Review: Fire in the Stars: An Amanda Doucette Mystery by Barbara Fradkin

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 328 pages
• Publisher: Dundurn (Sept. 3 2016)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B017I7AWW8

Book Description

 A former aid worker returns home haunted by her time in Africa and channels her pain into a murder investigation that s all too personal. After surviving a horrific trauma in Nigeria, international aid worker Amanda Doucette returns to Canada to rebuild her life and her shaken ideals. There, the once-passionate, adventurous woman needs all her strength and ingenuity when a friend and fellow survivor goes missing along with his son. A trained first-aid and crisis responder, Doucette always accompanied by her beloved dog Kaylee joins forces with RCMP officer Chris Tymko to discover the truth about the disappearance. Their search leads them to the Great Northern Peninsula, a rugged landscape of Viking history, icebergs, whales, and fierce ocean storms. Elsewhere, a body gets hauled up in a fisherman s net, and evidence is mounting of an unsettling connection with Amanda s search for her friend. Fradkin writes evocatively of the beautiful, often hostile, Newfoundland landscape where Amanda soon finds herself fighting for her very survival."

About the Author

 Barbara Fradkin (nee Currie), an award-winning Canadian mystery writer, was born in Montreal and educated at McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa, where she earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She is the author of ten mystery novels featuring the exasperating, quixotic Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green. She also writes a series of short novels for those looking for an entertaining but quick and easy read. Fradkin is a retired child psychologist and lives in Ottawa.

Series:
* Inspector Green Mystery

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2005): Fifth Son
◊ Best Novel (2007): Honour Among Men


My Review

 I have to tell you about this fantastic new book by Barbara Fradkin. Fire in the Stars is the first book in a new series featuring Amanda Doucette. It is not available until September 3rd so be sure to mark your calendar with this new release.

Amanda is a former foreign aid worker who is suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) after horrific events in Nigeria. She heads to Newfoundland to meet with a friend who was with her in Africa and is also suffering the aftereffects. When she arrives he is nowhere to be found...he has taken off with son on a camping trip without her. She sets out to find him along with her dog Kaylee. RCMP officer Chris Tymko is also concerned about her friend Phil and joins her in her quest to find him and his son.

I loved the setting of Newfoundland. Amanda and Chris head to the Great Northern Peninsula, an area I really did not know much about before. One of my great-grandfathers came from Newfoundland so I am always interested in learning more. I thought that Fradkin did a fabulous job in describing the area.

There is a lot going on in Fire in the Stars. Who are these foreign men that have been spotted? Are they terrorists? What is going on with the large shrimp boat docked in St. Anthony? And what happened to the cabin. Amanda and her dog Kaylee have quite the adventure trying to track down Phil and his son. My heart was racing as Amanda fought to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of Newfoundland.

I could not put Fire in the Stars down. I pretty much ignored everything around me I was so engrossed in this book. I had to keep finding out what was going to happen next. Fire in the Stars is a brilliantly plotted book.

I highly recommend Fire in the Stars!