REVIEW: SMOKE, BY CATHERINE MCKENZIE

 

 

 

Elizabeth Martin and Ben Jansen have struggled in recent years, as her firefighting and secrets from her past threaten to erode what they have. Now as an arson investigator, Elizabeth works closer to home, but her work still consumes her.

Mindy and Peter Mitchell have two children they adore, but since she stopped working, domesticity and her fears have taken up the spaces her job once held. She worries about her daughter Carrie who had a hole in her heart at birth, and about Angus, a teen whose sulkiness hints at something dark and frightening.

One night in the beautiful village in the Rockies, a wildfire takes on a life of its own, ravaging the hills and the nearby Cooper Basin, threatening their town and their homes.

When one man’s home is destroyed, Elizabeth is pulled into studying the origin of the fire, bringing out the town’s wrath as naming the suspects could shake their foundations.

Smoke is a story about families, about relationships, and about the physical and emotional events in life that can derail them. It also reveals much about friendships and the tests that cause them to unravel. I found myself caught up in the lives of the characters, wondering about their secrets and what had pulled apart these two formerly best friends, Elizabeth and Mindy. A book that captured me from the opening pages and held me until the very end, this one earned 5 stars.

***I received an e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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