Kate Medina

I couldn't finish reading this book.

Jessie Flynn is a very interesting character. She's a psychologist, working with the military. She battles mental health issues herself, and from the parts I read, it is evident there's considerable trauma in her past, akin to all of her patients.

Fire Damage opens with Jessie treating four year old Sami, who has PTSD. Getting through to Sami's mind is proving a difficult task, and his parents don't make it any easier. In addition, Jessie also evaluates Seargant Starkey, implicated in the death of another soldier in Afghanistan.

I found the book a slow and difficult read. Reading about all of their traumatic pasts was triggering my own fears, and after a difficult sleepless night, I have abandoned the book. I dreaded all of Jessi's interactions with Sami, and all of the sneak-peeks we get into Jessi's own past.

There's mention of war, illness, OCD, and suicide, among other things. Please use your own discretion before stepping into this book.… (mais)

3.5 rating

This novel could have been so good. It just needed a better editor. The story is a mystery set in the background of mine-clearing in Cambodia. The problem is that it also involves sex trafficking, spousal abuse, child abuse, murder, a mythical creature, police corruption, NGO corruption, government corruption and more. Too many leave little room for any of the issues to be explored properly or for the story to flow. I wish the author had focused on fewer issues and given us more character development. I found the ending rushed and trite. That being said, the book was interesting and raised topics I knew little about, and now can't stop thinking about!… (mais)

Two young men, Danny Lawson, Stephen Foster are dead and a third Ryan Jones is seeking help and counselling from psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn. Are there connections? and can Jessie discover and uncover the closed mind of young soldier Ryan, a deeply troubled and disturbed individual....."He started to fidget, fingers picking at a thread that had come loose from the stitching of his navy blue beret. His nails had been bitten to the quick, the cuticles raw."

This is the second book in the Jessie Flynn crime series and just as enjoyable as the first. It is not so much the story that is at the heart of Kate Medina's writing (although a well structured thriller is always vital) but rather the characters that adorn those pages with all their weaknesses, self doubts, and insecurities, and at this the author excels. Jessie is the central figure a fine and dedicated psychologist and yet possibly one of the most flawed, sensitive and self doubting individuals I have ever encountered. She has borne courageously a troubled childhood with her father departing the marital home, making her feel responsible for her younger, and sick, brother Jamie...."My father dumped me when I was twelve, dumped Jamie when he was only five, sick, dying. He dumped all of us for that...Bi**h" This has tragic consequences when Jamie commits suicide and is discovered by Jessie on her return home, something she will never recover from feeling responsible for his death as she was not present when it happened. She suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder indicated by her extreme sense of order...."She put the kettle back on its stand, straightened the handle flush with the wall"......"the bread and butter lined side by side on the top shelf, an identical space between each item."

Captain Ben Callan is employed as an officer in the Special Investigation Branch. He previously served courageously in Afghanistan and as a young soldier...."he had already taken two bullets whilst on duty. The first a gift from the Taliban eighteen months ago in Afghanistan, still lodged in his brain; the fallout permanent seizures, manageable at the moment with drugs..." Captain Callan has not disclosed his tenuous and fragile health prognosis to his employers for to do so, in his opinion, would surely mean his instant dismissal. As a result of this injury the unfortunate Callan now suffers seizures and blackouts manifesting in the form of epileptic fits. There would appear to be an attraction between Ben and Jessie possibly two wounded souls seeking comfort in the arms of the other. This is something that the reader really hopes will happen, will they or wont they is an occurring theme throughout the story. DI Bobby "Marilyn" Simmons contributes a little light relief if only for the fact that his nickname..." which he had acquired on his first day with Surrey and Sussex Major Crimes thanks to an uncanny resemblance to the ageing American rocker Marilyn Manson.

So with some great leading players and an enjoyable story that results in the exposure of a well hidden killer this the second book in the series draws to a dramatic close. The author has created a wonderful heroine and there must certainly be many more secrets to discover in the further adventures of Jessie and Ben in book 3 of the series. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for supplying me with a gratis copy for an honest review and that is what I have written.… (mais)

What on the face of it looks like a standard crime novel, albeit set within the confines of the armed forces, proves to be much more a character driven study where all the main participants are in some way tainted by past events.

Psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn is trying to understand and break down the traumatic and delicate mind of 4 year old Sami. The child appears to be suffering a form of PTSD and Jessie becomes suspicious that perhaps his parents Scott (badly injured and disfigured during a tour of Afghanistan) and Nooria know more than they are prepared to divulge. At the same time Jessie's friend and former patient Captain Ben Callan is investigating the premature death of Sergeant Andy Jackson in the stifling desert heat of an Afghanistan autumn. Callan must also live each day with the consequences of war, he carries a bullet lodged in his brain too risky to surgically remove causing him to suffer frequent epileptic type fits. Meanwhile Inspector Bobby "Marilyn" Simmons (what a wonderful name to be associated with a rock legend!) has encountered his own difficulties, a badly decomposed body on the shore killed by severe blunt trauma to the back of the head

Sound complicated? It's not....The story and momentum gather pace until in the last few chapters all is revealed. I read at blistering speed but found it difficult to keep abreast of events and I urged on Jessie Flynn in her quest to help restore a sad and damaged Sami. What makes this a great read is the depth to which the author shows the emotional fallout present in all. Flynn is haunted by an event in her childhood in which she blames herself and has never recovered. This manifests itself in recurrent OCD....."straightening the sleeves. Taking a step back she checked their alignment, straightened again, millimetre by millimetre, until they were exactly level...." Ben Callan has a bullet embedded in his brain and cannot be removed due to fear of death...."Frontal lobe seizure is the official diagnosis . He tapped the scar on his temple. Caused by the bullet that the army surgeons decided was too risky to remove." Major Nicholas Scott, Intelligence Corps, badly burnt in Afghanistan three months previously....."the left side of his face was so badly burnt that the skin had melted, slid away from the bones underneath, leaving threads of brown, tortured tissue. Batman's Joker dropped into a vat of acid..."

This is not a story that is inundated with army rank and slang but rather a crime thriller where the main participant happens to be an army psychologist. It is the first in the start of a new series featuring Jessie Flynn and I look forward to reading the second when released later this year. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for sending me a gratis copy of this superb story in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.… (mais)