Through the Fire by Shawn Grady

Through the Fire by Shawn Grady ISBN-13: 9780764205958 Trade Paperback: 328 pages Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Released: July 1, 2009

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description, modified from Back Cover:
Firefighting burns in Aidan O'Neill's blood, but his innate gift for reading flames has made him overconfident. When one call goes horribly wrong and a rookie is hurt, Aidan ends up suspended and finds himself questioning everything.

It couldn't have happened at a worse time. An arsonist is targeting Reno, leaving a scorched path of destruction. The department needs Aidan back, but his return is troubled. The gift he relied on for so long has gone silent, and he has difficulty performing the basic tasks he should know well.

Teaming with a beguiling fire investigator, Aidan is determined to discover who is setting the fires that are so similar to the one that killed his father. Aidan must discover where his trust rests as the flames burn ever closer.


My Review:
Through the Fire is a Christian suspense novel about firefighters and a serial arsonist. The fast-paced, non-stop action mainly involved fighting fires. The details about firefighting and firefighters were expertly woven into the story in a way that brought the job vividly alive in my imagination without slowing the action.

The characters were interesting, but I felt like we only "got to know" Aidan. Even him, we didn't get to know very well. I also never understood why anyone at the station would suspect Aidan of setting the fires since he was right there at the station when most of the fires were set. As to "whodunit," I had wondered if the person who turned out to be the arsonist was the arsonist, but it also could easily have been another character. The story was more about action than clues.

Aidan was a Christian who apparently rejected God for letting his father die and refused to listen when the other Christians in the story told him the same thing again and again. Then, suddenly, he listened, said a prayer, and started heavily using Church-speak. The change seemed abrupt to me, especially since I didn't quite understand what was different that time that made him listen--unless it was never God he was actually mad at.

There was a minor amount of "he cussed" style bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this book to Christians who enjoy action-packed firefighting stories.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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