"Mortal Fire" by C.F. Dunn: Book Review

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Monarch Books (3/2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0857212023

About the book:  When Emma D'Eresby - a 29 year-old, self-contained Professor of History - leaves her Cambridge college for a post in an exclusive university in Maine, USA, she hopes to learn more about a curious 17th-century journal in the College library. Instead, it leads her to a secret that should never have been uncovered. In the States, Emma meets the enigmatic 33-year-old surgeon, Matthew Lynes, a quiet and thoughtful widower. Driven to learn more about him, Emma takes the unique journal from the College library in which she believes there are clues to his family's English past. Meanwhile, the sinister Professor Kort Staahl mounts a psychotic attack on her. Matthew's courageous intervention saves her, but as he nurses her back to health, his unusual attributes raise questions he is unwilling to answer. As Part One ends, she returns to her claustrophobic family, avoiding her domineering father and wrestling with despair ...

My thoughts:  I found the book interesting and perplexing.  I found very little connectivity between "The Journal" and the plot except for the fact that the heroine's main reason for accepting the position in the USA was because it housed the original "journal" a transcribed portion of which held her interest since childhood.

The introduction of each character is slow but thorough and lends to the surface flow of the story.  However, the slow progression of the story almost lost this reader before I could engage in the seemingly main idea.  This main idea is truly not one that you can really grasp as it is most elusive in nature.  In fact, where the title "Mortal Fire" gets its genesis is lost to this reader.

I did finish the book and ultimately I found it quite interesting.  It seems as though the "hero" of the story is somewhat supernatural, not human, or most rare and unusual at the least.  There is not a clue as to why he is different, he just is.  He is certainly a gentlemanly and kind individual of many talents and strengths.

I found this read in the land of academic interesting because they being highly educated individuals are ultimately pretty normal folks after all.  But some really interesting personalities were revealed in the characters Ms. Dunn created for Mortal Fire.

I am sensing connection between the "hero," The Journal, and the dying grandmother (wife of the grandfather who introduced our heroin to "The Journal."  Only future books will reveal if this is indeed so.

I am not overly fond of books in a series unless they can still be read as "stand alone" books.  This one literally begs to be finished and the promise of completion only seems to be in the upcoming sequel, "Death Be Not Proud." 

The genre is Christian fiction thriller or mystery.  There is an element of Christian emphasis in the book, through not strong.  The heroin is a Christian and endeavors to let her faith in Christ be her guide and her strength.  There is an element of evil and danger, of love and romance, of friendship and avoidance, and of family love.  There is also the element of things seemingly being non-Earthly or other-Worldly.

Would I recommend it? Let's just say I could recommend it.  The author, C.F. Dunn, certainly has a gift with words and the telling of a story. Mortal Fire is just a bit different from that which I normally read - even when I'm ready for a heavier read instead of the lilting light reads that you settle down with when you need to simply relax.  I do think I would like to read the followup book/s.  The cliff hanging ending has just simply whetted my appetite.

Watch the video trailer here!

About the author:   C F Dunn runs a special school in North Kent for children with dyslexia, autism and other difficulties.  For more information check Ms. Dunn's website here.


DISCLOSURE:  I was provided a complimentary copy of Mortal Fire by C.. Dunn in order to participate in a blog tour sponsored by Kregel Publications and render an honest review.