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The Burning Men

A totally addictive and page turning police procedural thriller with a killer twist

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The Burning Men

By: Will Shindler
Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
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Summary

 THE FIRST IN A PHENOMENAL NEW PROCEDURAL SERIES FEATURING DI ALEX FINN AND DC MATTIE PAULSEN.

Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Peter Robinson.

When a high-rise development in South London catches fire mid-construction, a close-knit team of fire fighters tackle the blaze. The building should be empty, but they find a man, unconscious, next to several cases of money.

The fire crew make a fateful decision; leave the man, take the money, quit the service and never speak of this again.

But five years later one of them is set alight in the toilets at his own wedding. Soon after, a second is found in the burnt out remains of his Maserati, nothing but a smoking corpse. It appears that someone knows what they did. And there are still three firemen left to go. . .

DI Alex Finn and DC Mattie Paulsen are an unlikely pairing, but they need to discover who is behind these killings before the last man burns.

This is first in Will Shindler's Finn and Paulsen series - a British detective series that ranks with Mark Billingham, M.J. Arlidge, Staurt Macbride.

(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd©2020 Will Shindler Crime Thrillers Murder Mystery Police Procedurals Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense True Crime Fiction Thriller Crime
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Critic reviews

An unmissable debut
The pace is good and Finn is a great character. There is also an excellently portrayed organised crime boss
This debut is, simply put, fantastic. It has such a strong opening, you'll be hooked after the first chapter
A gripping debut with well-rounded characters and an intriguing plot. You won't want it to end
This thriller's hot stuff. A blaze of action and surprises, making it a sure crime debut of the year contender. Shindler's list (sorry!) of successes include an original plot, gasp-out-loud twists and a brilliant new detective team... the case is a humdinger. 10/10
Arresting... an unusual novel with a rising sense of menace
Fans of police novels and dramas will lap up this tale, and as it's the first in the Finn and Paulsen series, I can't wait for the next instalment
Blistering debut... this is a gritty and cleverly plotted police drama - the very definition of a page- turner
A highly accomplished police procedural with intriguing characters and plenty of twists to keep readers guessing until its explosive finale
The Burning Men hooked me from the start and never gave me second thoughts (...) The sharp scenes, good pacing and deft characterisation mark this as a series to follow
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed the story for the first few hours or so but then started losing interest, I did not particularly care for any of the characters and did not much care when they died. DI Finn and DC Paulsen are both walking cliches so I am bemused by all the glowing reviews. I usually do not mind the odd cliche, but to team up a pair of them seems a bit risky and for this listener, a step too far.

Tom Lawrence does a grand job with the narration though so he makes the story a pleasure to listen too no matter what your thoughts on the story.

Lacklustre

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A good thriller. Long in places but a good plot. Ending dragged in places but clever. Would be interesting to read next one...

Fiery

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Now here is the book that should have been the crime and thriller listen of the month! I think Will Shindler should have a bit of a hit on his hands with this detailed police procedural that marries together two unlikely but very impressive lead characters and a genuinely smouldering plot!

As the blurb says Alex Finn and Mattie Paulsen really are an unlikely pairing and the case that they are faced with which starts with the quite gruesome murder of a groom at his wedding is complex and absorbing. On top of that Shindler seems to have a knack of throwing in the odd hand grenade of a sentence that genuinely makes your mind pop and ask yourself - "Did I really just hear that?" For a great, early example look out for how he first (I think) introduces Finn and his wife.

As the story proceeds we get very good character development, particularly of the leads and there is always a mysterious shadowy figure flitting in and our of the background. Is he real, or just imaginary?

Tom Lawrence brings it all to life with no little enthusiasm and plenty of varied character voices which genuinely helps the story along - there are quite a number of characters to keep track of but never an overload.

In all, this is really good stuff and there are some lovely emotional touches and a couple of really powerful scenes. Shindler is a writer I really do hope that Hodder & Stoughton plan to persist with!

Hot Stuff!

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I found this book slow to get into as a raft of characters were introduced but who didn't stick in my mind. I had to restart the book as I felt confused with all the names. As the narrative swung back and forth by 5 years gradually I got the hang of what had happened. It's an interesting scenario but the story is dragged down by too much psychological navel gazing by the two main characters. Can't we have a DI who hasn't recently lost his wife and a female DS with a damaged past and who bridles at misogynistic colleagues? Every time there's new entrant into the over-stuffed detective fiction list I hope that they will be more original and not trot out the check-list of cliches. I'm still waiting.

Slow burn

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book . Good , believable storyline and simply wonderful narration . Enjoyable

Story with a difference

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