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    The Fatal Flame
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    The Fatal Flame
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    The Fatal Flame
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Fatal Flame

    Written by Lyndsay Faye

    Narrated by Kirby Heyborne

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    No one in 1840s New York likes fires, but Copper Star Timothy Wilde least of all. So when an arsonist with an agenda begins threatening Alderman Robert Symmes, a corrupt and powerful leader high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Wilde isn't thrilled to be involved. His reservations escalate further when his brother, Valentine, announces that he'll be running against Symmes in the upcoming election, making both himself and Timothy a host of powerful enemies.

    Meanwhile the love of Wilde's life, Mercy Underhill, unexpectedly shows up on his doorstep and takes under her wing a starving orphan with a tenuous grasp on reality. It soon becomes clear that this wisp of a girl may be the key to stopping those who have been setting fire to buildings across the city - if only they can understand her cryptic descriptions and find out what she knows. Boisterous and suspenseful, The Fatal Flame is filled with beloved Gotham personalities as well as several new stars, culminating in a fiery and shocking conclusion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 12, 2015
    ISBN9780698402270
    Unavailable
    The Fatal Flame
    Author

    Lyndsay Faye

    Lyndsay Faye is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including Jane Steele, which was nominated for an Edgar for Best Novel; The Gods of Gotham, also Edgar-nominated; and Dust and Shadow, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Born in Northern California, she formerly worked as an actress in the Bay Area and now lives in Queens, NY. Follow Lyndsay on @LyndsayFaye and www.lyndsayfaye.com

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    Reviews for The Fatal Flame

    4/5

    67 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I LOVED this book, grim as it is. It's been several years since I read the first two in the trilogy, but I easily jumped back into 1840s New York. I didn't want to put the book down. Mind you, these books are not for everyone. They are gritty, realistic, and sometimes disturbing, and each book is disturbing in new ways; this one focuses on the start of the fight for women's rights, and the abuses they endure are tragic and infuriating. However, it's also educational. As a history geek and someone who loves detail, I devoured in every page. Even the dialog is completely immersive in the time period, complete with "flash patter," the street slang of the time.
    • 3/5
      I can't really put a finger on why this book did not hold my interest, but I tried to read it for weeks and kept getting distracted by other books. This one felt way too long and I finally gave up after reading a third of it. I didn't read the previous books in this series. Maybe I needed more backstory. I was not engaged by the plot. For me, the best parts of the book were the period details. The story is set in 1848 and at the beginning of the book there is a glossary of period terms for slang used by the lower class at the time. It was potentially useful, but unfortunately it was inconvenient to access it when reading on a tablet so I never consulted it while reading. I did find some of the language to be really delicious. For example: "Purpling with vexation, Gage made an effort to slice me open with his eyeballs. He wasn't any too successful. But his heart was in it, bless the man."Perhaps I would have liked the story more if it had been told from the pov of one of the female characters rather than from the pov of Timothy Wilde, a police officer (or copper star). His character never rang true to me. Frankly, I thought he sounded like a woman much of the time. I doubt that I will read the other books in this series.I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 5/5
      The final book in Faye's trilogy about New York City detective Timothy Wilde, is an extremely compelling read that once again brings to vivid life a past episode in history--this time the mistreatment of women workers in garment factories--or worse. I won't spoil it, but certain characters from the first book return, and wreak even more havoc on poor Timothy's love life. He also meets some fascinating, and often repellent new ones. Luckily he has his trusty detective colleagues at his side most of the time, as well as the help of his brother Valentine, whose contest against a corrupt alderman drives much of the story. Faye does a masterful job of resolving the various elements and persona of the previous two books and leaves us with a satisfying, if inevitably bittersweet conclusion. She is as good as any author I have seen at combining a real history lesson with a compelling plot. Of course, her heroes are not typical 1840s New Yorkers. They have modern attitudes about women's rights, gay rights, and a lot of other things that enable the author to express her own opinions, but they are opinions I share, so it is a pleasure to see Timothy and Valentine overcome their adversaries. The only thing that keeps the book from getting the full five stars is Faye's over-tendency to foreshadow things. It's too much like some sort of gothic romance at times--"If I only knew when I left that place what I know now..." and stuff like that. (That isn't a direct quote.)This is highly highly recommended--but go back and read the first two volumes before starting this one. It's a shame Faye has moved on to other stories, but I'm sure she is an author with a lot to say, so we should applaud her not writing the same book over and over again as so many do.
    • 5/5
      The third, and last, because this is a trilogy, not an ongoing series, Timothy Wilde mystery. I'm going to miss spending time with these characters. It's now 1848 in a still-young but already grimy and gritty New York City. Tammany Hall's corruption touches everything, and women are expected to fill the roles men allow and nothing more. A police detective before the word "detective" was in use, Tim is assigned the case of an arsonist torching the properties owned by a corrupt alderman, Richard Symmes, the same Richard Symmes Tim's brother Valentine decides to oppose in an upcoming election. Throw in immigrant women forced to work for low or barely any wages as seamstresses and their attempt to gain more rights through a strike, and you end up with a powder keg waiting to be set off. Then Tim's personal life gets complicated by the return of Mercy Underhill, the woman who he first adored when they were growing up together as friends. And, fittingly, Tim is forced to face his biggest fear: fire. Because a fire killed his parents when he was young, and a later fire almost claimed him, leaving him scarred.Faye balances all the story and character elements of this complex plot with skill. Her research seems topnotch, and has inspired me to read up on this time period in New York City. The narrative voice is Tim's as he writes of the events, and of his own heart, from the distance of time. An epilogue puts a satisfying cap on the trilogy. I'm going to miss Tim and his way of looking at his world.
    • 3/5
      By the third book in this series, I no longer needed to consult the glossary in the front of the book to interpret the bits of flash in the narrative. Again, the story is well planned out, well written, but the tension seems to have lessened during the series. I love the main characters, and despite the slower pace in this final of the trilogy, will be sorry to see them go. Will look for more by the author, though, because I like the writing and the research evident in the works.
    • 5/5
      Lyndsay Faye has done it again... just like the first two books about Timothy Wilde, this one is a tour-de-force of history, characterization and just great storytelling.
    • 4/5
      Always sad when you know you are reading the final book in a trilogy. Faye continues to astound with her wonderfully atmospheric setting of 1840's New York City. The Wilde brothers continue to have that fabulous sibling tension Faye introduced us to in The Gods of Gotham, as well as the street slang "flash" and its unexpected uses. The political angle of the story was just okay as I am not that interested in the details and dealings of 1840's politics. I was more intrigued but the arsonist and the woman's rights angles to the story. Faye does a good job of wrapping up the trilogy, but my favorite book in the series is still Seven for a Secret. Overall, a good conclusion to a fabulous series set in the changing, turbulent times of 1840's New York City.
    • 4/5
      Labour is cheap in New York in 1848, with an influx of Irish immigrants competing against each other to secure permanent employment, and employers without scruples out to profit from desperation. Among this stage of misery and poverty an arsonist targets buildings owned by Alderman Symmes, proprietor of a textile manufactory employing mostly women workers. Through his brother Valentine, Timothy Wilde is drawn into the investigation, and encounters first hand to what lengths desperate people will go to, but also the boundless greed by those in power. Hard on the trail of the incendiary, can Timothy overcome his terror of fire to bring the criminal to justice?This is the third and final volume in the series featuring Timothy Wilde, a copper star of the newly formed New York Police, his dissolute brother Valentine and a few other recurring characters we first encountered in the course of the previous two volumes. As any reader familiar with the plots of The Gods of Gotham and Seven for a Secret will know, Timothy is prone to bouts of soul searching, and in The Fatal Flame he has more cause than usual: the love of his life, Mercy Underhill, has returned from London and thrown his feelings into turmoil, while his brother Valentine has announced his candidacy to run against Alderman Symmes. As always Lindsay Faye's historical research is impeccable, and she uses citations from genuine contemporary sources to great effect, painting a society on the brink of collapse owing to the influx of immigrants, mainly from Ireland, a city that shows its cracks in the stark division between rich and poor, white and coloured, male and female. The descriptions of living conditions in the slums are hard to stomach, and the inherent and often casual chauvinism on display made me shake my head in disbelief repeatedly. With this much going on in the background (add to this the stigma attached to gay and lesbian sexuality, among others), and it's no surprise that the action takes a backseat in the plot. The Timothy Wilde trilogy has always been more character driven and about social commentary than a lot of other historical fiction novels I've read, but I felt this was the case here more than usual; while reading about Timothy, Valentine and Co.'s inner workings and the state of society in 1840s New York made passing the time pleasurable enough, I did think the novel really quite slow for what is supposed to be a fairly fast-paced piece of historical crime fiction, although it does pull together a few loose threads satisfactorily.Nonetheless, I'm sad to say goodbye to Timothy Wilde, who has managed to reawaken my interest in the period prior to and during the American Civil War, and I'm curious to see how the author's writing style in this series compares to the Sherlock Holmes pastiche Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings that I've got on my shelf.
    • 4/5
      The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye returns us to the world of 1840's New York City, Five Points, the birth of the Copper Stars and the graft and corruption of Tammany Hall. Young Copper Star Timothy Wilde must investigate the arson of a decrepit tenement building and the issuing death of two women but what he finds as he digs deeper is worse than the burning death of these two young women; far worse.No one hates fires more than Timothy Wilde. His parents consumed in a blaze. His own face horribly disfigured. So when a corrupt Tammany Hall Politician, Robert Symmes, is threatened by a disgruntled former employee and activist; Timothy is charged with catching the would be arsonist. What he finds out is that the vendetta goes much deeper than the burning down of a building. It has to do with the deplorable conditions the seamstress and her co-workers struggle under and the use of force to keep them in line. To make matters worse, Tim's brother Valentine, himself deeply political, decides to campaign against Symmes. As Tim digs he finds that Symmes is suspected of crimes much darker than he could imagine. To come to the truth, Tim must align himself with an enemy he cannot trust, the Madame Silkie Marsh."...A corner of her mouth curved ironically. 'Do you know, I readily admit that you are a man who can string words together, Mr. Wilde. Though it is likely the only quality you possess other than a profound knack for barging in where you are unwanted.''Just why are you palavering with me, then?''Because I want you to barge in where you are wanted for once in your petty little life,'she hissed, showing the bile beneath the elegance.'You're trying to convince me to protect you,' I realized.'No, I know you'll protect me' She gestured at the brothel we were fast approaching, its sedate exterior belying the perverse events that had occurred within. 'You won't want to protect me, as uncomfortable as that fact might be when placed alongside your tiresome notions of chivalry. But protect me you will, nevertheless.''Whyso?''Because you'll be protecting fourteen other girls, Mr. Wilde..."Wilde must content with enemies too powerful for him alone and also with the return of the woman he loves but can never attain, Mercy Underhill. He must decide what is fact and what is fantasy as the next arson is set to happen. Lyndsay Faye creates a New York, in a window of time that is as rife with corruption and grit and lawlessness that it would make Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York look pale in comparison. In Timothy Wilde she has created a flawed hero who's sense of right and wrong is tested by the city, the time, and most of all by those he loves. The Fatal Flame is book three of the Timothy Wilde mysteries and ties together so many of the loose ends that had been left dangling in the first two tales. It is a finale but one hopes that it is not the end of Timothy Wilde and Faye brings us back to this city, this time and this copper star for at least one more run.Faye also, as she has in her two prior mysteries staring Timothy Wilde, addresses a horrible injustice suffered by the people of this time. The seamstresses who suffered under the yoke of their master's oppression. The rapes suffered by women that too often would go unpunished. Immigrants who were turned into prostitutes by the men and women who they though would befriend them and the machinations of a city government meant to line its own pockets far above and before caring for its people. At a time when the nation was beginning to be torn apart with the upcoming Civil War.Faye is a terrific writer who has chiseled out a time and mystery series that is as yet unrivaled by others in this field.A terrific read!
    • 5/5
      As a concluding volume of a trilogy, the author has written more than an ordinary whodunnit. She captures the squalor, smells, horror and poverty of life as a immigrant in 1840s-50s New York City. US students are introduced to Tammany Hall's corruption in American History classes. This book brings those tales to life. Newly disembarked Irish girls are relegated to prostitution and/or sweat shop seamstress lives, working for horrible bosses. The coppers are tough and corrupt. The women's movement ladies are starting to fire up interest. There is a mystery to solve. Who is setting fires in tenements and what is the reason? Who will win the election for alderman? Having you friends and family casting 50 votes each will decide the winner. In other words, business as usual in 19th century NYC. My thanks to the author and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 4/5
      I'm worried the series is done!
    • 4/5
      2015, Penguin Audio, Read by Kirby Heyborne1840s New York City. An arsonist is systematically destroying properties across the city. When he begins threatening Alderman Robert Symmes, a corrupt and powerful politician, Wilde is not thrilled to be investigating the case. And he’s even less thrilled when he learns that his brother, Valentine Wilde, plans to run against Symmes in the next election – earning the two of them a host of powerful enemies.Meanwhile, Mercy Underhill, the love of Wilde’s life, reappears in New York City and connects with him. She has taken under her wing a starving young girl whose tenuous grasp on reality may hold the key to stopping the arsonist – if only her cryptic descriptions can be understood. As the plot continues to thicken, a large number of migrant Irish women, paid only a starvation wage for their services as seamstresses, forge a strike in the hope of securing more rights. No surprises, the textile plant is owned by Alderman Symmes.The Fatal Flame is not a light read, but it is a worthwhile one. Faye’s historical research is exceptional, and the same great characters appear here as in the previous two novels. Unfortunately, Kirby Heyborne is definitely not Steven Boyer, fabulous narrator of the The Gods of Gotham and Seven For a Secret. Series is recommended!
    • 5/5
      I was very sad that this wasn't read by Steven Boyer like the other two in the series. I didn't hate Kirby Heyborne's reading as much as a review or two I've seen, but there is an odd rhythm to the narration. It took quite a while for me to pin down what it reminded me of, and finally got it: Stephen Hawking. Not kidding. These are the kind of book I want to write. Beautiful and brutal, familiar and unpredictable, filled with vibrant settings and vivid people and loves and hatreds and the confusion between the two, causing smiles in the midst of tears and heart pangs in the midst of laughter, and – most of all – laden with the dread of pages running out. I could be happy with an endless stream of Timothy Wilde novels as New York grows and matures; coming from Lyndsay Faye I'd be happy with geriatric Wilde brothers cranky bickering away. Fortunately her other work is just as strong, so the blow that this is apparently the end of the Wilde road is softened a bit. Characterization is marvelous, pulled off with such an apparent ease that "story" goes by the wayside, and "truth" is all there is. I'm not sure that says what I want it to say (why is it so much easier to nail down what's wrong with a book than to discuss what's right?) … What I want to say is that when Lyndsay Faye says something in one of her books, I believe it. I never liked the characters' use of "kinchen" (meaning children) throughout this series, but where in a book I mistrusted I would have been looking things up and trying to disprove them… I believe Lyndsay Faye. She hasn't failed me yet.
    • 5/5
      This is the concluding volume of three in a historical police detective series that began with The Gods of Gotham and continued with Seven For A Secret. The Fatal Flame picks up two years after the second book, and continues to follow the career of now 30-year-old Timothy Wilde, a member of the recently formed “copper stars,” or New York City policemen.

      No one hates fires more than Timothy Wilde. His parents were killed in one when he and his brother, Valentine, were young. His own face was disfigured in a more recent fire. When a corrupt Tammany Hall Politician, Robert Symmes, is threatened by a disgruntled former employee and activist, Timothy is charged with catching the alleged arsonist. What he finds out is that the vendetta goes much deeper than the burning down of a building. It has to do with the deplorable conditions the seamstress and her co-workers struggle under and the use of force to keep them in line. To make matters worse, Valentine, himself deeply political, decides to campaign against Symmes. As Tim digs he finds that Symmes is suspected of crimes much darker than he could imagine.

      The author, as she has in her two prior mysteries staring Timothy Wilde, addresses some of the horrible injustice suffered by the people of this time and she paints a memorable, authentic portrait of a turbulent, racially divided city slowly growing in confidence but filled with ruthless gangs, corrupt politics, crime, prostitution and the cruelties of slave labor. The characters are distinctive and appealing. As with the earlier books, each chapter is preceded by actual excerpts of writings from that period which are relevant to the action, adding a great deal of insight into what the atmosphere was like at the time.

      The Fatal Flame ties together so many of the loose ends that had been left dangling in the first two books. It is a finale but I hope that it's not the end of Timothy Wilde.
    • 4/5
      This is the concluding volume of three in a historical police detective series that began with The Gods of Gotham and continued with Seven For A Secret. The Fatal Flame picks up two years after the second book, and continues to follow the career of now 30-year-old Timothy Wilde, a member of the recently formed “copper stars,” or New York City Policemen.Timothy received facial burns three years earlier in the Fire of 1845, and moreover, his parents died in a conflagration. Thus he has a rather understandable fear of fire. Nevertheless, he is called upon - in his capacity as detective - to help figure out who is setting fires to slums owned by Alderman Robert Symmes, a man who also owns some garment-making factories. Symmes maintains to the police that he has received threats of arson from a garment worker who is also a feminist rabble-rouser, Sally Woods. He believes the threats stem from a desire for revenge because of the strike-breaking tactics employed by Symmes. But of course, nothing is as it seems in the convoluted political and social networks of mid-19th Century New York, where impoverished immigrants flood the shores looking for work, the populace is torn in two over the slavery issue, jobs and food are in short supply, corrupt Tammany Hall pulls the strings, and the rancor felt by everyone keeps the city on the verge of violent eruption. As if Timothy doesn’t have enough to worry about, his older brother Val has decided to run against Symmes in the upcoming election, a decision which seems both dangerous and foolish to Timothy. In addition, the powerful proprietress of a prostitution house, Silkie Marsh, knows Tim arranged sanctuary for one of her “star-gazers” or prostitutes, the now 13-year-old Bird Daly. Tim's personal life is complicated as well; his old love Mercy Underhill has returned to New York City and seems a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and Elena Boehm, his landlord and sometime lover, is looking for a commitment.Discussion: As with previous books, the characters are distinctive and appealing. Tim always tries to play fair, even with one of his pansexual brother’s lovers, James Playfair, a nice guy against whom almost everyone has prejudices. While Tim is more outwardly heroic, the real hero to me is Val, who is singularly his own man and tortured by guilt, but also courageous, caring, steadfast, and generous, although he tries hard to hide his more positive qualities. As with the earlier books, each chapter is preceded by actual excerpts of writings from that period which are germane to the action, adding a great deal of insight into what the atmosphere was like at the time.Evaluation: This historical crime novel is as entertaining a way as any to learn about antebellum American history, particularly in the urban North. The characters are memorable, and it is sad to discover the series won’t continue after this third volume.
    • 4/5
      Timothy Wilde is a young ‘copper star’ as policemen in the newly formed 1840’s NYPD are called. Throughout this entertaining series, Wilde has been called upon to investigate crimes arising from the social ills of the day. Previous books have delved into child prostitution and kidnapping of free slaves. This outing highlights the plight of young factory women and the corruption of Tammany Hall. Occupational safety and craven politicians continue to be topical even today. Prior favorite characters -- brother Val, young Birdie, beloved Mercy, and the kindly landlady – all take a bow before the curtain rings down. ( I’ve read somewhere that this is the last of the series.) Hats off to Lyndsay Faye for another fine effort. I’m sorry to say goodbye to Tim and his world.