Oh this book. I could not put it down, and loved every minute of it. It had everything I loved in a book and more. Thank you thank you!

I had a great time with it and was excited to pick it back up. My only gripe is that the ending became a little too dizzying for me. I’m not entirely sure I understand what happened in the last bits. I think this will be a fun book to read again knowing some of what’s really going on and picking up new clues.

Energy: Wary. Confident. Instinctive.
Scene: 🇺🇸 A luxurious estate in Topanga Canyon, California
Perspective: We follow an aspiring PI undercover as a writer-in-residence at the estate of a famous thriller author. They are trying to discover what may have happened to a colleague and friend who was last seen in the area before going missing. We also get flashbacks to an earlier time in the same region when a killer was preying on women.

🐕 Howls: Dizzying cluttered ending. .
🐩 Tail Wags: Use of natural and man-made situations to create unease and high-stakes moments. Bursts of high stakes. Disorienting and unreliable narrators and characters. Our main character. Unhinged villains.

🤔 Random Thoughts:
Disorienting in the best way (on purpose and consistent) so I could still overanalyze characters’ actions and puzzle through the clues even while in suspended disbelief mode. I love when I can mentally yell at a character and then have it all make sense 🫢.

The lead up to the ending was a little too all over the place and I was getting whiplash, but I still liked how it ultimately ended. Just be okay with open and unresolved endings, though!

Not a big fan of action movies or film noir, but this felt like a mix of those in a way I wanted. It had the elements of those genres that I enjoy (bursts of high stakes, misinterpreting dangerous situations) without the bits I dislike (no prolonged fight scenes or repetitive cat-and-mouse games).

----
🎬 Tale-Telling: Choppy, staccato, gritty.
🤓 Reader Role: On the shoulder of the main character. Thrown right in the story with no idea what’s happening or who is who. We discover everything as it happens around us.
🗺️ World-Building: Sensory, atmospheric, cinematic.
🔥 Fuel: Starts with PI sleuthing to uncover what happened to the missing women in this area. Is Bailey’s colleague safe, in danger, or worse? Moves to what is actually going on? Who can we trust? Who is who?
📖 Cred: Plausible to suspended disbelief but in an intriguing way.
🚙 Journey: Memorable weekend getting lost on dusty, twisty roads with some great views.

Mood Reading Match-Up:
-Sundrenched hills. Wildflowers. Cicadas. Bacon sizzling. Smoothie blending. Frosted grass. Smoke-filled skies. Owl hooting. Footsteps on gravel.
-Gritty whodunnit…did anyone do it? mystery
-Casts of potentially unreliable characters

Content Heads-Up: Medical (allergies, stitches/blood). Prescription drug use. Parental abandonment (brief, recall). Mental health (dissociation, fugue). Racism, prejudice (virtue signalling, characters). Loss of a parent. Murdered or missing persons. Natural disasters (fire).

Rep: Black, White, and Latina Americans. Cisgender. Heterosexual.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

Obsessed! I was on the edge of my seat turning the page needing more. I was completely captured by the story and drawn in. I was hooked from the first chapter!

A serial killer on the loose and the private investigator is pretending to be a writer to locate a missing person. This book had so much potential but it really fell flat for me. The writing and plot was all over the place, and I was totally confused as to what was going on.

I loved this story!! This one was such a great thrill ride! There were several twists that I did not see coming and that blew my mind! I loved the storytelling within the storytelling. It had a slow start that was a little confusing to follow at first but did pick up. Would definitely recommend this one!

This book!!!! I'm going to give it 4 stars 🌟
This book is about Bailey Meadows, who's pretending to be a writer and joined a program to help famous writer Jack Beckham write his next hit novel, while also trying to solve the disappearance of a woman named Sam Morris. While staying in the forest of California, Bailey, gets more than she bargained for and things definitely go awry.
I cannot say more for fear of spoiling things, but this book was twisty, thrilling, slightly confusing at times, but all tied up nicely in the end. Overall I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers Thomas &Mercer along with the author for this eARC of the novel.

Fire season in Southern California is something I know a lot about yet I felt this story was just okay.

Jack Beckham has a writers-in-residence program that Bailey Meadows gets into. He is trying to find a new way to amp up his stories and get him on the best sellers list again. However, she is just pretending to be a writer and is actually looking for a woman named Sam, founder of the nonprofit The Way Home.

Once you got past the beginning stages there are twists that keep you into it. The ending did justice to the book.

Bailey Meadows, masquerading as an author, teams up with thriller writer Jack Beckham at his secluded canyon estate to search for her missing friend, Sam. Jack aims to broaden his audience with Bailey's help, but their collaboration becomes complicated by eerie occurrences and limited communication with the outside world. As Bailey delves deeper into the investigation, she uncovers unsettling secrets lurking within the estate. Rachel Howzell Hall's "What Fire Brings" masterfully blends suspense with social commentary, delivering a gripping tale of intrigue and character development that will keep readers hooked until the very end.

Another good one by Rachel! In this Topanga Canyon setting, a private eye poses as a writer to solve a missing person case. Lots of surprises that you won't see coming. Great characters.

Eventually, I enjoyed this story and the writing style, even with the slow burn beginning. TBH, it was hard to get into. But I don't like to DNF books, then, there were twists I didn't expect and I stayed. Bailey as a character was definitely an amateur investigator and I found that part fun and messy. If anything, I wasn't big on the ending. There needed to be a little more because it was too smooth.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Thomas & Mercer publishing for the ARC of What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to read this book because I thought it would be more about the nature of the canyon and the danger therein from fires and predators, with a PI investigating the space around the canyon for their missing friend. Instead, for some reason, we are immediately introduced to Bailey as she has conned her way into a writer-in-residence role to investigate the author owner who may have been involved in a quest for the truth.

DNF at 45% through because I honestly had no idea what was happening. I didn't understand why the writer-in-residence role was necessary to look for a missing person (and how the people checking her in at the kick-off event did not have her on the list? and how there was no sort of verification of any of the writer awards/background she gave them?), and what kind of investigator sets up this sort of long con and doesn't actually read the books of the man she's investigating? And then sometimes the plot switches between the Beckham books and the present and maybe the story Bailey is now planning to write with Beckham even though she is not a writer? Some of the descriptions were just so strange as well - how does someone smell like vitamins? Checked out the last 10% to see what the resolution was and still could not reasonably make the description match the plot or the information given in the first half of the book in any sort of fulfilling way.

This is maybe 3.25 stars. There were parts that were incredibly good and other parts that were incredibly confusing. I felt like I was dropped in the middle of the story and it was so disjointed (which I think was the tone/sense the author was going for). But it was a bit too much. As a result, I had a really hard time getting into the story and it took me forever to read.

I love Howzell’s characters, descriptions, and ideas. I just wish they were organized a bit more. I really wanted to just relax into this book but I couldn’t ever get there. I had to constantly stop to review what I had read or what was happening with certain characters, even through the very end of the book. And some pieces of the story were left completely unexplained/unresolved (that felt like pretty important plot points).

I wanted to like the book, I loved some of the book. And I won't give up on Howzell as an author. But this is one I can't really recommend.

This was my second book by author Rachel Howzell Hall, and wow, I have to say I'm a fan!
The story is told through Bailey's point of view, as she starts her undercover investigation. Bailey is aware of the potential danger all around her, which really lends the story feelings of anxiety and urgency. Bailey is motivated, but also realistic and she knows that if Jack had something to do with Sam's disappearance, then Bailey has walked into a very dangerous situation. She's also quite isolated; cell reception is spotty at best, the wifi is constantly not working, and Jack's estate is secluded. It's easy to imagine feeling paranoid, and Hall translates these feelings so well. I found myself constantly urging Bailey to just leave!

I really appreciated the writing style in this story. Hall writes with an immediacy that really brings the pages to life. There are several moments where Bailey doesn't know what's going on, things are happening in a terrifying blur, and as the reader you're caught up in the middle of it. It's chaotic and stressful and fantastic. It really kept me racing through the pages, desperate to see what was happening and how it would all resolve.

The additional threat of wildfire added its own special terror to the story. I'm from Idaho, and I've seen wildfires and the devastation they bring. I've gazed at fire from a much safer distance than Bailey and felt absolute fear. The characters reassure her, "it's always fire season here" so don't worry until it's time to worry, but I'm with Bailey. Get me as far away as possible!

The first half of the book was a bit of a slow burn for me (no pun intended), as the elements of the story are put into place and we get a real feel for the characters and the general situation. But once the action starts it keeps up at a dizzying pace and the pages flew by. I also had to just stop and marvel at all the little pieces that had been set up during the story. They all came crashing together in a stunning reveal that had me truly impressed.

Bailey Meadows is an aspiring private investigator, and she’s now posing as an “emerging” writer, accepted into a program where she’s paired with famous thriller writer Jack Beckham at his estate. The Beckham residence, located in secluded and dense Topanga Canyon, was where the missing person Bailey is searching for was believed to be last seen. Over the years, other women have also gone missing near the residence, and Bailey tries to find the connection, and the threats are mounting, both from inside the residence and from an approaching wildfire. What Fire Brings has an unusual narrative as the plot unfolds with seemingly random bits and pieces of information, journal entries and police reports interspersed with the story. As the book progresses you’ll understand why, but as you’re reading, this scattered style was jarring and confusing, and really took away my interest as I was trying to decipher the ramblings. Although I’ve enjoyed this author’s prior books, and once the plot comes together it finally all made sense, I had to fight my way there, and that diminished my enjoyment of this book. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Set in Topanga Canyon, California, this thriller follows PI-in-training Bailey as she goes undercover as a writer-in-residence for a famous male author who she suspects had a part in the disappearance of a friend of a friend. One could make a joke about writers and impostor syndrome here- except Bailey is an actual impostor. Her missing person's case is entirely speculative and leaves Bailey feeling very confused- much like I was reading this. Different mediums (journal entries, book entries, newspaper articles) muddled the story and the timeline. The story line and pacing was erratic and all over the place- slow to start, and then unpredictable like the wildfires spreading across Topanga (metaphor, anyone?). There were lots of twists and turns and I appreciate the work and thought that went into this book- as well as the underlying themes- but it was just OK for me. This might appeal more to fans of investigative thrillers or those who enjoy unreliable narrators.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy. This books gets a 3.5 ⭐️ rating from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Top quality thriller whose main character (a burgeoning private investigator) goes "undercover" in an attempt to find her best friend (who went missing when SHE went looking for a missing family member.

Very well-written, captivating mystery, makes for an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this book. The main character obtains a writing position with a famous author. The authors first wife i missing his next wife and child are also missing or are they. The storyline is easy to follow, 3 stars

I really struggled with this one and kept wanting to give up on it. I pushed through so I could give feedback but I think what put me off most was my distaste for the main character. Some of the plot points felt convoluted and felt like it was all over the place.

An undercover writer with ulterior motives in a secluded mountain setting… sounds like an amazing premise! Unfortunately, it just didn’t do it for me, and I found myself skimming so much. I had a hard time concentrating or connecting with the FMC. Her narrative was choppy and all over the place, which is maybe how her mind works. Some of this made more sense as the book went on, but this was the epitome of a slow burn. If you can struggle through the first 2/3 of the book and try to understand the narration, the last 1/3 is a roller coaster of twists!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Bailey Meadows has taken the uncommon step of pretending to be an author in order to search for her missing friend. Armed with credentials and social media history, she is able to work with thriller author Jack Beckham in his remote canyon estate. Jack is clear, he wants Bailey to help him reach a more diverse audience and get him back on the best seller list. He seems charming and open and his staff are helpful but don't seem to respect boundaries.

Bailey is a fledgling investigator and is hoping to find Sam, her missing friend who actually investigates missing persons. She didn't realize how intermittent internet and phone access would be. As she prepares to work with Jack she sees shadows and actual people on the estate. She has a lot of trouble contacting Avery, her lifeline outside and her support to become a detective.

More and more she is wondering what she is doing there. As the walls close in, you won't be able to stop turning the pages. Howzell Hall has done it again - a thrilling novel that includes layers of social commentary. I loved it, and so will you!
#thomas&mercer #whatfirebrings #rachelhowzellhall