This is a scathing account of all the things that went wrong and contributed to this terrible tragedy. It is also an expose of how conspiracies and misinformation cloud any real discussion that might come about. The media in particular is taken to task for encouraging click bait and ratings. Truth and real reflection is sacrificed to talking heads (often filled with cotton) and political agendas. Instead of looking at the various bits that eroded the situation allowing the catastrophe to occur, it was a game of who could apply CYA fastest. And, in the aftermath, without looking at the causes, any conclusions are questionable at best.

As a firefighter with great experience but not at Grenfell, the author is an excellent person to write this book and he does so with great passion. He is also a realist. He sums up the possible options to try and prevent a similar or worse disaster but also admits the real challenges that would make those decisions almost impossible. It does not leave the reader with great hope for the future but it is necessary to look at things realistically. Four purrs and two paws up.

Tony Sullivan’s Grenfell Tower is a deeply compelling and insightful account of one of the most tragic and avoidable disasters in modern British history. Written from the perspective of a seasoned firefighter with decades of experience, the book meticulously examines the systemic failures that led to the Grenfell Tower fire of June 14, 2017, in which seventy-two lives were lost.

Sullivan goes beyond simply recounting the harrowing events of that night. He situates the tragedy within a broader context of deregulation, declining safety standards, and repeated warnings that were ignored. The book draws crucial parallels between Grenfell and earlier fires, such as the 2009 Lakanal House fire, highlighting the alarming pattern of negligence in fire safety enforcement. By combining personal experience with technical analysis, Sullivan offers a unique perspective that is both authoritative and deeply personal.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its accessibility. While it delves into complex issues of building regulations, fire safety protocols, and the failures of compartmentation, Sullivan presents these topics in a way that is understandable to both professionals and the general public. His writing is clear and direct, making the book a vital resource for anyone interested in fire safety, policy reform, or the broader implications of government deregulation.

Ultimately, Grenfell Tower is not just a retrospective on what went wrong; it is a call to action. Sullivan’s message is clear: unless real systemic changes are made, tragedies like Grenfell will happen again. This is an essential read for those who want to understand not just the events of that fateful night, but the deeper failures that allowed it to happen.

I remember the news the day the tower caught fire and by reading this I feel I have a wider view of what happened before and after the towers caught fire. This gives more of an impact of the fires on the fire service and the information that the press did not divulge,

I was so grateful to Pen & Sword publishers for granting my wish and sending me the ARC of The Grenfell Tower Fire: A Firefighter’s View by Tony Sullivan. I was absolutely fascinated by Tony’s career with the London Fire Brigade from how different and difficult the recruitment process was in the 80s, to his personal experiences at many well-known disasters including The Marchioness, and The King’s Cross Fire. I loved his anecdotal style of writing when it came to his career, and found myself emotionally engaged and thoroughly absorbed. If Tony ever writes his memoir I would rush to read it.

With reference to this book I clearly incorrectly assumed that Tony was giving a first person account of being actively involved in the firefighting and rescue at The Grenfell Tower. This is my mistake and as such I did not find this part of the book as engaging as his personal story.

I hope you find my honest review fair and acceptable, and I thank you again for this opportunity.

I found this to be a genuinely eye-opening account of the Grenfell Tower fire. At first, I wondered if the author had been responsible for any other works of non-fiction when in the beginning he stated, “it was difficult to decide where to begin this sorry tale; perhaps with the development of aluminum composite panels” (1). To be honest this didn’t bode well for me as a reader because, honestly, who wants to read about that? And I often times felt the author could’ve started by bringing us headfirst into the fire to lure the reader in and then go back to the beginning as some non-fiction narratives do.

As I continued reading, I felt the story begin read in the same vein as the triangle factory fire, however this story did feel like a first draft of that story. This story did start to gain traction in certain areas, for example when the author discussed the blatant disregard of fire regulations within the Grenfell building: the use of fire-spreading materials and insufficient cladding to prevent the fire from spreading, and as we discover later, the fire doors and firefighting lifts not working as intended and failing to sustain the fire to the degree that regulations mandated.

Overall, I did feel this read and was outlined a bit more like a research report than an engrossing piece of non-fiction. The author clearly did their research, but the best non fiction I’ve read has come off more personal and engrossing. In terms of the fire, the author did a great job of explaining fire terms in layman’s terms, describing the aftermath, and the aftermath of the aftermath, and there were moments when I found this story genuinely interesting and the injustice eye-opening and infuriating.

The author is all over the place and it makes it very difficult to follow.

Tragic absolutely, but I feel as though this needed a lot of continuity