The Time of The Fire by Emma Kavanagh
Northern California, end of summer. Fire Hazard Severity Zone: Very High.
A mysterious death.
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, CEO-in-waiting Robyn Sandoval goes for a morning run. She knows her father – a local fire fighting hero – is desperate to speak to her, to tell her something he wants her to know before she starts her new job leading the corporation that owns most of their Northern Californian town of Destino. But when Robyn arrives, she finds him dead.
A devastating fire.
Meanwhile, after months of drought, a freak forest fire ignites on the mountain ridge looming over the town. Destino has never burned; its unique position protected by the seemingly insurmountable barrier of the ridge, a favourable wind direction, and a belief long held by the community that they are categorically safe.
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A life split in two.
Robyn is shaken to the core by her father’s death, and her life is shattered in two, the fabric of her reality shorn by the sheer force of her grief.
The next time she wakes, everything is different: her father is alive, and there’s no sign of the fire on the ridge.
To understand what is happening, she has to confront not only the secrets of her past but both versions of her present. Because back in her world, the fire is spreading and the time to find answers is running out…
My Review
I can’t pretend that I understood the concept of Time Of The Fire, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. Zeke tries to explain to Scarlett about the many-worlds theory, using quantum physics and Schrödinger’s cat. She says she has a headache. So have I.
The idea of the many-worlds theory is that something so devastating happens that the world splits in two. In one world Harper Morgan is killed in a car crash in a terrible storm on her way back to her home in Destino. This is the prologue, the opening chapter of the book. Her husband Mack puts their daughter up for adoption and she becomes Robyn Sandoval, daughter of Eve and Alex Sandoval, and CEO-in-waiting of their massively successful company.
Initially, we follow Robyn, thirty years later. She is out for a run with her dog Hector, when she pops in to see Mack, only to find him dead on the bed. It’s evident that he has been murdered, but who would want to kill him?
We also follow Mags, who has left her husband to return to Destino to run her mother Bonnie’s diner. But it’s Scarlett Morgan who is Robyn’s alter-ego, except that’s not what she is. She is Robyn in another life, when the events of thirty years ago had happened quite differently.
But what makes this book so exciting is that it is set against the backdrop of a devastating fire (coincidence that I am reading this while the fires in Los Angeles are happening). Destino hasn’t had a fire for over 100 years and no-one is really prepared. In fact they believe themselves to be untouchable, invincible.
I was confused initially, but then it all came together and I couldn’t wait to see how it would be resolved. I loved both Robyn and Scarlett, and Mags in particular. Stick with it. It’s different, but it’s very clever and totally unique (for me anyway).
Many thanks to @Tr4cyF3nt0n for inviting me to be part of the #CompulsiveReaders #blogtour and to NetGalley for an ARC.
About the Author
Emma Kavanagh was born and raised in South Wales. After graduating with a PhD in Psychology from Cardiff University, she spent many years working as a police and military psychologist, training firearms officers, command staff and military personnel throughout the UK and Europe. She lives in South Wales with her husband and young sons.
