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The Fire Child cover art

The Fire Child

By: S. K. Tremayne
Narrated by: Imogen Church,Peter Noble
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Summary

When Rachel marries dark, handsome David, everything seems to fall into place. Swept from single life in London to the beautiful Carnhallow House in Cornwall, she gains wealth, love and a stepson, Jamie. But then Jamie makes a chilling prediction, and Rachel's perfect life begins to unravel.

Haunted by the spectre of David's late wife - Jamie's real mother - Rachel finds herself drawn to the deserted mines where she plunged to her death three years prior. As Rachel starts digging into the past, she begins to grow suspicious of her husband. Why is he so reluctant to discuss Jamie's behaviour? And what exactly happened to cause his ex-wife's untimely suicide?

With December looming, Rachel begins to fear there might be truth in Jamie's words: 'you will die at Christmas'.

©2016 S. K. Tremayne (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

What listeners say about The Fire Child

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Corniche mystery with great twist

This download is more about great narration than anything else. Imogen Church is spellbinding as a woman on the edge of madness. This is top class acting and goes way beyond the story itself. Well worth a credit!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

good

This book started off slowly, but I am glad I persevered. Imogen Church is a great narrator (one of my favourites). I would recommend a listen.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

the female narrator Imogen Church makes the book

Any additional comments?

The story is about Rachel and her life as a married woman and what she endures in a big secluded house and with her husband commuting to London every week. A step-son and a dead ex-wife are also in the centre of the story. I think this is a book for female listener.

The book could have been ordinary, neither good nor bad, but Imogen Church makes it worth a credit. She takes us through the book with an absolutely amazing performance and turns the book into something to remember. It is slow pace in the beginning; almost soothing and calming, but builds up to a rollercoaster of emotions, especially in the second part.

The five star performance is based on her narration only, since the male narrator is a disaster in comparison. Luckily, he is quiet most of the time.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

AVOID

I read the ‘Ice Twins’ by same author and did not think much of it.
I should have left it there but I thought I would give this one a go.
It is set in Cornwall and the atmosphere of the place is created. An old large country residence with underground mines and pools.
I think it is meant to be similar to 'Rebecca' by Daphne DuMaurier.
However with the atmospheric creation of DuMaurier we also have real life like characters who seem believable and those the reader can become invested in. Here (in my opinion) we certainly do not. The plot is extremely flaky and the characters all are as mad as a bag of frogs.
Rachel Daly who comes from a rough background in South London reinvents herself as a photography teacher and falls for rich handsome 'everything going for him' lawyer David Kerthen.
David has an eight year old son Jamie. In a rush Rachel and David are married and settled in his country Cornish pile called 'Carnhallow House'. Rachel is left caring for his son Jamie who is mentally frail and disturbed following the death of his mother David’s wife number one Nina the year before in suspicious circumstances. David works all week in London returning home only at weekends. In fact it may be that David just took Rachel in as a childminder come sexually available person for his weekend trips home.
Nina although dead cannot leave the family alone and Rachel thinks she sees her on a bus and smells her Chanel No 5 perfume in the house. Its a pity she didnt leave the perfume behind as its rather a nice one!!
Another of Rachel’s jobs is to oversee the restoration of the house. However Jamie’s fragile mental health and assertions that Rachel will be dead by Christmas send her somewhat over the precipice.
Despite this and Rachel’s belief that her life is in danger she stays in this forsaken place.
The plot is as slow as a valium filled snail only zinging up in the final run where all sorts of everything are revealed.
Credibility already hanging out the window by its fingernails takes a full leap into the unknown and gives us a climax beyond belief of anything rational.
Stereotypical views of Domestic abuse are branded about in that a pregnant woman severely beaten provoked her assailant and if only he had known she was pregnant he would have been more cautious.
Rachel just takes Jamie can be taken to a child psychologist who just happens to be available to Rachel who is not his mother and presumably without parental responsibility. This child psychologist there and then just starts talking to him. Yeah that will be right!!
No wonder Jamie is disturbed, his father tells him to keep a big secret and Rachel tells him not to tell his father he is attending a psychologist. The boy is like a pawn being used and ignored by both of them.
By the end and I wished it would come sooner than it did I had given up well and truly. Avoid at all costs I say. I wish I did. I will not be picking up another by this author.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable to a point

I enjoyed this up until the last hour or so when the story became a bit ridiculous. I don't think I would listen to another book by this author. The narration was excellent though.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

The FirexChild

This book was well narrated. I loved the descriptions of Cornwall. It gripped me from the beginning to end I could not put the book down. I would recommend it as a book to read in the winter on a cold winters night

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bought hopefully and left disappointed

Reallly disagree with the other reviews re the narration. The voice that the female narrator uses to read the make role is dreadful - so much so I couldnt listen anymore, ridiculously deep and pompous, in total contrast to the male narrator reading the actual part in the alternate chapters.
A poor and slow start storywise that 5 chapters in was not getting much better and to be honest i found utterly depressing.
Sorry ...... returning this title....

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Annoying

I found female narrator Imogen Church really annoying and distracted me from enjoying the story.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Keeps you on edge

Would you consider the audio edition of The Fire Child to be better than the print version?

Not sure, I haven't read the print version.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it kept me on edge the whole way through. It was a very imaginative and very well written novel. I gave only 4 stars because I can't say it's an absolute masterpiece but it's very good.

Any additional comments?

The narrators are excellent. There were only two things about Imogen Church, one was the regular catching of her breath after sentences, a kind of quick little intake of breath that was a bit annoying and the other thing was her trying to sound like a man when she was narrating a man. Many narrators do this, men and women alike, usually with very little success: they change their voice and think they sound like the opposite sex but the outcome if more often than not, quite laughable.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

unputdownable fantastic suspenseful story

suspense kept going right until the end.
very absorbing and intetesting story really enjoyed this book

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1 person found this helpful