A Slow Fire Burning

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A Slow Fire Burning is an engrossing narrative that expertly captures the complexities of human relationships. She stumbled up the steps and out of the cabin, gulping mouthfuls of air, gagging. She threw up on the towpath, wiped her mouth, cried out, "Help! Somebody call the police!" but it was barely seven thirty on a Sunday morning, and there was no one around. The towpath was still, the roads up above quiet too, no sounds save for the throb of a generator, the squabble of moorhens ghosting gently past. Looking up at the bridge above the canal, she thought she might have seen someone, just for a moment, but then they were gone, and she was alone, gripped by paralyzing fear.

Miriam, an elderly spinster, lived next door to Daniel on a different houseboat. She noticed Daniel’s aunt, Carla, at Daniel’s house a few days prior to his murder. Then, she noticed Laura at his house the night of his murder. On Sunday morning, she realized his door had been open all day Saturday. She went into his home and found his body. She also found Laura’s key, which she recognized from the laundromat. She decided to use her power as the first one on the scene to protect Laura, who she felt bad for, and to frame Carla, since she hated Theo for stealing her memoir. There’s a great sense of suspense and tension. The story gets more engrossing as it goes along. This is a book where I was shaking my head in amazement/disgust at several points. It’s deliciously twisty and just when you think everything has been resolved, there’s one more twist waiting.A young man in his twenties is found stabbed to death on the houseboat where he had been living. I admit that I've always been entranced by the idea of living in one, minus the murder of course. A woman who lives in another of the boats is the one to find his body and at first glimpse she seems like the typical busy body type of person, always looking, judging. Soon though, there will be two other women involved, unreliable narrators all. There are connections between these women and the dead man, but these are uncovered slowly.

This book offers an insightful look into how our past experiences shape our present relationships and decisions. One woman in her 20s suffered a brutal hit-and-run as a child that resulted in brain damage causing behavioural issues. The atmosphere is dark, the small group of characters unlikable, harboring secrets and truths. The young woman Laura, a tragic past, I felt sorry for and Irene a older woman, with a big heart, the only character I actually liked. There are many misdirections which change the story in small and big ways. A book within a book which also serves to confuse. The pacing is slow, but there are constant revelations and the truths are slowly revealed.

Listen to Paula Hawkins on the Penguin Podcast

The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Hawkins, Paula. A Slow Fire Burning. Penguin Random House, 2021. Kindle.

She recalls one critic saying of the book, “she should have just written The Girl on the Train 2, no one would’ve judged her for doing that.” She bursts out laughing. “And I was thinking ‘Yes they bloody would’ve done!’ And I didn’t want to anyway; I wasn’t interested in writing the same book again. I thought what I was doing was quite ambitious.” Into the Water is told from the perspective of 11 characters, “and OK, some people felt it didn’t work. But I’d rather be ambitious and fail than just do the same thing over and over. And how do you even do that? What are you going to do – is Rachel going to go into solving crimes? Develop a detective agency? It makes no sense to me.” A Slow Fire Burning is the latest from Paula Hawkins, the woman whose words haunt your dreams. . .We follow three women close to the deceased—an ex, an aunt, and a neighbor. Each has kindled a hot-burning anger against the man in question, and Hawkins happily fans the flames.” — Glamour

Get ready for your next big thrill ride...Filled with plot twists, it promises to keep you guessing until the very end.” —CNN A Slow Fire Burning is a treat: utterly readable, moving in parts and saturated with the kind of localized detail that made The Girl on the Train so compelling…a return to form.” — The Guardian