A Slow Fire Burning by Paul Hawkins

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a great day.

Have you ever been on a boat?  Don't look at me that way, lots of people in land locked areas haven't had the opportunity to do their best Gilligan impersonation.  Despite living on the coast, my experiences are limited. My in-laws had a boat for a short time.  The one time hubby and I went out on the water with them and a terrible thunder storm started.  With lightening striking all around us, my mother-in-law made a break for it trying to get us to safety.  If you've never sat on the back of a boat, going way too fast, over other people's wakes, bouncing off of the ledge your sitting on and realizing at that very moment that you're positioned exactly over the propeller....well, let's just say....don't!  Also, when we were kids, going to the Jersey shore, we took the Cape May Lewis Ferry.  It was their last trip of the night because of a storm rolling in.  The water was rough and our seats, though inside, looked out over the ocean.  First there is no ocean, then lots of ocean, then no ocean.  Yeah, we were bobbing up and down like one of those glass woodpecker things old people used to put on their desks for relaxation.  Relaxation my fanny, I almost puked my guts out! Boats and I obviously don't get along.

I recently read A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins.  Sound familiar?  Yep, this is the author that wrote the famous book which inspired the subsequent movie The Girl on a Train.  I loved that book.  It had such suspense.  Not only was the scene the main character observed unreliable but so was the woman watching from the train.  It was well played, keeping up the tension and constantly pointing the eye of guilt in different directions.  I wish the same were true of the new book A Slow Fire Burning.  The title certainly does this novel justice, it's slow and sadly, disappointing.  Had it been another writer, it might have been okay...and just okay.  However, given what we know what Paul Hawkins is capable of, I feel let down.  This is the story of a man who is murdered on the houseboat that he lives on.  There are several characters that could be involved. The problem is none of them are likable...which matters to many readers.  For me, not so much in a thriller so I could be okay with that if they were the slightest bit interesting...which they aren't.  Then the story evolves way too slowly and there are just no big twists.  No suspense, no tension, no twists.  How is this a thriller?  

Now, as always, I remind you that I am a housewife that hasn't sold any books so take my opinion with a grain of salt, half an onion, a dash of pepper and call me in the morning.  Seriously, this book is rated four starts and editors pick on Amazon so you may love it.  For me, reading lots of thrilling thrillers, this was slow, boring and just disappointing all around, it is a hard no.  Pass completely. 

All this talk of getting sea sick is making me need a distraction.  Book anyone?