Playing with Fire

Published: 2013
Author: Kerry Wilkinson

Best of the series so far – a solid, enjoyable read

One of the UK’s hardest working crime writers must be Kindle sensation turned paperback hit Kerry Wilkinson. Already we’re onto the fifth novel in his DS Jessica Daniel series and there’s no sign of a let-up with a new spin-off series in the pipeline. I’ll admit that when I received a review copy of Playing with Fire I was a little worried. A number of novelists (especially some who are very vocal on Twitter) appear to be churning out a lot of books very quickly. My concern is that quality is going to suffer as quantity becomes key. In this case, at least, my worries were unfounded – if anything Playing with Fire is my favourite book in the series.

An arsonist whose actions led to the death of a young man has been released from prison and Jessica is forced to protect him from the wrath of his victim’s father. When a number of arson attacks take place it’s hard to work out who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, the investigation is complicated by what appears to be a pattern of teenage suicides which may be related to the arson enquiry. Jessica’s private life also causes her consternation as her fiancé presses for a date for their wedding, a wedding Jessica isn’t sure should take place.

I’ve found myself increasingly enjoying Kerry Wilkinson’s books. They aren’t classics by any stretch of the imagination and at times the characters can grate ever so slightly; sure Jessica is recognisable and her flaws may be the same as the reader’s own but when there’s nothing but recognisable flaws you find yourself getting as irritated with Jessica as you do with yourself. That aside though Playing with Fire was a perfectly decent read and the series is developing exceptionally well.

The storyline of this book was much more tightly controlled than Think of the Children which I criticised slightly for having too many balls in the air at once. While this book also has interwoven narratives it works much better than in the last novel, the competing stories in Think of the Children made me feel as though my time was being slightly wasted – this certainly wasn’t the case here. Everything came together well and I had the sense of a fully formed story with enough turns and red herrings to be satisfying but not so many as to create complications.

At one point reading the book I decided that one character in particular was deserving of their own novel and I’m really pleased that this will be the focus of the proposed spin-off. The character in question was immediately likable and loosening the shackles of the strict police procedural offers.

Wilkinson’s work is enjoyable and passes the time very nicely indeed. I don’t think it’s going to be a classic series (although I’d be happy to be proven wrong) but in a crowded genre it more than acceptably stands out as a worthwhile read. I look forward to the new series and more Jessica Daniel in the future – I just hope that the quality continues to improve as the quantity increases.