Wild Fire (Shetland Island Mysteries)

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In Wild Fire we see how deep a person can be damaged by his experiences and how much pain he can inflict to the people around him because of them!

Wild Fire is the eighth and final novel in the Shetland Series, and even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters we’ve come to know and love over these last eight novels, it is nevertheless a lovely way to solve one last case with the usual gang and to finally discover whether DI Perez and Chief Inspector Willow will finally get their happy-ever-after ending. Many readers will be sad to see the end of DI Jimmy Perez and the Shetland series but I am happy to say I still have seven more books in the series to read and I’m eagerly looking forward to them. Ann Cleeves’ final Shetland novel is a masterpiece of tangled family threads and crime smoke and mirrors. The rural setting, with its fishbowl community life, is a perfect place to demonstrate how nobody knows much about anyone at all, not even within their own families. About 100 kilometres north of Scotland, the Shetland Islands are a popular tourist destination for cruise ships, not least because of the spectacular scenery. Of the 100 islands that comprise the Shetlands, fewer than 20 are inhabited by a total population of under 30,000 people. Such is the setting for Ann Cleeves’ popular Shetland novels of which Wild Fire is the eighth and last.For anyone who's seen the TV series Shetland, the books spend less time with Jimmy and more with each of the characters, points of view flitting between them like dramatic butterflies, sharing their thoughts and feelings. And you still can't figure out who did it. Jimmy seems less central for other reasons, too. Willow and Sandy share much of the investigating, and that's fine. Police work is family too ... Wild Fire' is the eighth and final book in the international bestselling Shetland series featuring DI Jimmy Perez. Although it's preferable to have read the previous seven novels to understand the evolution of the characters and their lives, it does actually work as a standalone too. I am a huge Cleeves fan and love both her books and the TV series' that are adapted from said novels. An archipelago of more than a hundred islands, Shetland is the one of the most remote places in the United Kingdom. Its fifteen hundred miles of shore mean that wherever one stands, there is a view of the sea. It has sheltered voes and beaches and dramatically exposed cliffs, lush meadows full of wild flowers in the summer and bleak hilltops where only the hardiest of plants will grow. It is a place where traditions are valued and celebrated, but new technologies and ways of working are also embraced. The Flemings have recently moved to the island and their arrival has upset the locals. The prior owner hung himself in the byre and for some reason, they are blamed. I loved Cleve’s points about the herd mentality and how gossip spreads through the island like wildfire. Then, a nanny for another family is found hanged in the same byre.

After having watched several episodes of “Shetland” on PBS, I have now had the opportunity to read what is the final book in Ann Cleeves Shetland series featuring Jimmy Perez. While I have read books in the Vera series, this is, somewhat ironically, my first of the Shetland. Jimmy Perez, the lynchpin in both media settings, is depicted in both as the compassionate, thoughtful man of the islands and people. The land and sea, nature itself, are characters and affect people’s lives on many levels. The descriptions are so often just right. This is from two people taking a walk. Fans disappointed to see the last of Cleeves' hero will be happy to know that the final case in this complex, character-driven series [...] is a tour de force.." Wild Fire is the much-anticipated final book in Ann Cleeves’s beloved Shetland Island series, now a major television triumph starring Douglas Henshall. This move may have been the most important move of Cleeves life, as it was where her love and talent for writing started. By 1987, the Cleeves family, which now included two young daughters, moved to Northumberland. This is why so many of her novels use the Northumberland as their main setting. For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.

Publication Order of Palmer-Jones Books

How did you find the experience of seeing your series adapted for television? Was there a particular story that you loved seeing come to life on screen? Intricately plotted and elegantly written, this installment is billed as Perez's final case. Series fans will be sorry to see the last of him." Nominated for three Scottish BAFTA Awards: one for best scripted television show, one for scriptwriter David Kane, and one for actor Douglas Henshall (DI Jimmy Perez). Series 5 An original 6-part drama DVD now available in the UK (Region 2) and in the USA (Region 1). Series 6

Winner of two Scottish Baftas: Shetland itself won best television drama, and Douglas Henshall, who plays detective inspector Jimmy Perez, was named best television actor. Director Jan Matthys (best director film/television) and Gaby Chiappe (best writer film/television) were also nominated. Series 4 In this story after some news shared Perez and Willow behave like 10year olds and that felt a bit out of character and I wish the author would choose another way to handle the problem they are faced with! This murder will bring, Jimmy, Willow and Sandy together for one final outing. A case with many strings, threads leading to a hidden and past life, a young boy on the autism spectrum, a husband and father, and a woman with a secret who cannot forgive nor forget. Sometimes people are just not who you think they are. The clues are there, in retrospect, but admit to missing them. The case is suspenseful enough, but the atmosphere of the island, and the characters have for me, always been the draw for me. Although I admit I liked done of the books in this series, better than others, it has never disappointed me.Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands... The saying goes, “you write what you know” and at this point in her life, Ann knew the area very well. However, it was always Ann and her husbands dream to eventually settle in the Northeast and in 2006, they finally did. Both her daughters are now happily married to men from Newcastle, England. Books by Ann Cleeves Everything moves along with all of the police, Perez, Willow and Sandy, acting separately and together to piece together the parts that will finally bring peace to the island. As the closing episode to a series, Wild Fire does offer some aspects of closure while also leaving open futures. All in all, a good read and recommended. This book can also be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone novel. Bittersweet, this one is. If you’ve been following the fortunes of Ann Cleeves, you know that “Wild Fire” is the final book in the Jimmy Perez/Shetland stories. Jimmy has decisions to make in this one, once Willow Reeves, the woman he’s been seeing, reveals some secrets of her own.

I'm the first to say I dislike much personal drama in crime novels but Ann Cleeves could have taken some more time to develop all that took place in a single installment of her series! Perez in this installment is guided by guilt and his reactions angered me at some points but it was nice to see that he isn't a martyr of some kind! The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine). Families falling apart because of every day problems they don't know how to handle and how easy it is for a person to sneak in and mess with them and also how self centred people may force others to take actions to lead up even to murder! But also how people can overcome problems and stand up to the challenges thrown at them! Fans disappointed to see the last of Cleeves’ hero will be happy to know that the final case in this complex, character-driven series (Cold Earth, 2017, etc.) is a tour de force.The idyllic surroundings of the island take a sudden turn when the body of a young nanny is found dead in one of the family's out-buildings. All eyes turn toward Helena and Daniel. Is there a connection here with Emma? If not, then why was her body found on their property?