Book Review: Into The Fire by Peter Liney

Into the Fire by Peter Liney

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian

Series: Book 2 of The Detainee

Publisher: Jo Fletcher (UK: July 3, 2014)

Author’s Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, so the saying goes to describe going from a bad situation to a worse one, and that’s exactly what happens to Clancy “Big Guy” and his friends after they escape from the Island only to find out that the mainland they hoped to return to is not the home they remembered.

Into the Fire is the follow-up to Peter Liney’s The Detainee, an adult dystopian novel that impressed me by setting itself apart with its dark brutality but also a beautiful, compelling message about love and courage. The most exceptional aspect of the first book was Liney’s ability to tell a story which explored the unpleasant effects of a dystopian environment across multiple age groups, detailing the horrors that befall both the young and the old. The main protagonist himself is sixty-three years old. Along with others who are past their prime, he was banished to the Island with society’s other castoffs like the sick, the dying, and unwanted children.

I admit, I had my doubts when I first found out about Into the Fire. My first thought was, Does The Detainee really need a sequel? After all, I was quite satisfied with the way it ended. Obviously, Clancy, Lena, Jimmy and Delilah managed to find the way off the island with the children they befriended and adopted, and it was the classic moment of triumph as we leave them swimming across the channel towards freedom. It’s always nicer to leave things on a high note, and I might have been content with simply imagining bright and pleasant futures for our beloved Big Guy and the gang as they make brand new happy lives for themselves back on the mainland. Into the Fire, of course, erases those hopes.

However, with a sequel also comes an opportunity for something I didn’t think we were going to get after the end of the first book. Clancy’s past has always been shrouded in mystery, and we knew from occasional mentions that it was a checkered one. When he was younger, his huge stature served him well as a mafia crime boss’ thug, a position which required him to commit no small number of unsavory “errands” for the crooked Meltoni. Decades later, upon his return to the radically changed mainland, Clancy must turn to his old life again in order to help his friends survive and also save the woman he loves.

Clancy always was a captivating character and narrator for me, with many more years of experiences under his belt than most protagonists. Going back to some of those years and finding out more about his life working for the mob was one of the highlights of this novel. In my mind he was always like a Clint Eastwood, someone you wouldn’t want to mess with no matter what his age. Despite his desire to turn over a new leaf, his fierce loyalty also makes him capable of showing no mercy to those who would do his loved ones harm. It was interesting to see that young or old, Clancy was and still is a force to be reckoned with.

Into the Fire was thus a worthy follow-up, but The Detainee was a strong debut that was hard to beat. We went from a small island where the dynamics and everyday dangers were well understood to a large city where too much seemed to be happening at once. It was hard to visualize this society and figure out how everything was supposed to work, and it really wasn’t clear to me how scattered pockets of the city such as doctors’ offices, sushi bars, gaming arcades etc. could still be operating like nothing was out of the ordinary while most of the place burned and crumbled, with hordes of sick people wandering the streets, refugees looting stores left and right, and Infinity just gunning down people indiscriminately.

While the setting wasn’t as coherent as it was in The Detainee, that was probably my only stumbling block. I love the story and the characters, and we get lots of development into both in Into the Fire. Peter Liney takes this world he has created and carries its background and history even further, which is something I really wanted to see, and this book sees some major changes in the characters’ lives and I couldn’t even begin to guess where the author will take us next. This is shaping up to be a fascinating series, one I would recommend for fans of dystopian fiction looking for something different.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Jo Fletcher Books!