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.
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…
It is such a pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for The Time of the Fire by Emma Kavanagh today. Huge thanks to Orion Books for sending me a copy of the book and to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to take part in the tour.
I've recently shared my post revealing my books of 2024 and I can already confidently state that The Time of the Fire is a cast-iron certainty for my 2025 post! In her author's notes at the end of the book, Emma Kavanagh writes about her love of books which nudge at the boundaries and play with the limits of genre. This is a love I wholeheartedly share – some of my favourite reads are those which explore theories beyond our tangible world and yet in doing so, reveal so much about the human condition. The Time of the Fire does exactly this and as well as being a nail-biting, character-driven thriller, it also examines some complex, intriguing topics.
The novel opens with the tragic death of Harper Morgan in 1992 before fast-forwarding to the present day. We quickly learn that Harper's infant daughter, Robyn, was adopted by Alex and Eve Sandovel, the wealthy owners of much of the Northern Californian town, Destino. Now poised to take over as CEO of the family business, Robyn appears to have it all. However, appearances can be deceptive and on the anniversary of her birth mother's death, Robyn endures a cataclysmic experience which changes everything she thought she knew. When she heads to the home of her biological father, Mack, she is expecting to discover what he desperately wanted to tell her; instead she finds him dead with clear evidence of foul play. Meanwhile, a forest fire is beginning to take hold and though the residents of Destino believe themselves to be safe, a sudden change in wind direction could alter everything. There is, of course, a dreadful sense of foreboding engendered by the fire and with a terrible inevitability to the course the flames will take, the tension is unrelenting throughout.
If this was merely a book about a daughter's frantic race to uncover the truth behind her father's murder set against the backdrop of an oncoming fire, it would undoubtedly be a compulsive thriller. The Time of the Fire, however, is so much more and while high-concept quantum physics may be challenging theories, the engaging plot ensured I was readily able to accept these ideas as plausible. After such an awful shock, Robyn passes out and on waking, discovers she is now an alternate version of herself, Scarlett Morgan. She is still a Destino resident but her life in this timeline is very different – although the town remains threatened by fire here. Robyn's consciousness becomes divided between her own life and Scarlett's, with the switch between them often triggered by a new revelation. She initially believes that what she is experiencing may be petit mal episodes brought on by her finding Mack's body, however, she gradually begins to realise the truth is far more complicated. Fortunately, Scarlett's boyfriend, Zeke, was a physics major and he is able to offer an accessible, fascinating explanation of the many-worlds theory, both to her and to readers.
While much of the novel follows Robyn as either herself or Scarlett, there are also chapters told from the perspective of mother and daughter characters, Bonnie and Mags. In Robyn's world, Bonnie's husband, Kelvin is dying of cancer but she isn't ready to face reality. Meanwhile, although Mags returned to Destino to support her parents, she feels a crushing sense of ennui. This subplot is beautifully woven into the storyline and adds another layer of interest to proceedings, especially as both characters are also in Scarlett's time but have a very different relationship here. The contrast between the two Bonnies and the reason behind this is particularly touching.
As Robyn learns more about her parents, she begins to understand that Scarlett might hold the key to her figuring out who wanted to kill Mack. While this is true, the real strength of The Time of the Fire lies in Emma Kavanagh's reflection of the dichotomy of human beings and how a person can be both hero and villain. Most of the characters here are flawed, even Robyn who as herself has to decide the path she wishes to take and as Scarlett to forgive herself for her past transgressions. It's a testament to the writing that I was equally invested in both storylines and believed wholeheartedly in both versions of Robyn/Scarlett.
Of course, as the human interest stories play out, there is also the small matter of a raging forest fire threatening to engulf Destino. Reading this in the wake of the Los Angeles fires was especially poignant and I was impressed by Emma Kavanagh's compelling, empathetic blending of a high octane race-against-time thriller with the harrowing emotional impact of fire on individuals and the wider community. There are a few chapters which describe the rapidly changing fire which serve to really ramp up the suspense – as events reached a dramatic conclusion, I was genuinely unable to predict the outcome and raced through the pages with my heart in my mouth and a tear in my eye.
I loved The Time of the Fire; exploring themes such as belonging, forgiveness and acceptance in a unique, riveting manner throughout, this imaginative, multilayered thriller is an intelligent, exciting and moving read. I very highly recommend it.
The Time of the Fire will be published by Orion Books on 30th January. It can be purchased from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Amazon, Goldsboro Books (limited edition, signed copies) or order from your favourite independent bookshop.
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