Fire in the Stars

Starred review from July 18, 2016
Fradkin, author of the Inspector Green series, two of which won Arthur Ellis awards, now introduces readers to a new mystery series. The adventurous Amanda Doucette was an international aid worker, but after surviving a horrific incident in Nigeria, she returned to Canada. When she learns that her fellow aid worker Phil Cousins has disappeared into northern Newfoundland with his young son, she embarks on a quest to find them. Fradkin does a marvelous job depicting the fierce beauty and isolation of Newfoundland and the post-traumatic stress both Amanda and Phil experience. Amanda is buoyed by her retriever Kaylee and RCMP officer Chris Tymko, who takes vacation time to assist her. Along the way there are many troubling developments: a dead foreigner fished out of the sea, the sighting of a lifeboat carrying several men hurrying away, and an old fisherman found ax murdered. Amanda’s task becomes more difficult and dangerous as she not only has to find Phil and his son in the wilderness but also has to figure out who the murderer is. Fradkin, a retired psychologist, creates well-drawn, complex characters, and she knows how to build tension and drama that hold readers to the end.

September 1, 2016

Aid worker Amanda Doucette is back in Canada, fleeing the horrors of her last stint in Nigeria. She anticipates going on a motorcycle trip with her best friend Phil Cousins, but upon arrival in Newfoundland, she learns that Phil and his son, Tyler, have disappeared. Joined by Phil's friend, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sgt. Chris Tymko, Amanda begins a search she fears will lead to death and misery as the bodies pile up. Highly competent, Amanda is memorable, adventurous, resourceful and caring; she only needs to regain her footing to recover from her trauma. VERDICT Canadian mystery writer Fradkin ("Inspector Green" mysteries), winner of two Arthur Ellis Awards, launches a new series with a complex protagonist struggling to cope with PTSD. Readers of Tana French and Deborah Crombie may want to investigate.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
A Canadian aid worker returns from a deeply traumatic experience in Nigeria to find even more challenging adventures awaiting her in the wilds of Newfoundland.As they worked alongside each other against Boko Haram, Amanda Doucette and her old friend Phil Cousins promised they'd do whatever it took to help each other heal once they got back home. Now Phil, who's obviously in need of a lot more healing, has asked Amanda to join him on a camping trip from his home in Grand Falls in the hope that the wilderness will quiet his demons. When she arrives, however, Amanda learns that Phil has already set off with his 11-year-old son, Tyler, inexplicably leaving his cellphone behind. Amanda, shortly joined by an old friend of Phil's, RCMP Cpl. Chris Tymko, is left to follow his trail. As she talks with other Mounties at St. Anthony and Roddickton, where she hears about sightings of Phil tantalizingly just ahead, it gradually becomes clear that nothing about Phil's disappearance is clear: not where he's headed or why he'd take his young son into such a wilderness or whether he's headed anywhere in particular or whether he intends Amanda to join him. But the line of dead bodies that begins to dot the trail makes it clear that Phil has gotten mixed up in something just as dangerous as his Nigerian rescue mission but not whether he's a victim or a killer. Launching a new series, Fradkin (The Night Thief, 2015, etc.) scores low for mystery, high for wilderness adventure, and off the charts for her portrait of the bleak, beautiful Newfoundland landscape.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.