Single-mother Fran returns to her sleepy hometown to care for her dying father when a devastating bush fire breaks out. A heartbreaking, nail-biting disaster-noir thriller from the bestselling author of The Cry and Worst Case Scenario.

Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she’d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway.

She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer. As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants…

Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget…

My thanks to Orenda Books for my review copy and to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Ash Mountain tour.

I make this point so frequently…stories set in small towns are the best for tales of secrets and surprises.  This is very true for Helen Fitzgerald’s Ash Mountain – a small Australian town where our main protagonist Fran lives. What initially seemed to be a story about living and growing up in a small community evolved with a dark mystery lurking in the background. Oh and a fire. A huge fire.

Fran is caring for her elderly father, a teenage daughter and is boosted by having her son, Dante, around too. Fran became a mother at age 15; as she is in her 40’s now Dante is mid 20s and very popular around town. I got the feeling Fran is less popular than her son and enjoys the fact he is much loved within his community. Fran is charmingly nervous, insecure yet determined and independent – all the complex characteristics people have and they are briliantly utilised by the author who makes Fran one of the most believable characters I have encountered for many months.

Helen Fitzgerald tells Fran’s story in a fascinating chronology.  Chapers go from today (the day of the fire), to last week (10 days before the fire) to 25 years ago when Fran was the awkward girl at school desperately trying to fit in. It keeps the narrative punchy and gives a great insight into why Fran acts as she does now, why her pregnancy is relevant to a secret kept for over 20 years and why small down enemies never let go of their childhood niggles. Characters in small towns linger for a long time, some people Fran would rather never meet again – some she feels she cannot do without.  This is most acutely reflected in Fran’s father – dying a slow death with Fran caring for him.  They are both scared by what the future may hold, neither admit it to each other and their buckle-down approach to getting on with things feels a mask for their impending seperation.

I haven’t mentioned the fire.  Well I *have* mentioned it but not explained it.  The book opens with a huge forest fire beating a fast path towards town.  Everything is fleeing but not Fran, she is bunkered down and worrying if her father got clear, if her daughter was near or if she got away.  Most chapters in the book are set in the days leading up to the fire. Some are many years earlier but every now and then we get a real-time chapter of Fran on the day of the fire and we are reminded that all the lives we have been reading about are all in grave peril from relentless flames.

It’s wonderful storytelling.  Helen Fitzgerald has a wicked talent for capturing people and making you believe in them, root for them and cry with them.  Ash Mountain is a bit of a departure from my regular crime thriller reads but it was a very welcome change.  Now available in paperback if you had been hanging off on picking this up – now is the time.

Ash Mountain is published by Orenda Books and is available in paperback, audiobook and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ash-Mountain-Helen-FitzGerald-ebook/dp/B081S12YDL/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1597610021&refinements=p_27%3AHelen+FitzGerald&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=Helen+FitzGerald