by Candice Fox
Publisher: Bantam Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
This tight-knit, four-person unit has worked together to save countless lives and stop out of control fires before they cause major destruction.
They’ve also stolen millions from banks, jewellery stores, and art galleries. Under the cover of saving the city, they’ve used their knowledge and specialist equipment to become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast.
Andy Nearland is the newest member of the unit, and she’s helping them prepare for their largest heist yet — New York’s largest private storage facility, an expensive treasure trove for the rich and famous. She’s also an undercover operative, and keeping her true motives hidden proves more and more dangerous as the day of the heist approaches.
Review
by Louise Cipta
Fox has presented us with yet another strong and at times reckless woman as the lead character in Devils Kitchen. Set in the US, this book is about a gang of firefighters who seem to have no limits, and the woman who infiltrates the team to unearth the depth of their criminal behaviour.
Andy Nearland’s undercover assignment is to find a missing mother and her son. We soon find her methods of investigation are unconventional to say the least. She puts her life on the line, never giving up until she finds the truth.
Her old partner has arrived back in her life and has another agenda. He wants her to find evidence to nail the gang who is pulling off some big money jobs and are suspected of murder.
Andy sets about doing this by inserting herself into both the private and work life of the boyfriend of the missing woman. He was the one who instigated the investigation.
Candice Fox knows how to take readers on a wild ride. The story is fast paced and grabs you in, never knowing where it is taking you next, but it is the characters and their backstories that really make the book.
The tight-knit group of four firefighters are criminals to their back teeth. They start fires, put them out, save lives, steal without mercy. Do they have any limits? They have suffered some trauma in their lives, and Fox reveals the nuance in their characters, and enough of their backstories to add depth to some rather unlikeable men. They’ve dealt with the trauma in different ways, but their past bought them all together to pull off one last job.
Andy joins the gang as the fifth member and must pass some tough initiation tests before they trust her enough to include her totally in the group.
Candice Fox has three books being published this year. If you like fast-paced thrillers with plenty of twists and surprises, Devil’s Kitchen is one for you.