Island on Fire: Review

Island on Fire
by Sophie Schiller
Publication date: April 10th 2018
Genres: Adult, Historical, Thriller

Loved It

Synopsis:

Content Rating: Adult content including scenes of violence and abuse. Also contains Voodoo and pagan ritual scenes. No sexually explicit content.

In the lush, tropical world of Martinique where slavery is a distant memory and voodoo holds sway, Emilie Dujon discovers that her fiancé, a rich sugar planter, has been unfaithful. Desperate to leave him, she elicits the aid of a voodoo witch doctor and is lured into a shadowy world of black magic and extortion. When the volcano known as Mount Pelée begins to rumble and spew ash, she joins a scientific committee sent to investigate the crater. During the journey she meets Lt. Denis Rémy, an army officer with a mysterious past.

At the summit, the explorers discover that a second crater has formed and the volcano appears to be on the verge of eruption. But when they try to warn the governor, he orders them to bury the evidence for fear of upsetting the upcoming election. As the pressure builds, a deadly mudslide inundates Emilie’s plantation and she disappears. With ash and cinders raining down, chaos ensues. Left with no choice, Lt. Rémy deserts his post and sets off on a desperate quest to rescue Emilie. But with all roads blocked, can they escape the doomed city of St. Pierre before it’s too late?

Review:

• I received this book free though Xpresso Book Tours.

Oh man, where to even begin? This books was at times exciting, at times suspenseful, and also aggravating. (I mean government can be aggravating anyway, but a government who refuses to see the impending doom of a volcano in full eruption is a special kind of aggravation. I managed to keep from throwing my Kindle across the room, even if I did want to try to shake some sense into a few government officials in the book.)

I was completely unfamiliar with the island of Martinique before reading this book. The author does such a good job of describing the setting and the historical time period that I really felt like I had a feel for 1902 Martinique and the island’s geography by the end. And it was written in a way that didn’t take away from the action. It sounds like an absolutely beautiful place to visit.

There are 3 unique conflicts going on at the same time. The heroine Emilie has a lot on her hands. It starts out seemingly simple enough with her discovery of her fiancé cheating, then it adds the mystery of the volcano, and a new love interest in Rémy. As more and more is revealed about Lucien and Emilie becomes more desperate to escape from his controlling and abusive behavior she turns to Voodoo. By the end Emilie is dealing with multiple enemies her crazed fiancé Lucien, the Voodoo Grand Mamy and the erupting volcano.

By the last quarter of the book I was conflicted… I HAD to know how it all ended, but I was almost scared to finish it, being totally unsure of how it was going to end. As I sped through those last chapters I was almost breathless. The action and the drama was absolutely intense. You could practically feel the force of the volcano. The danger that Emilie and Rémy faced on all side was palpable.

I’ll end as I began… oh man!

Bottom Line:

In a word, intense! A great read with a strong heroine a fantastic setting and lots of action.

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