Fire Damage (Jessie Flynn 1)

Author/Guide: K T Medina

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Destination: Afghanistan Departure Time: 2000s

A soldier’s boy is tramautised by what he’s seen and needs help fast.

ISBN: 978-0008132286
Genre: Psychological, Thriller

Comment

What you need to know before your trail

A young four year old boy needs help to come to terms with what he’s seen happen to his father, Captain Nick Scott, an Army Intelligence Officer. He’s recently come home from Afghanistan with several facial burns after a fire bomb ambush and little Sami is acting strange and scared. Enter Doctor Jessie Flynn who comes to the boy’s help as a specialist in treating post-traumatic disorders, with mostly British patient but as she treats Sami,there seems to be a lot more going on that she first thought and she is soon drawn into a web of intrigue with murder and mystery at its core. Just who is the “Shadowman” that Sami is so scared of?

Locations

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Travel Guide

Afghanistan

Soldiers and servicemen travel all over the world fighting to protect us and this novel brings home quite literarily what that can mean. Facial wounds suffered in Afghanistan can haunt people and their families and

this digs deep in to the psyche of those suffering from the emotional fall out of military service.

Surrey

Sussex is as far removed from the dangers of Afghanistan as it could be – or is it? The aftermath of what happens in Afghanistan is all too real and seen through the eyes of a clinical psychologist allows Fire Damage to show the vulnerabilities of those people and families who get caught up in events beyond their control. The cold desolate landscapes of the cold dark English winter is as bleak as you can imagine. Jessie lives in picture postcard England she says next to the Surrey Hills on the border with the Sussex Downs.

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

really enjoyed the debut White Crocodile book by this author which was set in Cambodia and this second in the series (although standalone) is just as gripping. It’s a serious subject – psychological harm, damaged characters, PTSD – but the author really treats these with respect and a gripping story to pull you in, empathize and keep you hooked.

Dr Jessie Flynn, the military psychologist of the story is perhaps the most damaged of all and I found it really heartwarming yet poignant as she tried to help a traumatized 4 year old. I can’t imagine being a child looking at their father’s injuries like that and my heart went out to him. The entire novel and subject matter just felt so real and raw and even though I have no personal experience of this (thank goodness) I felt as if I understood and was shown the reality of what we never really see when war stories are reported.

Respect to the author for dealing with this subject in such a sensitive yet raw way as well as writing a novel which grips and moves you. No easy feat – the Medina magic has worked again.