/suspect TAKIS. (There’s plenty of steamy activity between those two!) Takis’ widowed sister VASSOULA, who runs a restaurant. Then there’s LYDIA, who runs the restaurant/bar next door, and her family: her parents, SHIRLEY and LUKAS, victims of the arsonist’s latest attack; her teen daughter ATHINA, determined to win the local beauty pageant with a scandalous costume of the Virgin Mary; and RIDI, the Albanian refugee who works at their restaurant, and has an incomplete grasp of the Greek language. He strives to learn the language and win Athina’s heart. But will he? (Their romance is one of the highlights of the book; I was cheering for them throughout the story!)

Don’t forget the handsome but duplicitous art forger/priest FATHER ALEXIS (who you’ll want to see get his comeuppance!) An endearing deaf boy nicknamed KOUFOS who wanders the village in search of food. There’s the mayor, the captain of the coast guard station, and are many others. It’s a large group of characters. Yet Smith draws each with such distinction that I never felt confused by anyone’s identity.

THE SETTING
The village bears the marks of its communist past. But it also shows the scars of the conflicts in culture and religion for centuries. The Exchange is one scar that even now, the village must grapple with. Smith does an excellent job of weaving in these historical events without it ever seeming like a history lesson. He shows the resilience of the survivors while also showing the violent resentment that lingers throughout the years.

Smith is good at showing the villagers’ conflicting responses to the refugees. There’s simmering resentment that refugees are being fed while the locals watch their businesses die as tourism shrivels up. The economic toll this takes on the already-struggling Greek economy is horrible. But so is the war that the refugees flee. It’s a real-life conflict, and Smith shows this with heart-breaking clarity and compassion.

THE MYSTERY
Smith is good at giving tantalizing clues to the arsonist’s identity. As a reader, I was constantly guessing at their significance. Is it a clue? Is it a red herring? The plot swept me along and, though the book had a great literary depth, it was also fun to read. Even though I did guess the arsonist’s identity, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the trail of clues the author led me along, nor did it diminish my thrill when the arsonist is finally revealed.

ONE FAVORITE THING . . .
As a writer myself, I thoroughly enjoyed Nick’s “cover”: he’s posing as a wannabe writer. Apparently the village gets quite a few of these types, because they accept this. It’s brilliant: this cover gives him license to ask nosy questions, and everyone wants to share the local gossip and legends with him because it “might make a great story!” And if anyone asks too many questions about the still-to-be-written book, Nick always says he’s still looking for inspiration. Writer’s block, you know.

Overall, this is an excellent book. Be forewarned that there are references to rape, depictions of racism, and some homophobic slurs used toward the gay characters. (However, these are realistic for the setting and add to the realistic portrayal of the country.) Highly recommended for mystery readers, especially those with an interest in LGBT-themed thrillers.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and Netgalley and was not required to write a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Note #2: This review will appear on my blog on July 7, 2020.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book. It is an entertaining mystery novel while dreaming of a summer vacation. Nothing spectacular but not boring enough either to put aside the book. Besides to many characters I wanted to find out who the arsenist was enjoying the history about Greece and Turkey and the romance.

I did not finish this book, I read about 25% of the novel and gave up. There were too many different point of views represented and it confused me.

It took me a while to get into this book. The writing seemed pretty superficial with no depth of description so I felt that I was just skimming the surface of the storyline.
I kept on reading however and began to engage a little more with the characters. The last quarter of the book was by far the most interesting in my view and thankfully all loose ends were tied by the last page - a particular grievance of mine when there are still questions to be answered.
There were a variety of genres touched upon in this book, eg historical, intrigue, racism, homophobia, romance, all set on a Greek island but somehow rather than adding to the story it had the opposite effect which is why I felt it lacked some substance.

FBI agent Nick Damigos finds himself undercover on the Greek island of Vourvoulos investigating a series of suspicious fires. Nick who is based in Athens has been sent to the island in response to a letter written to the American Embassy by the island's mayor appealing for its help to find out who is setting these fires. Nick's arrival on the island coincides with another one of the suspicious fires.

Vourvoulos is close to the Turkish coast and is an entry point for Syrian refugees on their way to mainland Europe. Most days refugees arrive on the island, dumped there by unscrupulous smugglers to whom they have paid exorbitant sums to get them to Europe. Vourvoulos is stuck in the economic decline of the Greek financial crisis and is hard pressed to absorb the refugees; there is a growling backlash against devoting precious resources to them rather than the needs of the island. There's lingering upset from "The Exchange" in the 1920's when Turks living on the island were forced to re-settle in Turkey, uprooted from their homes and lives on Vourvoulos.

Nick arrives on the island on an undercover assignment against this background. He encounters several unique characters: these include a crooked priest forging church icon for sale, a minor Russian oligarch living onboard a yacht with a rent boy, a feral deaf boy abandoned his gypsy parents and a love-struck Albanian waiter. NIck who is gay has a fling with Takis, an island bartender and a suspect in the arsons. The drama of the relationships and the characters' lives overwhelms the mystery story. There is some exciting action however, when someone attempts to murder by Nick filling his bed with deadly widow spiders. Contrasting this, there's moments of farce and even slapstick comedy, for example the priest's desperate machinations in exchanging genuine icons for his copies. Nick encounters several red herrings as his investigation proceeds, most of them related to relationship among the characters. The identity of the arsonist is eventually revealed in an exciting conclusion to the story.

There is plenty to suggest that this is the first of a series featuring Nick. A sequel would be welcomed.
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My thanks to Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley for providing a complementary advanced reading copy of "Fire on the Island". The comments about it are my own.

Fire on the Island is a rollercoaster ride of a romantic thriller. When FBI agent Nick comes to a small Grecian island to investigate a string of arson fires, he has no idea that he's stepping into a town that's about to boil over with political turmoil. Tension is around every turn, between the constant stream of refugees washing up on the island, to the cracking church bell, to the fires that are getting closer and closer to the Coast Guard tanks.

The characters in this story were complex, and throwing them together in such a charged situation made for some excellent drama and exciting thrills. Each character was involved in several subplots that all tied together wonderfully by the end. I would have preferred it if the characters' voices were a bit more distinct, and some of the exposition was a little bit info-dump-y, but all in all I really enjoyed the story and empathized with most of the characters.

Though there were some parts that I wasn't necessarily thrilled to hear about before I started reading (homophobia, racism, never-ending church politics), they were all essential to making the story as realistic as it is. Life is often messy and cruel, and Smith does a fantastic job of capturing those darker sides of human nature in such a way that explains the prejudices and complexities without excusing them.

Overall, this story masterfully balanced the insightful and the thrilling, which made it quite the page turner. The only thing that would have made this better is if I was able to read it on the beach in Greece!

Did not finish at 50%. I wasn't able to care about any of the characters. They seemed flat and the multiple viewpoints just made them more confusing. With the amount of attention to detail in the book, I would have preferred more time spent on making the characters into people who's lives mattered instead of the soap opera with a hint of mystery it seemed to be.

Boring boring boring. Too many characters, too many POVs, but, somehow, almost no story. Nearly every character is awful in some way (racist, homophobic, classist, criminal, etc), and Nick is the worst FBI agent ever. He doesn't investigate ANYTHING and just sends encrypted messages looking for information on people. That's the extent of his skills. This is a thriller with no thrills.

Speaking of, this is also supposed to be "romantic," but there's no real romance. Nick is in, at best, lust. Athina and Ridi could be the couple that moniker refers to, but they spend the whole book proving how wrong they are for each other.

And I still don't think the ending made sense. Then again, it's not like there were actual clues to the arsonist's identity or anything (because, again, Nick doesn't actually investigate anything).

Fire on the Island lacked fire, but the island was nice. I didn't care who the arsonist was because the arson was not very credible. The characters were all odd in some way. At about 35% I put the book down, seemingly forever. But I like to finish what I start, so I tried again. It was past the first third before I became interested. I am not sure why an FBI agent is working an arson case in Greece, or why he is even stationed there. Perhaps they want the gay guy far from headquarters. Nonetheless, the story did pick up a bit. There was an attempt to make use of a deaf character, but he was more of a circus act despite their denials. The immigrants were looked down upon. So who was I supposed to root for? Nick, the agent? Probably so, but as I say, he didn't even belong in the story. The story just isn't compelling. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC, which I did read all the way through.

Fire on the Island by Timothy Jay Smith is an addicting, fun and thrilling ride around a small Greek village.

In this thriller, an FBI agent finds his way to a Greek island where fires keep happening. He is investigating why they are happening and who could have caused him. Along the way, he comes across local islanders and business owners trying their best to succeed and living their lives. He meets himself a fancy man who he begins to fall for, and who might not be who he says he is. Many other islanders face the same fate: there's a priest who isn't so saintly, a family struggling to keep their business afloat, an Albanian waiter who has lots of drama going on, and his new lover's sister is trying to get with every man no matter the relationships she ruins for them along the way.

This book is WILD. I was instantly stuck to it and truly intrigued about the ending. It took a bit for the entire story to piece itself together, but when it does it's absolutely marvelous. I can easily say this is one of my top 2020 reads. I couldn't put the book down!

There are some difficult topics in this book, like suicide and rape. Reader beware - this book doesn't go too crazy into these topics, but they are still there. The mystery and romance is much more in the fore front.

On another note: This book is LGBT friendly! Huzzah!

Overall, this book was excellent! I'd highly recommend picking this book up if you love mystery and suspense with a dash of romance.

Five out of five stars.

Thank you to Timothy Jay Smith and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Fire on the Island was hard to put down once I began reading. I got so caught up in the many different characters in this book, that I could not figure out the mystery of who was setting fires to the beautiful, Greek island. This book is written with such vivid detail, that reading it played out like a movie in my mind. I could imagine how everyone looked, felt, and spoke. I would love to see this become a movie.

3 "play bouzouki for me" stars !!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Skyhorse publishing (Arcade Crimewise) for an ebook in exchange for an honest review. This book is due for release in July 2020.

This is my contribution to Goodreads Mystery and Thriller Week 2020.

As we are not able to do any travel due to Covid-19 I wanted a book of a distant, sunny and gorgeous place. A Greek Isle close to Turkey certainly fulfills those requirements.

Nick Damigos FBO is sent to the island to investigate a series of suspicious fires that have been increasing in intensity. There he finds a wide array of interesting and colorful characters and also becomes enamored by a young man and starts an affair. Over a period of a week a whole host of events occur, romances flare and histories explored until the explosive end.

There is much to admire in this book: characters are fully fleshed out with personal histories explored, there is authenticity to ethnic tensions, the difficulties with taking refugees, the moving away from church hierachies and the racism, sexism and homophobia that is still rampant in much of beautiful Greece.

I struggled quite a bit throughout the book however. The tone is too lightearted for many of the issues involved, at times the story spins out of control and what could have been a really taut and interesting thriller threatens to become a Mamma Mia remake with Meryl Streep singing in a register that does not suit her.

This is a good book that could have been excellent with a bit more work and staying away from over the top situations that smart a bit of being "jolly good fun".

Yeia sas pedia ! (To your health my friends !)

I was pleasantly surprised at the multilayered story lines in this novel. A bit of Greece culture; some Greek and Turkish history, some romance mixed gender and M4M and a mystery. The mystery kept me wondering until the end who caused the fires. All of the man characters had reasons to do so. The multiple story lines were both the strength and the weakness of this book. There were many things to draw one in to the book and to enjoy. The downside was none of them was treated in enough depth to to truly do them justice. I would classify this as a summer beach read.

There is a lot going on with this mystery/humor/romance/contemporary fiction novel. There is a mystery involved (arson, not murder) and it does get solved in the end, but I would not put this novel in the mystery category, per se. There is an LGBTQ romance story and some humor that reminds me of other beach reads. Lots of offensive behavior and unlikeable characters, too and many things happening at once that makes this not quite a pick for me.

I reviewed this book based on an ARC that I received from NetGalley. The story follows Nick, an FBI agent visiting Greece. He's a fairly engaging protagonist once the community he's in is impacted by an arsonist. He has an engaging love interest in Takis, a local of the community. The plot is a little slow to start, yet picks up fairly quickly. It's a good book for people who are seeking an LGBT-friendly book that's not your standard coming out story.

situational-humor, verbal-humor, Greece, arson, small-business, small-town, FBI, LGBTQ, mystery, suspense, thriller, angst, family-dynamics, friendship, romantic

Is this a thriller? Well, there is the arsonist. Is it a mystery? Again with the arsonist. Is it a romance? Several, actually, and of several kinds. Is it full of wonderful imagery? A resounding YES! Are the characters memorable, quirky, engaging? Again the resounding YES! Can you tell how much I loved reading this book without summarizing it (the publisher's blurb does pretty well at hinting at some of the goings on) or doing the spoiler thing. One more thing. DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING WHILE READING IT! You will be too busy laughing your sox off to pay attention until you have either spilt or choked laughing, or both.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Skyhorse Publishing/Arcade Crimewise via NetGalley. Thank you!
I do hope that this will come out in audio format as well!