Fire tells the story of Freya, a surgeon specialising in burn victims. As a victim herself, Freya cannot move past her own childhood experiences and seeks vengeance on the perpetrators of her trauma: fourteen year old boys. Brilliant and shocking, Fire is not an easy read, but a compelling study on trauma and vengeance. Topics covered in this short novel are tough but fascinating as John Boyne turns Freya from victim to perpetrator. I love Boyne’s work and I would highly recommend this book, and others in his Elements series to his fans and anyone looking for a morally complicated and well-written read.

As a reader you are quickly drawn to Freya, Dr Petrus, who initially appears a capable, calm and considerate doctor intent on doing the best for her burns victims. But as usual Boyne turns everything on its head and challenges our expectations as Freya changes before our eyes. The question is, was she always destined to be the person she became or did events in her past direct the way she turned out. This is a totally gripping if not always an easy read. Describing it in more detail would give away the plot but it touches on some difficult themes of abuse and damage, victim and perpetrator. It is masterfully told and the plot simply rips along without a hiccup considering some of the issues it covers. When all four books in the series are released I look forward to rereading them all together. I'm finding the drawn out nature of this quartet tantalizingly slow! With thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for an arc copy in return for an honest review.

This is the third book in the Elements series (we stared with Water and Earth) and although it's more a group of interconnected books this one does refer back to things that happened in one of the previous ones so, tbh, I would still read in order. In this book we meet Freya who is a well respected burn surgeon who treats her patients with the utmost respect. Well, that is the face she displays to everyone. The truth is actually, well, without spoiling anything, quite horrible. As well as following her quite sordid present, we also delve into her past. Her relationships with her mother and grandmother and what happened that summer when she went to stay with her mother and met the twins. Which then starts to examine the ago-old philosophy of "nature or nurture" to figure out what shaped Freya into the woman she is today... did she ever have a chance? I love these books. They are all only quite short, novellas I guess. But they are exactly the right length to impart what the author wants to give the reader. Which, in my case anyway, also leaves enough to keep pondering on beyond the final page. Did knowing what I now know about what happened to Freya in her childhood change the way that I felt about what she became? Is she herself also a victim? But then, many people have had bad childhoods and not all turn out to be as she did? Is there still a point of redemption, a place in her life where she could have changed path? All things that are still going round my head days after finishing... Which, I believe, is the sign of a great author... It's not a comfortable read, but you'll know that if you have already read the previous two books. But it's compelling and gripping nonetheless and, with the twist in the tail that the author delivers towards the end, it really does pack a punch.

This is the third book in Boyne's Elements series, and like the previous two it packs a punch. The focus of the story this time is Freya, a successful surgeon that seems to have an extremely privileged life, but it wasn't always like that, Freya's is a life built on darkness. As you would expect with a book that features rape, and child abuse it isn't an easy read, but Boyne handles the topics brilliantly and really draws you in to Freya's story.

Inadequately parented, abused and tormented by evil twins in her childhood, Freya takes her revenge over and over again, seeking the most vulnerable as her victims. She's cold, calculating, fascinating and totally unlikeable. From the very first page this novella is full of tension, escalating into a thoroughly chilling and disturbing narrative. It's short, tightly written, gripping, and there's a big question left hanging at the end. This would be perfect reading group material - challenging and thought-provoking.