SummaryFire. It violently destroys futures and pasts in a
terrified heartbeat, devouring damning secrets while
leaving even greater mysteries in its foul wake of ash and
debris. The night sky is ablaze as fire engulfs two barges moored
end to end on a Yorkshire canal. On board are the blackened
remains of two human beings. One was a reclusive and
eccentric local artist, the other a junkie, a sad and
damaged young girl. To the seasoned eye of Inspector Alan Banks, this horror
was no accident, its method so cruel and calculated that
only the worst sort of fiend could have committed the dark
act. And it isn't long before the fears of Banks and D.I.
Annie Cabbot are brutally confirmed, when another
suspicious blaze incinerates a remote trailer in the
countryside . . . and another solitary life is gruesomely
consumed. But is it the work of a serial arsonist, or an ingeniously
conceived plot to obliterate the trail to other heinous
crimes? There are shocking secrets to be uncovered in the
charred wreckage, grim evidence of lethal greed and twisted
hunger, and of nightmare occurrences within the private
confines of family. A terrible suspicion that a killer's
work is not yet done drives Alan Banks as the hunt
intensifies for an elusive, cold-blooded chameleon who
could be anyone and anywhere. In Playing with Fire, award-winning, internationally
bestselling author Peter Robinson delivers a modern
masterwork of suspense that confirms his standing as one of
the brightest literary lights in crime fiction -- a
blistering tale of murder and betrayal that is as
frightening, devastating, and hypnotic as flame itself.
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