LoveReading Says
Shortlisted for the Spread the Word : Books to Talk About 2008.
Inspired by a true story of fire-fighters who all died in the line of duty with a potential cover up over their deaths. A fast paced thriller to keep you gripped to the end.
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About In Cold Daylight
UK fire-fighters are dying long after they’ve reached the safety of cold daylight from the burning darkness of a blaze. Why? Pauline Rowson, a fire-fighter’s wife, wrote the thriller In Cold Daylight after hearing that several fire-fighters from one watch had contracted cancer.
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In Cold Daylight Synopsis
UK fire-fighters are dying long after they’ve reached the safety of cold daylight from the burning darkness of a blaze. Why? Pauline Rowson, a fire-fighter’s wife, wrote the thriller In Cold Daylight after hearing that several fire-fighters from one watch had contracted cancer.
Officially it was a co-incidence but is In Cold Daylight a metaphor for the callous way such fire-fighters are treated? Or is it simply a piece of fictional entertainment? Unravelling Rowson’s cryptic clues in this fast-paced, atmospheric novel, is like playing a thrilling game of ‘pass the parcel’.
After unexpected twists, you peel off the layers of literary wrapping to eventually uncover the mystery. Fire-fighter Jack Bartholomew is murdered before he can reveal the truth behind a ship fire, which caused his own cancer and that of several members of his old crew. Jack hides the evidence and posts a cryptic message on a postcard to his best friend, marine artist Adam Greene, urging him to complete the investigation.
Adam, haunted by a past tragedy and bullied by his father into depression, would rather be left in peace, but he’s forced to break these constraints by Jack’s death. Special Branch follows Adam’s investigations into secret government research, hazardous chemicals and a corrupt minister, which could bring down a government. Who then can we trust to seek cures?
Just how many cover-ups are there? Is the Turner postcard of a battle ship on route to the scrap yard symbolic of real-life fire-fighters being discarded after contracting cancer? Is Adam Greene a metaphor for the UK’s environmental battle against higher powers?
This book could open a debate that may do for fire-fighters what Ken Loach’s drama Kathy Come Home did for homelessness. The crime thriller is rarely associated with confronting such major issues – or has Rowson changed all this?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780955098215 |
| Publication date: |
1st February 2006 |
| Author: |
Pauline Rowson |
| Publisher: |
Rowmark Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
314 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Thriller and Suspense
|
| Recommendations: |
|
About Pauline Rowson
Pauline Rowson lives on Hayling Island, Hampshire. She wrote the thriller In Cold Daylight after hearing that several fire-fighters from one watch contracted cancer. Officially it was a co-incidence but is In Cold Daylight a metaphor for the callous way such fire-fighters are treated? Or is it simply a piece of fictional entertainment? Unravelling Rowson’s cryptic clues in this fast-paced, atmospheric thriller, is like playing a nail-biting game of ‘pass the parcel’. After unexpected twists, you peel off the literary layers to eventually uncover the mystery.
Below is a Q&A with this author.
Author of the marine mystery series of crime novels featuring DI Andy Horton and of fast paced thrillers
Every known murder scene has a detective combing for clues. Every detective has a prime enemy - and it's not the criminal. For the detective, the first enemy is often the crime scene itself. It is here that the battle begins to uncover the grim truth about the murder. And a detective's nightmare crime scene has got to be a place where all the best clues could be swept away by the tide. There couldn't be a better place to set a crime story.
Pauline Rowson is well aware of the pull of murky watery places for the twisted criminal mind. She has created a whole new crime subgenre - the marine mystery featuring her flawed and rugged detective, Inspector Andy Horton.
Footsteps on the Shore published in January 2011 is the sixth and the latest in the marine mystery series and like all Rowson’s crime and thriller novels, it is set in the Solent area on the south coast of England.
So who is this detective, Inspector Andy Horton?
“DI Andy Horton is fit, flawed and rugged. He has been left psychology scarred after his mother walked out on him when he was ten leaving him to be raised in children’s homes and with foster parents. He has a desperate desire to belong and yet is always on the outside. Just when he thinks he's found happiness, Catherine, his wife, chooses to believe an allegation of rape while Horton was working undercover. In Tide of Death, the first in the series, Horton is back on his own again and in each novel in the series along with a new crime to solve, Horton goes in search of the truth about his mother’s disappearance.”
Why is the sea so important in your crime and thriller novels?
“The sea creates a very atmospheric setting for the crime novels. It gives them a sense of place. In my novels it has almost become a character in itself. It's alive, it's beautiful, it's calming but it's also dangerous, misleading and evil. No matter how much you think or wish you can control it, you can't. Sometimes you need to go with the flow and other times swim against the tide and the trick is knowing when to do which. Andy Horton hasn't quite got it sussed, or when he thinks he has something happens to throw him completely off course."
Does this mean that a good night out for you is sitting in marine pubs listening to yarns of crimes?
"I'm like a vacuum cleaner hoovering up bits of information and snippets of conversations from people everywhere and not just in pubs! I often think, hey, that would make a good story, or that person would be ideal to drop in as a character. And I can't pass a boatyard, bay, beach or a marina without thinking there must be a dead body or a skeleton here somewhere."
How do you research your villains?
"There are always shady characters especially if you're a crime writer - everyone you see can become suspicious. I've studied and lectured on personality profiles in the past and I am always curious about people's behaviour and motivations. I love talking to strangers, because you learn so many fascinating things from them and get some wonderful character descriptions. I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't mind the nutter sitting next to me on the bus!”
So the next time you get into a conversation with a stranger, make sure she's not a polite, petite brunette, or you might just recognise yourself as a cold hearted murderer in Rowson's next bestseller!
Written by Alison Rogers in conjunction with DotPR.
February 2011
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