Bailey Meadows is a PI in training going undercover as an aspiring author in Topanga Canyon. She was accepted into a writer-in-residence program to work with and learn from Jack Beckham, your typical wealthy author/villain. His family has lived in the canyon for generations and funded almost every community group and program that exists, earning the town’s goodwill and an untouchable status. But Bailey believes that the Beckham family is responsible for the disappearance of Sam Morris, a woman who spent her time locating missing people. And Sam isn’t the only woman who went missing in Topanga Canyon. The more Bailey investigates, the more crimes she suspects the Beckhams of committing. But she’s determined not to blow her cover and to get to the truth. Will she be able to do so before she’s the next one to go missing?

It was slightly hard to get into this story. There is quite a bit of inner dialogue throughout that is itself harried and disjointed. There’s not much interaction between Bailey and the other characters at times, and we’re left with her thoughts and a copious amount of descriptions about the canyons and wildfires. But the action picks up towards the end of the story and it really gets good. If it could have been that crazy earlier on, I think more people would be engaged and stick with it.

I also wasn’t sure if one of the twists was supposed to be apparent early in the story. But plenty of action still follows that reveal, so maybe it was. I think when you sit back and reflect on the way the story evolves, you realize how hard it must have been to write Bailey’s character. And there are other reveals where you’re like “Whaaat? Oh, that’s good.” So, you might find it a bit confusing at certain points, but the author did an awesome job of weaving all the complex threads of the story together. This is one book that you will not forget!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

DNF at 25%

I have read multiple books by Rachel Howzell Hall and have really enjoyed them. I was really drawn in by the premise of this one. However, I felt that the writing was all over the place and hard to follow. I usually love an unreliable narrator, but this was just so disjointed that I got several pages in without really knowing what was going on. I kept going back in the book thinking I'd missed things when really they'd never been explained. I may try again later, but it's not the right book for me right now.

Good for fans of unreliable narrators and a good mystery!

This book was so many things. Thrilling. Confusing. Unpredictable. Consuming.

The story follows Bailey who is working as an undercover PI that is searching for her missing friend under the guise of a writer doing a 1x1 workshop. As you read you start to predict who you think the killer is… what you think is going on… but the wild twists in the final chapters are something you won’t see coming!

Only challenge I had was the book was written from multiple POVs which was a bit confusing at times on what was going on or whose POV I was reading. In the end it makes sense but in the middle I was for sure lost.

An undercover writer! A mysterious author! An atmospheric setting! What Fire Brings had the foundation to be a book I would love — but unfortunately, I could not click with the writing. The beginning of the book feels a bit all over the place; the narration keeps jumping into different tangents that slow down the plot rather than pull the reader in. Almost immediately, I found myself frustrated at seemingly simple details that weren't mentioned. Maybe that was intentional on the author's part, but it made it challenging to connect with Bailey and her story.

This book wasn't a fit for me, but given the glowing reviews from other readers, I'm confident it will find its audience.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an e-Arc!

To be honest, this book took a while for me to get into but it took a turn at the 60 percent mark. I had no idea where this was going but the last half had me binging to the end because it was revelation after revelation. By the time I finished, I had to go back and re-read a couple chapters to fully understand what the heck happened.

It was definitely more of a slow read but it allows for the reader to really gather the given clues that really wrap up the story nicely. A solid 3-star read.

What Fire Brings is another fantastic book by Rachel Howzell Hall. It is the story of Bailey Meadows, a writer-in-residence at the estate of famous author Jack Beckham. He is excited to collaborate with her on his latest book. What he doesn't know is that Bailey has other motives for being at his estate in Topanga Canyon. She is looking into the disappearance of several women who were last seen in the area, the most recent being Sam Morris. Things start off smoothly enough until she has an allergic reaction to the punch being served at lunch. Then she sees a woman wandering near the woods who tells her "she's in the high grass". The more Bailey tries to investigate the more she starts to think that Jack and his remote estate are hiding a dangerous secret. What I love the most about Rachel Howzell Hall's books is that she doesn't sacrifice character development for plot. Her plots are twisty and intriguing but her characters are always memorable. This book is no different. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Bailey Meadows goes undercover as a writer-in-residence to look for her missing friend, Sam. The story progresses a little slowly in the middle, and then the big reveal turns everything upside down.

The frenetic writing style may feel choppy to some, but it felt authentic to me - it let me feel like I was experiencing the situation as Bailey was, with all the racing thoughts, fears, and theories. I had my suspicions early on about the twist, and I was right - but I had to wait for the reveal to be really sure.

The last section of the story was pretty crazy and unbelievable, and there were a few loose threads in my understanding, but it makes for an entertaining work of fiction that kept me turning the pages. Overall, a solid thriller that was a little more interesting than the typical tropes.

3.5 stars rounded up!

This psychological thriller completely threw me in more ways than one. I will admit it was a little hard to get into. The way the story was told by the main character. It was kind of broken up a bit and a weird back and forth in her thoughts and real life moments and even some flash backs. Some things didn’t make sense as I was reading it. And it was a handful of information to take in. However, near the end I fully understood the reasoning behind how the main character told the story. Let’s just say this story has a wild ending with a few plot twists I did not expect. It kept me turning page after page, and on the occasion I felt like the book was falling flat a little, something would end up happening that would reel me back in. Would recommend this book if you’re into psychological thrillers and suspense novels and don’t mind a slow burn with a narration that can be slightly hard to digest at times.

I wasn't always sure where I stood when I was reading as there were points when I felt drawn to the book and characters but then other points I felt distant and bored.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the copy of What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall. Wow what a wild ride! I really liked Bailey and how she tried to get used to the Topanga Canyon way of life and the new people she met. I loved the character development. Remind me to never go somewhere with bad wifi connectivity though! There’s a lot going on, but the story unfolds slowly. Just when you think nothing is really happening, BOOM! Reveal after reveal will leave you breathless, or with your mouth hanging open, like mine was. I can’t wait to read this book again to see what clues I missed, because I didn’t guess a thing. Thank you for the amazing read!

1Farah G
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What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall
What Fire Brings
by Rachel Howzell Hall (Goodreads Author)
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Thriller author Jack Beckham wants to change things up and regain his spot on the bestseller list, so he hires Bailey Meadows as a writer in residence to help him do just that. But what Jack doesn't know is that Bailey has her own reasons for wanting access to his property, and they are very different from what he might be assuming.

Because over the years women have gone missing in the area adjacent to Jack Beckham's home, and one of them is a close friend of Bailey's, a community activist named Sam Morris. So Bailey is helbent on finding out what happened to Sam - even if it means putting her own life in jeopardy. Which it well might.

With the wildfire season closing in quickly, and dangers in the area that include mountain lions and other wildlife, Bailey has limited time in which to implement her plans.

This is an ambitious thriller which delivers better on some fronts than others. It was actually a little hard to get into, and the narrator does not immediately feel like a sympathetic character to the reader. But the reasons for this eventually become evident, and the story does have twists and turns aplenty to keep you entertained.

This story felt hard to get into because of how the narrator thought and acted. That is explained later in the book, but I really felt like it was a barrier to me losing myself in the story, even once I figured out what was going on. So that took some of the enjoyment out of it for me.

I received an early copy but all opinions are my own.

I think this is a good book, but it felt too choppy for me. The flow with the story and the characters just was not there.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this he opportunity to read What Fire But ings by Rachel Howzell Hall - complex, twisty and creepy - i loved it!