Thank you to @rachelsrandomresources for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a brilliantly written psychological thriller! The main characters in this have their own chapters, which are short and punchy, telling the story from several POV’s.

It certainly gets your brain working, just as you think you’ve solved it, bam - another twist. This book is full of them. There are bits of the main detective’s home life thrown in too, this makes you like him even more. A lot of humour and sarcasm throughout, even though the story is hard hitting in places.

This is book 5 in the DI Barton series by this author, but is a very good standalone. I’m definitely going to check out more of the earlier books in the series.

This is my first book by this author but it won’t be my last! It’s the fifth book in the DI Barton series which I enjoyed as a stand-alone, although I imagine it will be a richer experience if you start at the beginning. I’ll definitely be adding this series to my TBR as would love to follow John’s journey from the beginning.

The story is compelling for both the in-depth characters it brings to life and superb plot that hooks the reader and keeps us in suspense throughout. DI Barton is a likeable character – he has a good heart and goes above and beyond trying to solve the case and help those involved. He’s a normal guy trying to do his best but struggling with the work/ life balance. He has a beautiful family to keep him grounded and I loved the parts where they were all together, and seeing the new addition to their family.

It’s told from Barton’s perspective and that of the Fire Killer. This made for a fascinating read as John’s voice lends a great tone to the narrative, and we get to see inside the mind of the Fire Killer so feel as though we know them, although we have no idea who they are!

I enjoyed following the investigation to see where the clues would lead and feeling a part of the action. From interviewing witnesses, gathering intel, and building a profile; it’s an immersive read and fully captures your attention.

Is it linked to organised crime? Is it a random act or part of something more sinister? We know it’s part of an addiction, the rush they experience from setting the fires which is escalating fast, but as new evidence comes to light we wonder if there’s more going on.

There are so many interconnecting layers to the story as soon as they peel one back there’s another, and a new mystery to solve as they try to work out the truth from the lies and connect all the different threads together. What’s the bigger picture? Unexpected discoveries are made which take the investigation into a new and dark direction.

As people go missing, dead bodies are turning up, and more extreme fires are igniting, it’s a race against time to solve the case and prevent any further tragedies.

That ending! I thought I had it all worked out but this gripping, intense tale is full of dramatic twists and heart in your mouth moments until the very end. Explosive revelations leave you questioning everything! A brilliant read from beginning to end.

With thanks to @rararesources, @BoldwoodBooks, and @greenwoodross for a place on the tour and the opportunity to read and review this book

Book 5 in the DI Barton series and this time the team are on the tail of an arsonist. While a fire in a skip is not usually the job for a DI, when a body is discovered in it, John and the team are called in. Deciding whether it is accidental or deliberate is paramount, but when everyone they question seems to have a motive or a secret they do not want the police uncovering, it is making this case much more difficult.

Told from both sides of the investigation gives this a very well-rounded feel. Seeing the day-to-day work of the police team is always interesting, while also hearing from the culprits perspective gives a great opportunity to see the criminals mindset, as well as giving an insight into the reason they developed this particular addiction.

This is a great addition to the series and has the usual great mix of police procedural, humour & thriller. It is also still one of the most refreshing series in that John, his family and his team are all pretty normal! No secrets or traumatic back-story, just very normal and I love it for that!

A very original one written by Ross Greenwood. Life can be tough and sometimes, it makes people something else. The plot focusses on mental health with a hint of mystery and lots of thrill. At first the plot picks up at a very fast pace, slows down from the middle and again comes back with a bang in the climax. The climax was truly unexpected. The characters are good, especially, Lynette, who faced many struggles in her life. After reading the book, I can say that there are always two sides to a crime and each side has a story.

I would like to give the book 4 stars. Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

DI Barton is a likeable detective with a good balance of personal life and professional commitment. His family are excellent support characters who ground him and give him respite from his work life's criminal and desperate situations. Called to a fire in a skip, which turns out to contain a body, the investigation that ensues encompasses a web of danger and deceit. Told from the investigation viewpoint with interspersed chapters from the Fire Killer, this is a mix of police procedural and psychological suspense.

The dynamic between the investigators is believable, and the plot has many suspects and twists that intensify as the story progresses. I like the plot's complexity, the realistic investigation, and the suspense building to an impactful conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Although this is the 5th book in the DI Barton series it was the first one I’ve read from this series and it was incredibly easy to read as a stand alone thriller however I loved this book so much I’m going to read the previous books from the DI Barton series.

DI Barton is asked to investigate a series of fires that have taken place. At first he is unsure as to why this is being handed to him and his team as it seems likely to be mindless vandals. However as time progresses it becomes clear there is a serial arsonist around and many bodies are being discovered as victims of these fires.

With little evidence to go on working out who the arsonist is is proving tricky for Barton and his team; DI Barton has a few ideas of who it maybe but each suspect is acting as guilty as the next. Just when I wondered who would be investigated next or how this book was going to pan out someone confesses; however the confession isn’t without its complications.

I found this book fast paced, exciting and very twisty right up until the very end. It definitely makes for a good thriller. I also like the fact it was a more original story line and something different to many other thrillers out there.

Thank you to NetGalley the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for this review. I look forward to reading the rest of this series.

The Fire Killer is the 5th book in the DI Barton series, and it had me from the first page. The Fire Killer follows Peterborough's finest as they try their best to find and take down a pyromaniac haunting its streets. Much like it's previous predecessors, the Fire Killer is told from different perspectives, that of the investigating team, and the Fire Killer themselves. You get an insight into the working mind of this killer; you learn about their beginnings and what lead to them being a killer.

It's well paced. Dialogue is great. Through DI John Barton's eyes you get a feel for his team, and if you've read the previous books (although you don't have to) you get a real sense of family between him and Zander, and Strange. Oh, that first chapter though, my girl Strange! My girl. Ross Greenwood is great at weaving a story where you don't only get an insight into the main police team, but you also get a good understanding of our Fire Killer. And what an Insight it is.

Book 5 in the DI John Barton Series and another doozy of a read. The story is told both from Barton’s perspective and that of the Fire Killer, albeit their identity is not known. Also loved the integration of Barton’s home life into the book and I was particularly taken by the new puppy into the household! It’s great to find a police officer with a normal happy family life. But back to the story and although the pyromaniac is the main thread there is another disturbing thread involving drugs. All these things are seamlessly woven together to form a cohesive whole that full of twists and turns.

Briefly, there is a pyromaniac at large in Peterborough. When a report of a skip fire is made no one expected to find a girls body in it. Barton and team cannot decide if the death was accidental or deliberate and confusion starts to grow when there is a further fire in a bin nearby. Suspicions fall on the inhabitants of a street nearby but each of the inhabitants seem to have a secret they want to keep the police from discovering.

This is a great mix of police procedural, a sad and sordid tale of drug abuse and the unhappy results of historic child cruelty. Full of dark humour and a very pacy, albeit somewhat disturbing read which builds to an horrific climax affecting everyone involved. Oh and as for guessing the identity of the fire killer I was totally wrong footed. I really enjoyed it so ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is book 5 in the DI Barton series he is searching for an arsonist. It is heart wrenching when you see how this case effects the lives of the police officers and the toll it takes on them. There is a steady pace throughout and good character development. It's believable with a good ending, Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This was such a page-turner that I read it in one sitting. I loved this straight away and the fast paced book never let up all the way through. A fantastic read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This book follows DI Barton where is a working a case in Peterborough.

There have been a number of fires started in the area, but then one of the fires turns into murder. DI Barton is assigned the case, and with not many leads must try and find out the truth.

As the investigation continues the number of suspects becomes smaller, but with all of them seeming to have something to hide who is The Fire Killer.

Was the fire an accident? Will the investigation lead to more than just an arsonist?

The way the book started you could tell that the story was going to be intense and heart-breaking for the characters.

I liked that there are chapters in between with The Fire Killer showing their side of the story and the reasons why they start the fires.

It was nice seeing DI Barton with his family and the enjoyment and excitement the family had for getting a new dog, but also how the wife seemed so supportive even though he had to be away from them so much due to the investigation.

Overall, an intense crime thriller where a case of arson turns into murder.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

Oh this is a brilliant book. I was hooked by the end of Chapter 3. It was so good I read it in one sitting.

Great characters, a fast flowing plot and a massive twist makes this a fantastic police thriller.

I love this series and won't hesitate to recommend it to other crime genre fans.

When D.I. John Barton is called out to a fire in a skip little does he know that it will turn into a huge inquiry. Unfortunately, they find a body in the skip and they have to ask themselves was it a targetted murder or an accident It soon becomes apparent that the victim is a young woman but they have little to go on to find her identity. The story alternates from the police perspective to that of the fire starter, the case progresses slowly but one thing that does ring alarm bells is that there has been a spate of fires in the same area for a number of years.
I love the backstories of this series with the snippets of family life and the banter within the team. All in all a gripping, enjoyable read.

Late again! My excuse is that I am a one-man-band here at Fully Booked, and notwithstanding  the occasional erudite contribution from Stuart Radmore (who has forgotten more about crime fiction than most people will ever learn), my first experience of DI Barton, the Peterborough copper, is the fifth of the series (written by Ross Greenwood), The Fire Killer. Peterborough is a big place, at least for us Fenland townies, but is rarely featured in CriFi novels. I am pretty sure that Peter Robinson's DI Banks grew up there (The Summer That Never Was) and Eva Dolan's Zigic and Ferreira books are certainly set in the city.

Peterborough is a strange place in some ways. Its heart is divided in three. One third is its medieval heritage and its magnificent cathedral; another third is its railway history, while the final slice belongs to the fact that some anonymous civil servants decided, in the 1950s, that it should be a 'new town'. Hence its sprawling suburbs, divided by baffling dual carriageways and countless roundabouts, stippled with anonymous housing developments, most with the faux-pastoral suffix - choose your own - Meadows, Leys, Gardens, Fields and even Waters. I digress. No matter that Peterborough isn't quite sure whether it is in Cambridgeshire or Northampton shire, this novel is rather good.

We are in standard police procedural territory here. DI John Barton is large, bald, busy, rather unglamorous, but a decent copper. He and his team are called in to investigate a body found in a skip that has been deliberately set alight. The body is eventually identified as that of a young woman whose life has unraveled after she had fleeting success as a fashion model. Barton and his 'oppo', Sergeant Zander, are sure that the culprit lives in one of a row of four shabby terraced houses not far from the skip, but which one is the home of the arsonist?

Ross Greenwood has fun inviting us to make out own guesses, but also makes the game a little more interesting by giving us intermittent chapters narrated by The Fire Killer, but he is very wary about giving us too many clues. The dead girl, Jess Craven had been involved with a very rich dentist with links - as a customer - to the London drug trade.

There are a couple of other mysterious blazes, but when one of Barton's suspects meets a horrifying end in another fire - but this time in a torched Transit van - the search for The Fire Killer just seems to be chasing its own tale. The rich dentist, Stefan Russo, is clearly hiding something, but he is 'lawyered up' and even though he has some very questionable contacts in London, the police are unable to get close to him.

Then, there is a breakthrough - or at least Barton thinks it is - and someone confesses to being The Fire Killer. As readers we can judge how much of the book is left, and it is clear to us that Barton has some work still to do before he closes the case. There is, as we might predict, a very clever twist in the tale, but when an exhausted Barton finally goes off for a family caravan holiday in Sunny Hunny (Hunstanton), we suspect that at the back of his mind there is still a some doubt about the true identity of The Fire Killer.

John Barton is an excellent creation, and the book is cleverly plotted, with one or two spectacular bursts of serious violence. It is published by Boldwood Books, and will be available in parperback and Kindle from 30th May.

I was absolutely delighted to see this on my shelf, I love Barton, he's a normal fella with a stable family, he's a good guy, I've read all this series and stll pull all nighters because the plots so good, absolutely gripping, if you love police procedural and intertwined sense of humour, this is great

Thoroughly enjoyed the story, lots of scary twists to it, lost a few hours sleep when reading it, as I needed to know what was going to happen before I could put it down, Have read others in the series, and this one's keeps the high standard going.

PLEASE LET THIS SERIES BE TURNED INTO MOVIES!!!!!!
I am absolutely hooked on the DI Barton Series!!! I don't even like reading about serial killers as a rule as I find the reads usually too macabre to my liking. This could not be further from the truth. There are so many reasons why this would appeal to so many readers whatever their preferences, these are just to name a few:
- DI Barton the main character is phenomenal. For once the main detective is not a superhero or total anti-hero, he is REAL with insecurities about his physical appearance and ability to love and support his family properly so you can't help but loving him. The secondary characters are also equally well developed.
- There is an emotional side to the serial killer which enables the reader to understand the circumstances and feel at times empathy towards these very sad lives. Again, this makes the characters REAL.
- The story line explored in each of his books are deep social issues and psychological challenges that only someone who has spent meaningful time with these poor individuals (yes they are victims also of the system and our society!) can portrait properly.
I am therefore very grateful for the author in giving me an insight from the safety of my home of deep social and psychological shortfalls that exist in our society.
I really hope there are many DI Barton books to come particularly when narrated by David Thorpe who brings the stories to life.
I can't wait to read about the next aspects of society the author chooses to explore...

I really do like this series. Like the way the author has chosen to blend the police investigation with scenes told from the killer's points of view. Scenes that seek to enhance our understanding of the motives, or lack thereof, of the person or persons behind the crime whilst also firing in enough misdirection to keep you guessing right until the end. That is very much the case in The Fire Killer, a case that is set to become very personal for the team and which provides a conclusion that is as shocking as it is perfectly fitting.

After a fast and furious opening to the book which left me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what had happened, we are face with a case which, at first, seems slower in pace but is in no way lacking in urgency. It is more a lack of any decent clues that stymies the investigation than a lack of pace or sense of threat. Whilst the first reported death may possibly be the result of misadventure rather than a deliberate case of murder, there is a sense that things are slowly escalating, that the killer's preoccupation with fire is set to take an even more sinister turn.

Whether that is the case or not, you'll have to read to find out, but the story maintains an air of authenticity by exploring the way in which the crimes move from simple wheelie bin fires to fires with far more serious consequences. As ever, there is an emotional side to the killers story, and nothing is ever quite as simple as being able to denounce the perpetrator as simply evil, which is part of why I like this series so much. There is always a reason. Not always justifiable, but the crime is seldom a result of the person just being bad. The author helps us to understand, takes us into the killer's point of view, placing us as an unwitting voyeur, but for me one who is there out of fascination and often sympathy for them

Another reason I like the series is the characters that Ross Greenwood has developed. Barton is a great cop, a true family man who is also dedicated to his career but often frustrated by not being in a position to help others. After the loss of his mother, he gets set to welcome a new family member in this book, one who causes a good deal of merriment and distraction in what could otherwise be a very sad tale. Alongside him, more often than not, we find DS Zander. He was a troubled soul in the early days of the series, but he and Barton really bring out the best in each other, and I love the camaraderie and banter between them. Then there are DS Strange and DC Pignatiello, who more than hold their own against their male counterparts and whilst not being front and centre of the investigation, play a really crucial part in the way in which the case plays out.

I really enjoy they way in which Ross Greenwood uses the investigations to look at some of the most relevant and prevalent aspects of modern society. From drug wars to deception and manipulation, he introduces us to a wide variety of characters, all of whom could easily be our top suspect, and mostly are at various stages throughout the book. The entertain, amuse in some cases and draw out the sympathy in others. They are all three dimensional, believable, and all unique in voice and place within the story. McBride is a character who I am certain will bring a smile to many a face, and I loved his openness and candor. He's perhaps the only one of them I'd trust ... but only so far.

The ending has a certain kind of inevitability about it but is still shocking in its execution. I could feel the tension building, feel the anger and resignation from what came to pass, and the way in which the wheels of justice moved far too slowly for it ever to be a reasonable conclusion to this particular tale. But I wasn't expecting that. Impactful and horrific but in an understated and almost serene way, which is not easy. There is a feeling of things coming full circle although certainly not in the way Barton would have wished for. It left a mixture of emotions in me as reader, the ultimate feeling being one of satisfaction. Another great addition to the series and recommended to fans of great police based thrillers.

DI John Barton and his team are back when a prolific fire starter sets light to a skip and kills the homeless person sleeping in the skip. More fires are started and the investigation leads to several suspects but do they arrest the right person? The team need find out who the Fire Killer is before it’s too late.
Another well written read by Ross Greenwood. DI Barton is a likeable character always battling the job versus home life. With a supportive team, they well together to investigate the latest case. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

D.I. Barton is investigating a fire in a dumpster where a dead body has been found. Was the dead woman intentionally burned or was she already in a the dumpster when it was set alight? We get chapters from the point of view of the pyromaniac who set the fire and the culprit was revealed earlier than expected in the novel. The mystery was interesting, and I appreciated getting a glimpse into D.I. Barton's personal life and the relationships with fellow members of the police team.