Into the Fire by Rachael Blok

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Pages: 378

DCI Jansen #3

 

Blurb

 Eleven guests. Three nights. One murderer

In a stately mansion in the Hertfordshire countryside sisters Lois and Ebba prepare to launch their new venture. Archipelago is an exploitation-free tech company whose virtual reality game promises to unite the worlds of technology, politics and the environment.

Invited to the launch party are their celebrity investors: a glamorous British couple, a brooding Swedish financier, a Dutch banker and his film star wife and a controversial politician–Marieke–who is receiving death threats for her crusade against modern slavery.

DCI Maarten Jansen has been summoned to join the house party. He is sure the threats are from online trolls with nothing better to do – he’s only offering police protection because his boss wants to put the VIP guests at ease. But when eight of the guests are involved in a suspicious helicopter crash, Maarten starts to uncover long-buried secrets – and a murderer in their midst… 

Review

Given that I already had seven unread library books at home and also own at least 100 physical books I haven’t read yet – I’m not mentioning unread ebooks because that way lies madness – bringing home yet another title was the last thing I needed. But show me a cover featuring an author’s (sur)name that sounds distinctly Dutch and combine that with a blurb mentioning a Dutch banker and a controversial politician named Marieke both featuring in a thriller in which the main investigator is a Dutch expat in the UK, and you may understand why I didn’t have a choice.

I’m delighted to say that I do not regret my decision. Into the Fire is a fast-paced and intriguing thriller filled with secrets, twists and turns, and plenty of suspense. Given the setting, there’s only a limited number of potential victims and perpetrators. With most of these characters (secretly) being connected to each other in one way or another, the tension continues to rise with each new revelation. Those secrets are revealed slowly and not always completely which means that suspicions change, and possible motives keep on coming, keeping the reader on their toes while trying to figure out what on earth might be going on.

I find it ridiculously hard to review a thriller/mystery without giving away too much. Since this book succeeded in keeping me guessing right until the very end and I wouldn’t want to deprive other readers of that pleasure, I’m going to keep this one short. I do want to say that this book is best read in as few sittings as possible. Even while reading the book over the course of twenty-four hours, I struggled at times to keep up with who was who and how everybody related to each other.

I can honestly say that didn’t lessen my reading joy. I loved the red herrings and the fact that for a long time it wasn’t even clear who the intended victim(s) is/are or if the ‘right’ person had died only added to my enjoyment.

After finishing Into the Fire, I discovered that it is the third book in a series. Since the possibility of prequels hadn’t occurred to me even once while reading this story, I can honestly say that this book works perfectly as a stand-alone story.

If you’re in the mood for a thrilling page-turner that will almost certainly keep you guessing, look no further.