Truly gripping tale of terror all to real in our modern world. No real with ends, only good versus evil.

Tony Parsons has not let us down with this latest book. Again we meet Detective Constable Wolfe. This book gets straight into the plot and is busy right until the end. Sometimes I just want Max Wolf to have a peaceful and happy life but that is not going to happen just yet. His character is now so important to me that it became impossible not to finish the book.. All I can say is I did not see that ending coming! I may have to start re reading the series again whilst we await the next book.

I was a bit reluctant to start this, as I was not a fan of Tony Parsons journalism, however, once started I found it hard to put down, and will certainly be looking out for more of this series.

Enjoyed this book, it kept moving and kept my interested throughout. Would read more from this author.

Oh my goodness. This latest book in the DC Max Wolfe series kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page. All the old characters, and some new ones, are all there to catch up with. Loving the character development of 7 year old Scout, Wolfe's daughter. Terrorist attack and murder are the topical themes in this book and Tony parsons has another winner. One of my favourite authors. Thanks to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

"I woke up and the world was gone.

All was silent, all was black, the darkness so complete that it was as if all the light had been drained from the world."

Those are the dramatic opening lines to this book which had me hooked and eating up the pages as if my life depended on it.

Mr Parsons writes with grit, authenticity and humanity which I find very addictive and although Max isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, he is a very engaging character that I love getting to know a little more with each outing.

I must admit that there were times when I felt reality was ignored for the sake of the story (i.e. missed suspects which, in my opinion, were glaringly obvious) but I just put them to one side and continued to enjoy the ride on Mr Parsons' roller-coaster because, after all, this isn't a true story although the subject matter certainly is unfortunately.

Although this can be read as a standalone, I would very much recommend you read the others in the series as this will give more depth and understanding to the main characters and will enhance the whole reading experience.

I would highly recommend this series and Tony Parsons as a great British author and would like to thank the publisher, Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for my copy in return for an impartial review.

What a fantastic book this was to read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. A very captivating storyline with lots of twists and turns that you really don't see coming. A definite must read!

I am a big Max Wolfe fan. I really enjoyed this book. I got totally caught up in it from the start. I was totally immersed in the story and the fate of the characters. Very cleverly put together plot with twists and shocks in it. I hope there is more Max Wolfe to come.

Brilliant book, I loved it. Fast paced and a great storyline. It had me hooked from the first page. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Tony Parsons for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

As usual I will not give away plot details - plenty of other reviewers will do that!

This was an enjoyable and thrilling page turner. This is the first Max Wolfe novel I've read, and I'll happily read another.

I liked the interaction between Max and his daughter, not to mention the pooch! A good plot - though a bit obvious in parts - and good interplay between the characters.

I have read all of Tony Parsons' DC Wolfe series and I think this was one of my favourites. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, at points I had to stop reading it on the tube because people were giving me strange looks for crying.

I think over the years Tony Parsons' has gotten much better at guiding the reader through the convoluted acroynms that are often used to describe how murder investigations are
Max Wolfe is a loveable rogue. But in this book, we see a more vulnerable side to Max. I was so pleased to see the return of his childhood friend Jackson Rose and I really feel that he finally ended the story of Curtis Gane, which was missing in previous books. There were aspects that I felt needed to be worked on a bit and hence it wasn't quite 5 stars for me (Max's temper is really getting out of hand at times, and the custody aspect felt a little forced).

This book is a good old crime story, but Tony Parsons plays around with it for a change, starting with nothing to do with a murder, but watching it develop. I didn't expect the story to go where he led it, and I think that was a wonderful surprise.

Well, what a surprise that was. I knew of Tony Parsons from many years back on a late night arts review program and always thought his opinions interesting and honest. later I noted he had written a number of books that were vaguely about relationships, divorce, family life etc. and I wrote him off as basically ‘chick lit’ with possibly a wider appeal. So five books into a crime series that I wasn't aware existed and I’m immediately on board with a Jack Reacher style hard-edged crime novel. Interesting.

The novel opens with Wolfe, the main character, right in the midst of confusion in the immediate aftermath of a terror attack. This is presented in a very believable manner and the confusion of the protagonist is transferred to the reader in an almost palpable way. The confusion eventually begins to subside and we start to make sense of the situation along with the main character. This is all done very well and I was immediately drawn in to the story.
The next scene goes straight to the police follow-up to this atrocity and the events that follow form the crux of the novel. No let-up in the pace at that point.

Overall, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. Coming into this series with no knowledge of previously and apparently well-established characters I didn’t feel out of my depth as the author gives enough detail to carry the new reader along with the story but it would seem without making the established readers fell bored with exposition.
The action set pieces are as gripping as anything written by Lee Child or Michael Connelly and the terms and technical details used relating to the police and terrorism seem real and unforced but explanations when required are provided within the text in such a way as to be informative without feeling forced or condescending. Also, there is some subtlety and understanding in the presentation of various cultural mind-sets and perspectives; the bad guys don’t come from only one political viewpoint and are not so two-dimensional as to be simply considered as bad guys.

But it is the elements of family life which pervade this novel that prove to be the biggest surprise. In actual fact, this should have come as no surprise based on the author’s past writings that previously I glibly condemned as chick lit. These are not simply passing references to the main character’s daughter, ex-wife and dog (!) as might be expected in this type of novel but the ‘real’ life makes up a substantial proportion of the book and is obviously where the author’s interests lie. This may not be to everyone’s taste but it brings a humanity to the protagonist that is often missing from similar literary tough-guys.
So much of this book is taken up with real activities and feelings and this causes is such a change of pace as to occasionally disrupt the flow of action. Maybe the author can be a bit heavy-handed with sentimentality tending towards the mawkish but maybe that is what makes Wolfe different from other similar (anti)heroes and what marks the author out from his peers.

All in all a good page turner and one of the better novels that I have read in the genre. However, I’m not desperate to read the next in the series or to go back to fill in the blanks from previous novels but I would certainly consider reading another Tony Parsons should one fall into my lap.

(Provided free of charge from NetGalley.)

I was familiar with Tony Parsons from his excellent Man and Boy, but I wasn't aware that he was writing thrillers until I was alerted by a review by my old friend Sid Nuncius and thought I would give it a try.
I was very impressed. A very good story and excellent plot, although I'd seen the major twist coming from the beginning. The other small thing that jarred was the recitation of the the exercise reps that Max does repeatedly. Unnecessary imo, but completely outweighed by the quality of the writing. There was a passage near the end (no spoilers) that included the visit of Mum and Dad that moved me to tears. The relationship with Scout and Stan was beautifully depicted too.
As with Sid, I will now be reading this series from the start and have already ordered the first book.
Excellent, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This story caught my attention immediately when Max was caught up in a terrorist attack by the collision of a drone with a helicopter into a large store. Initially, I thought it was a bomb. I have never heard of a drone scheme like that. How horrific! Max has to figure out who is responsible. I am impressed by the way Tony Parsons manages to make you feel as though you are there with Max Wolffe. It was a harrowing but compelling theme especially in view of current affairs. I enjoyed it enormously. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House. Arrow Books.

This is possibly my favourite DC Wolfe book so far, the story gripped me from the start and I honestly didn't want it to end. Max,Scout and Stan all go through so much in this story, but their little family unit remains strong. The story focuses on terrorism, and I think the whole concept is handled really well. I don't like to give away to much when I do a review as I feel if you have decided to read a book you already know what its about. This is such a good book and if you haven't read the series you could possibly read it as a standalone, however to fully appreciate the depth of the characters I recommend you read them all in order. I can't wait for the next instalment.

This started off as an attention-grabbing whirlwind of a book, that seemed to be a direct lift from the pages of the national press.

Sadly it then descended into a morass of inter-personal relationships; random threatening text messages, and in inexplicable lapse in operational policing and security!

I did manage to plow on until the end, but it was a hard slog – not one for me I’m afraid.

The character of Max Wolfe is, in the main, a vehicle for the ideologies of the author, Tony Parsons and that is why this book is such a disappointment. The characters are cliches and the plotting obvious; I took less than an hour to read the whole thing.

Girl on Fire is a fast paced detective thriller which starts with the threat of terrorists controlling high flying drones and how they may cause the destruction of aircraft with the subsequent ‘fall out’ over an urban landscape. It then moves on to the hunt for the terrorists and subsequent reprisals by various characters, some of whom are law enforcers. It isn’t a particularly lengthy novel and whether by design or flaw, we know the ending is going to be a sad one very early on in the story. Why the police failed to search the ‘innocent’ family members eludes me but it’s the repetition with which the means of concealment is described throughout the remainder of the novel made me think the author questions the reader’s intelligence.

The Max Wolfe series is developing very well. Girl on Fire is a fast paced thriller which deals with a terrorist threat alongside the personal struggles of Wolfe in his family life. Well plotted and a real page turner.

When I saw this book, I remembered 'Man and Boy,' which I'd read and enjoyed years ago, so I thought I'd give Tony Parsons another try with 'Girl On Fire.' I hadn't realised at the time that it was part of a series; something that I find a bit off-putting when I find I have number five and I hadn't read the previous four! No matter, I pressed on!
The opening scenes of 'Girl on Fire,' are electrifying! I could hear the screams, smell the fire, feel the fear and imagine the cinematic presentation of what we soon understand is a terrorist attack on a busy shopping centre, with DC Max Wolfe in the midst of the action. Onward then to a story that feels only too real in these days of IS attacks on busy city streets with DC Wolfe as part of the criminal investigation. This isn't my usual sort of reading material, and even in the middle of the action, I find myself drawn to the human element; the death of a police officer in the line of duty and the outpouring of grief that follows, the kindness and compassion of the Family Liaison Officer wanting to do more than she was able for a young vulnerable girl, the pride and dignity of the terrorist's father who just wants life to return to normal as quickly as possible.
I would have liked to have seen more of DC Wolfe's relationship with his young daughter, Scout, but that's probably an entirely different genre of story altogether!
I give 'Girl On Fire' three stars.