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.

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!