Dead Watch

I was hooked by the blurb of this book. as it was different. The firefighter aspect intrigued me.. The character descriptions of the firefighting team were so good that you felt you knew them. As for the plot, it made for a a gripping, tense read. The firefighting team of Red Watch in Brighton have a dangerous enough job but their lives have now become even more dangerous . The camaraderie, of the team is very humorous, but also very strong. The knowledge of firefighting by the author is evident and also interesting. A heart pounding read !

The blurb reeled me in. The book itself kept me intrigued from page one. The characters were fascinating, the plot divine. This was an explosive story and I was sorry to see it end!

This book is completely different from any book I have read recently and I loved it.

Instead of being based around the police this book follows a team of Firefighters who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time due to a stupid decision they made.

One of the things that made this book different is that the firefighters all come from different backgrounds and there is nothing linking them all expect for their jobs, leading to them all thinking differently about stuff and the way they react to the situation they get themselves into.

The book is extremely tense and nerve-wracking, more so because they are not trained police officers so their reaction is similar to what I would assume a non police officer’s reaction would be.

The book is a brilliant read, which I thoroughly enjoyed and will be looking into reading more of Steve’s in future.

This book intreged me from the blurb, I was fascinated to read the story. It didn’t disappoint, very well written, and throughly gripped me through out. Look forward to more from this author.

Chicago Fire is one of my favourite TV shows and so I was very excited about the premise to Dead Watch when I first read the blurb. I’ve never read a book centred around a group of firefighters before and, with Steve Liszka being one himself, the book is very authentic throughout and whilst the in-depth descriptions of firefighting could potentially put some people off, I was very intrigued and loved just how much detail Steve put into the story.

Without giving too much away, we have a team of Brighton firefighters who head off to another shout only to find a dead man inside a car with half a million pounds on the seat next to him. The crew take the money, oblivious to the danger they will soon find themselves facing thanks to this split-second decision. I recently read a book that featured a character finding a bag of money inside a vehicle and taking it and the story here was executed so much better than the one in that story. Whilst you’d never expect a team of firefighters to steal something from a scene like this, for the purposes of fictional storytelling I could overlook that and a believable case was made by Steve for the actions of his characters as we meet each of them and discover more about their lives.

The cast of characters here is what really shines through in this book. Each of them are so well-drawn with individual personalities and stories to tell. I truly enjoyed reading about each and every one of them. The camaraderie amongst them is fantastic to read, but that’s not to say that there isn’t animosity amongst them at times. Particularly from those who don’t agree with the rest of the team stealing money from a dead man. I would love to go into detail about my favourite characters however this is a story where you should just discover them for yourselves. There’s a real drama here amongst the characters and whilst the story itself is at times sensationalised, the characters are all believable and I had no trouble seeing them as real people. There’s plenty of humour laced throughout this story and I had a lot of fun reading it.

I enjoyed as well how the story was told. Rather than the conventional numbered chapters, each chapter is titled with something that relates to the scenes within that chapter and I felt that worked really well. The storytelling is strong and the plot here was executed brilliantly. Whilst you might envy someone for suddenly having thousands of pounds in their pockets, it soon becomes clear that this money is tainted and I couldn’t read quick enough to see how the team were going to make amends for what they had done, and how they were going to get themselves out of the situation they had found themselves in. Some unsavoury characters make this story an at times tense and unpredictable read. The ending particularly was a highlight for me and I loved how everything came together in the closing pages.

Steve Liszka is definitely an author I will be looking out for in the future. I enjoyed reading his note at the end of the book, I have a fondness for those books that received dozens of rejections only for someone to finally come along and take a chance on them and I am glad Bloodhound books did that for Steve as Dead Watch is a fantastic thriller and features a cast that are different and stand out in a crowded genre. I could easily see this book working as a TV show. I will be eagerly awaiting Steve’s next book.

Dead watch is the author’s debut novel and what a debut is it. In this story we follow a team of firefighters, What a refreshing change this book is. I know a few firefighters myself and to be quite honest I have never really thought about how hard core their job actually is until I read this. This story is a proper eye opener.

The author does a brilliant job of getting inside your head with some pulse racing scenes I don't think I could do this has a job. But the author really brings the whole story and characters to life using his own experience as a firefighter.

There is quite a mixture of characters to keep up with in this story which I didn't have a problem with because they make the story. I did enjoy all the banter between the characters, they certainly jumped out the pages at me.

The authors writing style is fast paced and easy to read. For me this is one very unique story that is full of suspense that will have you grippied from start to finish which I highly recommend giving it 4 stars