Bailey moves into a well known writers mansion to help him with his next book. Nothing is what it seems and it feels like she can’t trust anyone. She is a PI that is searching for her friend that went missing in this area. Did Jack have something to do with it? Did his staff?

This book relies heavily on confusing the reader and an unreliable narrator. I was at first confused as to what was happening. I felt like there needed to be better back story on the characters to keep everyone straight. I also was slightly Annoyed with the main character Bailey. There was so much back and forth with what she knew and what she didn’t know it became increasingly frustrating in the book. The last 25% of the book picks up steam and reveals a few twists. I think this book will appeal to some readers but I wasn’t a huge fan.

Thank you netgalley for a copy of this book.

This was my first time reading something by Rachel Howzell Hall and I was not disappointed. The cover is unique in its design and the title doesn't give away too much of the story. I was beyond amazed at the story. The author did a good job of developing the characters and describing this world. In addition to trying to solve a mysterious death, the details regarding microaggressions experienced ny the MC were well-written. The story was also thought provoking in it's message. I enjoyed this book and think others will too. I'll definitely read more by this author.

The setting is what really creates the tension in this thriller. Topanga Canyon is a tinder box with one road in and out and it's fire season. Bailey Meadows has just moved in with author Jack Beckham, posing as an author-in-residence while she's really a private investigator in training, there to investigate a disappearance in the canyon. There are a lot of missing women in this book, both in real life and in Jack's novels. At times, I struggled to keep them all straight. The author did an amazing job of depicting the fear that comes with approaching wildfires and some of the revelations at the end were completely unexpected.

I cannot get enough of this author. I can't praise her enough. In this one our main character is a writers retreat to try to find her online friend Sam. It is both beautiful and creepy.
The whole setting was perfect.
I also love the examples of microaggressions our character deals with. I was angry on her behalf.
Like the stuff with the bonnet. Fellow white women - those are good for our hair too!
I felt for her with the food allergy thing. I also have food allergies and they aren't common ones. Terrifying!
Love this.

My thanks to the team of NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this review copy.
This review is based on my reading this book and is an honest reflection of my views about the story.
I liked the story and the character of the protagonist Bailey Meadows as a upcoming private eye who goes undercover in a writers retreat.
Rachel has described the locations well and as a reader this was a place that I would love to visit. She goes into a lot of details all across the book which sometimes slows the pace of the story. This helps develop the other characters which end up well fleshed out.
For a reader the first phase of the story needs to be crossed before the story draws you in and you end up being engrossed in the story.

This was my first book from the author and I will be on the lookout for Rachel's next book with interest.

I liked this, but didn't love it. I think the overall premise is somewhat interesting but I was missing a deep connection to the main character that would make me root for her through everything - but probably because some information about her was left vague, there was a bit of a disconnect. A lot of this story had a slow pace, so I became a little restless in the middle, but I did enjoy the way it really picked up at the end. I think the twists and reveals were a little lost on me due to that character vagueness and the confusion it caused me to have, but it is a satisfying story once I sit down to think about it. I think I'll have to read more from this author to figure out her writing style a little more, and hopefully find a book from her that I love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this read. I used to really find Rachel’s books were up and down for me but I think she just writes with a lot of detail so I have to walk into them remembering them because this one was good. This was very twisty serial murder mystery that I felt was well done. I will keep looking out for her books as I am starting to know what to look out for in her books.

I really struggled to get through this book. I think this is due to no fault of the author. I think this book just didn’t connect with me. Overall I thought this book was good in the hands of the right reader.

I would give this author another chance since this was my first novel from her.

Many thanks to the publisher for my copy. All opinions are my own.

I appreciated the premise of this book, even if the structure of the storytelling wasn't a total match for my reading preferences. I found myself struggling a little with the disjointed voice of the storytelling and the jumps between bits of information and trying to track the real and present pieces with flashbacks and dream sequences.

On the other hand, the characters are interesting and wonderfully messy, and I love a good mystery in any book, which this one delivers on on both fronts.

Overall, a decent and entertaining read if you can get into the structure.

Thank you Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer and Rachel Howell Hall for the eArc of What Fire Brings.

This is the first of Rachel H Hall's books and I have seen good reviews so I was looking forward to reading this one. The story ia mainly from our main character Bailey who has been sent to Topanga Canyon to help Jack Beckham write his next thriller as a co writer. Together they scope the land, the local town, building a picture, plot lines for this next book. What Jack doesn't know is that Bailey isn't an up and coming writer, she's a PI in training, looking for a missing women called Sam.

I really enjoyed reading this book. There's a lot of character building for Bailey, her background and why she is looking for this women. There are a few moments within the book that the twists becoming a little blurred, Or a little jump/loss of time. These however are very deliberate and once the plot comes together, work very well. The other characters in the book, particularly Jack have very individual personalities and keep you guessing on who is the good guy, and who really isn't. The peak of the book , probably around the last 3rd, is very tense and has you twisted up and you just want to know the truth. I found the payoff of the plot well executed and brought the whole book together.

Favourite Quotes " Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is who we are "
" If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there " Lewis Carroll

A solid 4 .25 stars, rounded down to 4 stars for Netgalley, Amazon/Bookbeat and Goodreads.

I could not engage with this story as sometimes it did not make any sense to me. Bailey is an aspiring PI who inpersonates a writer to discover what happened to Sam who disappeared during fire season and that same season is approaching when she moves into a cottage in the famous author residence grounds. The plot is good, however, its delivery not so much.
I thank Ms. Hall, her publisher, and Net Galley for this ARC.

What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall is another wonderfully written slow burn.
She is back with another riveting thriller.
This story sucked me right in and did not let me go until the very end.
In an atmospheric read and twists upon twists, to its shocking and surprising ending, I found Hall’s latest a fantastic thriller read.

Thank You NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Based on this book, Rachel Howzell Hall is a master at misdirection, resulting in some very clever and unexpected twists in this atmospheric thriller.
Bailey Meadows is a PI in training, undercover as an up-and-coming author who has gained access to famous thriller author, Jack Beckham, as his new writer-in-residence and possible coauthor of his next book. But she is really on the trail of Sam Morris, who disappeared in the canyon around Beckham's estate, not the first woman to go missing in the area. Neither Bailey nor the reader knows who to trust, and this story is as twisty as the road through Topanga Canyon, where the book is set.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC.

Bailey Meadows is working undercover as an apprentice to Jack Beckham an accomplished writer who owns a lavish estate in the fire country in California to find out what happened to her missing friend, Sam. As she begins to meet the staff at the estate she finds more and more women that have gone missing near the estate and determined to find out if Jack is involved. Bailey is all over the place and it was hard to follow at times but as a fire rages nearby everything unravels and you are gripped by the twists and turns.
#WhatFireBrings #NetGalley

I never DNF books, but I strongly considered it with this one. My interest was piqued around 75% of the way in, and I thought to myself, "Maybe the rest of the book will make the first 75% worth it"... Alas, it did not. The remaining 25% was incredibly frustrating to follow, and it was just too unbelievable. The writing style throughout the book was all over the place, almost haphazard - I felt like I was reading this story in fragments that were out of order. The author had me losing my mind, I kept thinking I was misremembering things, or maybe I had missed a crucial plot point earlier in the book that was coming back around now... So once I finished, I went to other reviews, and I was almost glad to find out that I wasn't the only reader that had the same gripe with this book. Looking at the cover, reading the synopsis - this is most definitely the kind of book and story I'm attracted to. But the delivery left a lot to be desired, and I think a good amount of editing might have been needed to clean this up - I truly believe it could have been much shorter, given the substance and takeaways we were left with. At the 90% mark, I just wanted it to be done - I gave up on any understandable or 'appeasing' ending / resolution / explanation. Some pros - I already mentioned the cover, which is gorgeous. And then there were the descriptions of the CA nature and setting, it absolutely put me in the book. I will say I'm curious what kind of research (or first hand experience?) the author did to attain the level of descriptions she used, it was pretty impressive. But other than those 2 things, I'm left speechless - and not in a good way.

The tenth book written by American novelist Rachel Howzell Hall is titled What Fire Brings. Bailey Meadows is excited and a little anxious to be taking up the role of writer-in-residence on the renowned author Jack Beckham's estate in Topanga Canyon. Even if Jack selected her because she is black and that satisfies his need for diversity, equity, and inclusion, an up-and-coming writer would be delighted. Bailey, however, isn't genuinely a budding writer; rather, she's an undercover agent attempting to obtain her private investigator license, with a fictitious writing resume and non-original work.

Avery Turner, the head of Bailey's agency, has assigned her to find any evidence of Sam Morris, a missing private investigator who traveled to Topanga six months ago. Was Sam searching for a different missing female? Was she searching for her missing eighteen-year-old mother, Theresa Morris? Sam was known for recovering missing women, but perhaps that wasn't to everyone's taste.

Bailey has been informed that there won't be much coverage for cell phones or Wi-Fi, but she has devices to capture what she hears, makes lots of notes, and has a list of items, locations, dates, and individuals to be sure to check out. Sam visited a psychiatrist regularly. Did she experience a dissociative fugue or a psychotic outburst? Did Sam disappear of her own volition, was she abducted by someone on Jack Beckham's land, had an accident, come into contact with a wild animal, or ran into a bad person? Is Bailey able to pull this off?

While attempting to find clues, but she is being sidetracked by sounds and footsteps near her cabin, dead air phone calls, odd texts from unknown numbers, low-battery smoke alarm chirps, and her own recuperation from a stab wound from a mugging. She is also trying to avoid taking too many Percocet's for this reason.

There is a security guard who might not be, a disheveled old woman who emerges from the woods with an ambiguous message, the possibility of fire, and flyers for a woman who has been missing for six years, all of which she can only investigate when the Wi-Fi momentarily comes on.

Although she has already been informed about other missing women in the area through conversations with Jack and his crew, It appears that Jack's father vanished inexplicably, along with two ladies who were closely tied to him.

The latest novel by Howzell Hall is somewhat convoluted, with characters that don't always match up. Journal entries, flyers, evidence and criminal reports, and novel excerpts are added to Bailey's story. Before long, the reader starts to question if Bailey is telling the truth or if she is being duped.

Even though Jack turns out to be a poisonous man—which is not surprising—his conversations with Bailey about writing and the author experience provide an authentic viewpoint, probably as a result of Howzell Hall's personal experience. The protagonist's inner monologue is frequently darkly humorous, and she is brave and intelligent, which makes for an intense, compelling page-turner.

Pretty creepy thriller books. It explores several of the tropes common in thriller books and makes fun of them, particularly in the way that women are often abused by male writers in this genre simply for the women's entertainment. It also discusses how easy it is for people to get away with crimes if people don't look too closely. I finished it pretty quickly once I set and actually paid attention to it.

Warning: racism, sexism, SA

Thanks so much to netgalley and Harlequin for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I had a hard time connecting with any characters and the plot. A few things rubbed me the wrong way in the beginning and I couldn't get into the story after that.

I hope others love this one!

Thank you Netgalley & Thomas& Mercer for an eARC ♥️♥️♥️


- 5/5 stars

Rachel Howzell Hall's 'What Fire Brings' is a wildfire of a thriller - it consumes you, ravages your emotions, and leaves you scarred (in the best way possible)! Bailey Meadows' search for her friend Sam is a heart-pounding journey through the treacherous Topanga Canyon, where secrets lurk in every shadow and the past refuses to stay buried.

As Bailey delves deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a web of lies and deceit that threatens to destroy everything she thought she knew. With each turn of the page, the tension builds, the stakes escalate, and the truth becomes more elusive. Hall's writing is a masterclass in suspense, expertly ratcheting up the tension and keeping you on the edge of your seat.

The characters in this book are complex and relatable, with flaws and strengths that make them feel like real people. Bailey is a strong and determined protagonist, but she's also vulnerable and struggling to come to terms with her past. The supporting cast is equally well-developed, with motivations and secrets that add depth to the story.

The plot is a maze of twists and turns, with surprises lurking around every corner. Hall expertly weaves together elements of the past and present, creating a story that's both a gripping thriller and a thought-provoking exploration of trauma, grief, and healing.

What Fire Brings was one of my favourite reads of 2025! There was so much that I loved about the book: the Topanga Canyon setting, the fascinating protagonist Bailey, and especially the twists that blew my mind and I never suspected.

Read this if you like:
-people aren’t who they seem to be trope
-story within a story
-flawed and feisty protagonist with a great voice
-unreliable narrator
-twisty psychological thriller with tense moments throughout
-intentionally misleading and disjointed plot that represents the protagonist inner psyche
-dual timelines
-luxurious locations surrounded by wilderness and the constant threat of natures wrath of wildfires

My rating 5 out of 5!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC that will be published June 11 2024.