I'm a huge fan of this series and it continues to delight. The characters are well rounded and the book has humour along with moments of jeopardy. It's a story with fantasy elements but it feels very believable. The pacing is excellent and this book series is my favourite one of recent years. Highly recommended. Huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Hilarious.

I've read the other books multiple times and I'll be reading this again. The author's wit shines through as the Stranger Times team are once again embroiled in the paranormal.

I love everything about this book and this series. All the stars and more!

The staff at The Stranger Times are my favourite group of misfits... They have seen some things, but this time they have stumbled upon something that may just be out of their remit.

Will they solve the mystery and save each other from impending doom?

You will have to read it to find out!

I love this series of books. I look forward to each new one being released. This one is, as ever, laugh out loud - CK McDonnell's witting observations on life in general are so pinpoint correct and so funny.

In this installment of the chaotic lives of the staff of the Stranger Times we meet zombies because, why not? And a likable ghoul called Brian. Brilliant.

Hilarious and if you know Manchester, you'll get so much more out of this series.

I would give C.K McDonnell my first born child if he wanted it.

I adore this series, it's gone in the "pre-order in 3 mediums" list that is currently only inhabited by Jodi Taylor and Ben Aaronovitch.

Relight my fire is a welcome and loved addition to this fantastic series, we rejoin all our favourite characters again as they battle the forces, and in Hannah's case YOGA!

This is the forth book in the Stranger Times series, and if you love the others like I do, then you’ll love this one. As usual it’s madcap, slightly stressy, bizarre, hilarious, and a hint of danger!

Another corker in the se! I just love this series so much, they always cheer me up.

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review l.

I read one of the previous books in this series and enjoyed it so I reached for this one. I appeared on Netgalley I’m sorry to say it stay on my to Read pile for too long.
The story follows a group of individual some of whom have special powers and all of them Work for a newspaper recording weird and wonderful events in the neighbourhood.

This story follows the same format. There is a mystery which the team follow some new weird and wonderful characters and a big, fight scene at the end.
There’s lots of “weirdy bollocks” ( the authors own description) in here it’s very funny. I’m either sniggering or laughing out loud
These books would make a great TV series as surprised they haven’t been already made into one
I know there will be lots of people that love this series somewhere enjoy this book as much as all the others. I think it could be rare as a standalone book as a lot of the background is covered during the story however I suspect it is more enjoyable as part of the series
The author has a fun light writing style and the book is an enjoyable read.
I read an early copy on NetGalley UK. The book was published in the UK on the 25th of January 2024 by random house UK Transworld publishers.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.WordPress.com. It will also appear on Amazon UK.

Relight my Fire appealed to me as I’m a huge fan of a couple of series of books in the same vein (Rivers of London and Bryant and May).
However, I came at those books from the first in each series and this is actually the latest ‘Stranger Times’ book, which definitely puts me at a disadvantage.
There are A Lot of characters in the book. Interesting characters for sure, but I kept forgetting who was who and what their relation was to the other characters. For that reason only, this didn’t feel like a particularly smooth read.
The writing was witty and the storyline engrossing. But I just think I came into the series too late.
The Highlights: Brian the Ghoul, Zombie Margaret Thatcher, Grave-robbing Gnomes. Just on the right side of ‘Silly’.
The Lows: Confusion with main characters. Coming in too late to the series. Sledgehammer banter on the wrong side of ‘funny’.

I'm a massive fan of this series - Manchester, music references and the supernatural - what more do you need?!

I have had a hoot reading this whole series and I was excited to get stuck into this fourth book in The Stranger Times series.

I really had to laugh at how somehow a 'retired' rockstar somehow ends up in a story about levitating people along with the unlikely but hilarious romance between him and his partner in crime. It has been a theme in this entire series of the protagonist being the most unlikely person in the end.

There has been a number of supernatural questions hovering in the background of the whole series with some of the staff of The Stranger Times up till this point and some being answered and yet more happening! I really want to know what the meaning behind all of it is along with having more of the hilarity I've really enjoyed the whole time.

Thank you to the publisher for a gifted copy of this story from NetGalley.

In my humble opinion, there is nothing to beat the first Stranger Times, which bowled me over with its wit and originality, That said, there is no doubt the author is a master of suspense, bizarre quirkiness and creativity - there is no way to predict the ending. It begins with Stella narrowly avoiding being squashed by a person falling out of the sky. Said person had appeared to be floating unaided - until he no longer wasn't. There is a new, bizarre occurrence to investigate which will lead the motely crew down "dark alleys" and "misleading rivers".

As always a wonderful cast of quirky characters, imaginative scenarios and unpredictable plot twists. An enjoyable, race against time, read!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: read one of these books, and you’ll need to read all of them!

Relight My Fire has flying people, an unusual amount of people with strange powers, all sorts of dead people, and Stella still trying to hide her powers.

And if that doesn’t make you curious enough to start at book one and work your way up to this fourth book, then there’s really no help for you. Sorry, I don’t make the rules (I do, obviously 🤷🏼‍♀️).

So do yourself a favour, and go and read The Stranger Times books, because they’re really THAT good.

This whole series is on my ‘Must Read’ list and each new book in the series absolutely makes my day/week/year! This is the fourth book and, having already covered werewolves and vampires, now the Stranger Times staff have zombies and (my favourite character of the series so far!) a ghoul. Exciting times at the Stranger Times!

The usual gang are back together again – Hannah, Banecroft, Ox and Reggie, Stella, Grace, Manny and DI Sturgess – and we get cameos from a few recurring favourites too, like Cogs and Zeke. And while I missed Stanley Roker and Betty a little, new character Brian more than compensated. The plot is always good fun – and laugh out loud funny – but it is the characters who keep me coming back every time, re-reading the books already released, and listening to the audiobooks over and over again (shout out to Brendan McDonald for being the voice of these books, in my head as well as in my ears!).

I definitely recommend reading the books in order, because the world and characters develop and deepen as each new instalment adds new layers.

I just cannot rave enough about how much I love these books – this book. The worldbuilding, humour and writing are all top class and I hated reaching the end of the story because I just want to stay in the Stranger Manchester with my favourite people and see what happens next.

In other words, I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 5, in ebook, hardcover and audiobook. And I hope I’m saying the same when Stranger Times book 105 hits the shelves!

Received arc from Random House Uk and Netgalley for honest read and review,this review is my own.
Book 4 in this truly fantastic series, that just gets better and better , like a good wine.
Vincent is his usual self absorbing self,
Stella is perfect as usual.
This book is brilliant and I am so pleased I started this wonderful series.

Another great edition to the Stranger Times series. Intrigue, mysterious secret societies and a ghoul called Brian.
McDonnell delivers another blend of believable madness filled with their usual band of madcap reporters and the odd reincarnated pop star to boot.

If you have read and enjoyed the previous Manchester adventures then you are sure to devour this as well - a proper entertaining read.

Back in the Manchester world of The Stranger Times, the team have problems. Infernal powers have taken an interest in Vincent Bancroft, and while one might expect him to just tell them his diary's full, he actually comes across here as very vulnerable, in part because of action he took in an earlier book.

I enjoyed seeing Banecroft as something other than the grouchy, wisecracking boss of previous stories. It may have seemed as though, really, he had all the answers and was always three steps ahead of everyone else - but as is made clear that's not necessarily the case.

What Banecroft is still set upon is protecting Stella (who herself begins to seem a much stranger and more complex person than we have released yet). He'll do that, even if it means the unpleasant psychopomp in the floppy hat who's been shadowing him gets to carry him away to perdition. Why is Stell in danger? Well, she was I the wrong place at the wrong time, specifically, she nearly got fallen on when a young man who thought he could fly (he sort of could) fell from the heavens.

Why he was up there to begin with, who is pulling the strings and how it all connects with the appearance of Manchester's loneliest ghoul, you'll just have to read this book to find out. I found this one to be a little bit of a reset (not too much of one!) with a ore self-contained story and, as I said, a slightly different approach to Banecroft, that would I think make it an easy place to get into this series if you haven't been reading them (though if you don't then read the first three books you are seriously missing out). The same mixture of crime and the supernatural, with more emerging about the hidden world of the Folk, this story has a buzz and focus that's al of its own - as well as some extremely nasty and singularly driven characters, who might presage new alliances in future.

Overall, a story I really enjoyed and one which shows this series is firing on all cylinders.

OMGGG!!!!!!!! This book is FIRE.... Banecroft, Hannah, Stella and the team did it again!!! Can't wait to read MORE!! Please, send the next book directly to my email...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

McDonnell is back on form in this fourth installment in the Stranger Times series. The gang's all back together after the separation of the last novel, and the narrative mainly focuses on Stella which gives the reader chance to get to know a character who has previously been fairly mysterious. We tick off another horror monster staple (no spoilers) with the series' typical humour and twist on the subject. This series is basically an auto-buy for me now!

Slight delay in finishing, thank you to the author from whom I got a physical advance.

Relight My Fire is number four in the Stranger Times series, in my view the best comic fantasy I have read in some time. It is best read in order as characters, place and background develop through the series.

We rejoin a team reunited in full after book 3, this focusses initially on Stella though Banecroft's fate is the keenest, threatened with visions of a 'hellscape' if certain things aren't resolved. A little broader than earlier books with the range of characters and forces involved, the heart of the series remains the Stranger Times office. Ghouls, a fierce homicidal cat, and a scientist seeking to reanimate the dead. Another funny, creative and well-constructed addition to the series.

I love this series: humour, fantasy, a pinch of mystery, and a lot of weirdness.
Well plotted, well done
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine