The Fire Child
- S.K. Tremayne
- Oct 4, 2016
- 2 min read
This almost had the Wow Factor – the descriptions of Cornwall and its tin mines, crashing waves on rugged rocks, the large house with creepy rooms, ghostly apparitions, dashing David and ravishing Rachel – but the final 10% just didn't do it for me, it just didn't ring true. I can't really explain more because I never give away endings or spoilers.
The narrative is beautiful, I live in the next county to Cornwall and know well some of the areas described and it made me feel as if I was there, I could almost smell the sea. The story of Rachel and David Kerthen meeting and quickly marrying was also captivating and seemed like the perfect 'Cinderella' story. Rachel gives up her photography career in London to take on the refurbishment of Carnhallow, the family home in Cornwall, and becomes step-mother to Jamie, the eight year old David had with his first wife, Nina, who tragically died in one of the Kerthen mines. David spends his working week in London only returning to Carnhallow at the weekends. Very quickly, creepy things start to happen freaking out both Jamie and Rachel. Both are mentally fragile and creepiness soon becomes scary and dangerous.
This is a well paced book with revelations of lies and deceit from both Rachel and David. By the final chapters I really wasn't sure who was telling the truth, who was the good guy or bad guy and who might get themselves killed off before the final chapter. It really was a very exciting gallop of an ending and found myself rushing through the final pages. Despite all the rushed excitement, I didn't sit comfortably with the ending, I wanted more blood and gore, something a bit more final. Having said that, I have just purchased S.K. Tremayne's earlier novel -The Ice Twins because the writing style is exceptional.