Into The Fire by Sonia Orchard

Into the Fire Review

Before going into the review, I would like to say that I am hating the new WordPress update. Sure, it is sleeker but at the same time too many bugs. I can’t do my tags, my page doesn’t scroll well. Come one WordPress, why must you do this in the end of the year?? Why can’t you just make sure it works and update it in the new year, when everyone is less stressed?

I tell you right now, I am UNIMPRESSED with the new changes. 

Ok, back to the review. I got this from Netgalley, but you can preorder here. 

A bit about the story 

Lara is mourning her old friend Alice, who had perished in a house fire a year before. Alice’s husband Crowley “Crow” and their three children survived. As Lara visits her friend’s broken family during the anniversary of death, old memories gets dredged up. 

There is only three main characters that really matter in the book: Alice, Lara and Crow. It is not a love triangle, let me put that to rest. This book turns dark sometimes, as if there is an underlying current to the pace of the story. Not much of a mystery and thriller kind, but you would have a nagging thought at the back of your head, there’s something more.

As Lara pieces together the final months and moments, she recalls little snippets here and there. While Lara is not an unreliable narrator, she could be anyone of us. In fact, I was Lara once, very long time ago. So I get the story and I get Lara very well.

A little about the Characters

Lara is friends with Alice since they were in college/ Uni, studying a course called Women Studies. There was where they had a lot of good times, and it was then where the story started. Throughout the book, we see Lara as someone responsible and more emotionally stable. We have Alice who is the subject of discussion: Alice is the opposite of Lara. 

Then we have Crow, who is the agitator of sorts. He is the charismatic rockstar with a band, the third wheel of the supposed sisterhood. The situation then becomes mercurial, with Alice and Crow having different tales about their relationship.

Who is telling the truth?

One of the biggest mysteries in the book, because it is under the category of Mystery and Thriller, is who’s telling the truth. 

Are they both lying even? Into The Fire examines our relationships as the Person Who Survived, the friend or family who suffers from guilt. Lara represents us, always asking what would have happened if…

Then reality hits, we can only recount. We trace back our steps, trying to find the defining moment that our friend was indeed crying for help. Lara convinces herself that she should have been a better friend, but don’t we all? 

Verdict

Into the Fire by Sonia Orchard, sometimes friendship means stepping into the fire?  Share on X

Everyone knows how Alice had died: in the fire. but what Lara unearths in the weekend with Alice’s widower might make everyone question, what really happened.

If you are a fan of dark thrillers, this might be your cup of tea. 

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