The Fatal Flame

By: Lyndsay Faye

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

The final installment in Lyndsay Faye’s Timothy Wilde series, which Lee Child called “solid-gold” and Gillian Flynn declared “spectacular".

No one in 1840s New York likes fires, copper star Timothy Wilde least of all. After a blaze killed his parents and another left him with a terrible scar, he has avoided flames of all kinds. So when a seamstress turned arsonist threatens Robert Symmes, a corrupt tycoon high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Timothy isn’t thrilled that Symmes consults him. His dismay escalates when his audacious and charismatic older brother, Valentine, himself deeply politically entrenched, decides to run against the incumbent, who they suspect is guilty of assault and far darker crimes. Immediately after his brother’s courageous declaration, Timothy finds himself surrounded by powerful enemies who threaten to harm those he cares about most.

Meanwhile, the love of Timothy’s life, Mercy Underhill, unexpectedly appears on his doorstep and takes under her wing a starving Irish orphan who may be the key to stopping the combustions threatening the city - if only they can make sense of her cryptic accounts. The closer they come to deciphering her wild tales of witches and angels, however, the closer Timothy comes to the fiery and shocking conclusion that forces him to face everything he fears most.

A boisterous and suspenseful audiobook from a master of historical adventure, The Fatal Flame is a tale for the ages.

©2015 Lyndsay Faye (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"As always in this series, the research is impeccable and the period ambience dazzling." (The New York Times Book Review)

“Lyndsay Faye’s New York trilogy is immersive, compelling, convincing, and yes, thrilling. Read it today for solid-gold entertainment, but don’t be surprised to see it taught in college tomorrow.” (Lee Child)

"Faye masterfully evokes the turbulence of mid-19th-century New York, with its Tammany Hall politics, burgeoning conflict over abolition, and rising wave of feminism, as Irish girls, fleeing famine, are forced into prostitution or poorly paid labor as seamstresses." (Booklist Starred Review)

Great story, HORRIBLE narrator

The first book in this series was one of the required books for my daughter's senior year english class, we both listened to it and were both hooked and wanted to continue the series. We also loved book 2, so of course had to get book 3. What a let down. The change in narrator was a terrible choice. We understand that there were probably very good reasons behind changing narrators, but the new one selected was a poor replacement for the original. You could no longer tell which character was talking. All the life brought to the characters was lost. There were times when we were pretty convinced that Siri had taken over reading, or a computer generated voice similar to that of Stephen Hawking had hijacked the book.

Although we soldiered on to finish the story we wouldn't recommend it to anyone until it is released with a different and much better narrator.

I hate it when the reader of a series changes

I loved the reader for the first two in this series and when I downloaded this book and started listening I was very disappointed. I wish I had just read the third book because the story was wonderful but the reader did not live up to the standard set in the first two books.

Compassionate

Thoroughly engaging tale is greed and compassion in 1850s New York. Read all 3 novels for a full appreciation of the characters.

New narrator

The previous two books were much better cast. The new narrator lapses into some sort of iambic monotony 75% of the time....
The book itself is on par with the previous two. Not amazing, but fun to read. Being a New Yorker I feel compelled sticking with it.

Couldn't Finish Listening

I did not complete the book because the reader's voice was not for me. I don't know if there are other voices available.

Compelling historical fiction to be read in order

No Spoilers!
In the third volume of the Gods of Gotham series, Lindsay Faye continues the story of Timothy Wilde, a "Copper Star" (cop) who becomes the first detective in the recently formed police department of 1840s New York City. Poverty, slavery, racism, the fight for women's rights, the early labor movement exploited children, sweatshops, and political corruption, are all part of the scope of these books, as well as drug addiction, and intolerance toward gays, Catholics, and immigrants. Ever present just under the surface is the decades long lead up to the Civil War. This all sounds relentlessly bleak, yet Faye's evocative descriptions and knowledge of history pull the reader into this world, and his sense of humor, compassion for his characters and understanding of human beings in their infinite variety and imperfection are ultimately uplifting. I look forward to reading more of Faye's work.
A word about the narrator, Kirby Heybourne: His ability to voice myriad accents and dialects is impressive, but it's his female voices that I really appreciated. No simpering or weird high-pitched caricatures here. All the women's voices sound like they should, yet all (and there are many) are distinctive and varied. I would love to hear him again.

An Excellent Trilogy by an Excellent Author

Love Lyndsay Faye's books. This trilogy is outstanding, though this is the weakest plot. It's a very good story with well developed characters. I think I'm a bit biased against this third book in the series because they changed narrators. Story is set in NYC just before the Civil War and after the founding of the first police department in NYC. Highly recommend the first two books in the series, and then, of course you'll listen to the third and final book. Very enjoyable.

Warning!

PLEASE NOTE, the third book in this awesome series is narrated by someone else! He in no way gives you (the character) Timothy's gift of flash and the anticipated feeling is lost in seconds as the narrator of the third title of the series begins. He eventually warms up and has his compelling version of "Timmy" that has yearning to it, not all together inconsistent with the main character, but it's a loss just the same.

Excellent historical mystery

Lyndsay Faye's trilogy about New York City's first police is stunning -- well written with vibrant characters and authentic dialogue as well as remarkable stories. My only regret is that she is now done.

They switched up the reader

Nothing grinds my gears more than listening to two audio books by the same reader than having it switched during the third. All the character voices sounded different. Timothy his brother valentine and everybody else had a different sound. I had to reset my mind to get used to it. But overall it was a good finish to an incredible series