Fire
John Boyne
Penguin
Review: Karen Watkins
The third of the Irish author’s Elements quartet, Fire, hit our bookshelves and has already become a hot seller.
The novella is a quick but challenging read as it explores trauma, revenge and moral doubt as it delves into the life of Dr Freya Petrus who we initially see as having it all.
She’s a beautiful and successful specialist surgeon working in a hospital burns unit and has a luxurious apartment and a flashy car. But what is her life actually built on?
The story alternates between Freya’s present-day actions and flashbacks to her harrowing childhood of neglect, abandonment and exploitation. A summer holiday in Cornwall with her indifferent mother allows Freya to befriend older twin boys who subject her to horrific abuse. This shapes Freya’s adult life. She dedicates her career to healing those disfigured by burns but also perpetuating the cycle of abuse that she suffered in her youth.
Fire challenges societal norms by placing a female protagonist in a role traditionally associated with men. It happens and it forced me to grapple with the complex questions: can trauma justify Freya’s cruelty? Is she a victim shaped by her experiences or is she a monster?
This duality is a recurring theme in the Elements series as the stories blur the line between victims and perpetrators. In Fire, as an element, it symbolises destruction and renewal as reflected in Freya’s life. She works to restore her patients’ lives and yet her dark actions leave irreversible scars on others. The story also cleverly interweaves connections to earlier books in the series, although each of the three Elements books so far stand alone.
And while I enjoyed this book it left too many unanswered questions about Freya’s character. Her transformation from victim to predator, while tragic, feels rushed and lacks the emotional nuance needed to fully empathise with her. Additionally it is unlikely that she would get away with preying on numerous boys without any of them reporting her. Despite these flaws, Boyne’s writing is gripping and a fantastic read.
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