The Fire

I've seen several reviews that say the novel started strong, and then lost steam in the middle. I disagree. I feel like this novel was a convoluted mess from the very beginning. “Mystery” characters that weren't very mysterious, “secret” conversations that (surprise, surprise) weren't very secret, and an entire secondary plot that was basically abandoned halfway through the book.

It just seems like Neville didn't have enough to say - like she needed a 500 page novel, but she really only had enough story for a 300 page novel, so she just added a bunch of poorly wrought confusion and hoped the reader wouldn't notice. Interestingly, there are places where the novel is genuinely intriguing and even a bit thrilling - it just isn't sustained nearly long enough to be an overall enjoyable reading experience.