I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: read one of these books, and you’ll need to read all of them!

Relight My Fire has flying people, an unusual amount of people with strange powers, all sorts of dead people, and Stella still trying to hide her powers.

And if that doesn’t make you curious enough to start at book one and work your way up to this fourth book, then there’s really no help for you. Sorry, I don’t make the rules (I do, obviously 🤷🏼‍♀️).

So do yourself a favour, and go and read The Stranger Times books, because they’re really THAT good.

This whole series is on my ‘Must Read’ list and each new book in the series absolutely makes my day/week/year! This is the fourth book and, having already covered werewolves and vampires, now the Stranger Times staff have zombies and (my favourite character of the series so far!) a ghoul. Exciting times at the Stranger Times!

The usual gang are back together again – Hannah, Banecroft, Ox and Reggie, Stella, Grace, Manny and DI Sturgess – and we get cameos from a few recurring favourites too, like Cogs and Zeke. And while I missed Stanley Roker and Betty a little, new character Brian more than compensated. The plot is always good fun – and laugh out loud funny – but it is the characters who keep me coming back every time, re-reading the books already released, and listening to the audiobooks over and over again (shout out to Brendan McDonald for being the voice of these books, in my head as well as in my ears!).

I definitely recommend reading the books in order, because the world and characters develop and deepen as each new instalment adds new layers.

I just cannot rave enough about how much I love these books – this book. The worldbuilding, humour and writing are all top class and I hated reaching the end of the story because I just want to stay in the Stranger Manchester with my favourite people and see what happens next.

In other words, I cannot wait to get my hands on Book 5, in ebook, hardcover and audiobook. And I hope I’m saying the same when Stranger Times book 105 hits the shelves!

Received arc from Random House Uk and Netgalley for honest read and review,this review is my own.
Book 4 in this truly fantastic series, that just gets better and better , like a good wine.
Vincent is his usual self absorbing self,
Stella is perfect as usual.
This book is brilliant and I am so pleased I started this wonderful series.

Another great edition to the Stranger Times series. Intrigue, mysterious secret societies and a ghoul called Brian.
McDonnell delivers another blend of believable madness filled with their usual band of madcap reporters and the odd reincarnated pop star to boot.

If you have read and enjoyed the previous Manchester adventures then you are sure to devour this as well - a proper entertaining read.

Back in the Manchester world of The Stranger Times, the team have problems. Infernal powers have taken an interest in Vincent Bancroft, and while one might expect him to just tell them his diary's full, he actually comes across here as very vulnerable, in part because of action he took in an earlier book.

I enjoyed seeing Banecroft as something other than the grouchy, wisecracking boss of previous stories. It may have seemed as though, really, he had all the answers and was always three steps ahead of everyone else - but as is made clear that's not necessarily the case.

What Banecroft is still set upon is protecting Stella (who herself begins to seem a much stranger and more complex person than we have released yet). He'll do that, even if it means the unpleasant psychopomp in the floppy hat who's been shadowing him gets to carry him away to perdition. Why is Stell in danger? Well, she was I the wrong place at the wrong time, specifically, she nearly got fallen on when a young man who thought he could fly (he sort of could) fell from the heavens.

Why he was up there to begin with, who is pulling the strings and how it all connects with the appearance of Manchester's loneliest ghoul, you'll just have to read this book to find out. I found this one to be a little bit of a reset (not too much of one!) with a ore self-contained story and, as I said, a slightly different approach to Banecroft, that would I think make it an easy place to get into this series if you haven't been reading them (though if you don't then read the first three books you are seriously missing out). The same mixture of crime and the supernatural, with more emerging about the hidden world of the Folk, this story has a buzz and focus that's al of its own - as well as some extremely nasty and singularly driven characters, who might presage new alliances in future.

Overall, a story I really enjoyed and one which shows this series is firing on all cylinders.

OMGGG!!!!!!!! This book is FIRE.... Banecroft, Hannah, Stella and the team did it again!!! Can't wait to read MORE!! Please, send the next book directly to my email...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

McDonnell is back on form in this fourth installment in the Stranger Times series. The gang's all back together after the separation of the last novel, and the narrative mainly focuses on Stella which gives the reader chance to get to know a character who has previously been fairly mysterious. We tick off another horror monster staple (no spoilers) with the series' typical humour and twist on the subject. This series is basically an auto-buy for me now!

Slight delay in finishing, thank you to the author from whom I got a physical advance.

Relight My Fire is number four in the Stranger Times series, in my view the best comic fantasy I have read in some time. It is best read in order as characters, place and background develop through the series.

We rejoin a team reunited in full after book 3, this focusses initially on Stella though Banecroft's fate is the keenest, threatened with visions of a 'hellscape' if certain things aren't resolved. A little broader than earlier books with the range of characters and forces involved, the heart of the series remains the Stranger Times office. Ghouls, a fierce homicidal cat, and a scientist seeking to reanimate the dead. Another funny, creative and well-constructed addition to the series.

I love this series: humour, fantasy, a pinch of mystery, and a lot of weirdness.
Well plotted, well done
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Relight My Fire
(The Stranger Times 4)
by C. K. McDonnell


Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy, mystery and thrillers.

Oh, I just love the whole silliness of this series, combined with the witty fun dialogue. Banecroft still wins at that, he is such a curmudgeon, sharp tongue (but accurate), drunken workaholic, and yet hidden deep he's actually got a caring side underneath.
Stella is lovely, I do feel for her, she doesn't know what she is, or how to control her powers. Then the rest of the gang, they all work so well together.
Its another fun story, involving more supernatural entities, a new drug that gives people temporary powers but inevitably ends in death, the spook squad of the police trying to work out how to prevent more, and cover up whats happening so as not to alarm the public. The founders doing their usual, another group creating mayhem, a new character joining the ST gang, its business as normal for the ST group.
What I love about this series is the supernatural has elements of spooky but its all wrapped up with some sheer silliness, stuff that's so improbable and yet fits in perfectly and becomes almost believable. You never quite know quite way the story will turn.
I loved it again. Do I know exactly who's behind what and how it resolved after finishing the story? Not really, it becomes so complex its quite hard to keep track, but I have the gist. This is one of the stories for me where its about the journey not the ending, the enjoyment is in just how things play out along the way, not in finding out exactly who did what.
Roll on more for the cast of The Stranger Times.

Stars: Five, a fun read, full of weird and wonderful events and surprises.

ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers

You have NO idea how happy I was to see this book. I was told that Love Will Tear Us Apart was the last book...well now I come to think of it, no one told me, a comment by another reviewer made me assume it was. I'm not often glad (or even willing to admit) I'm wrong, but for this, I will happily hold my hands up.

The book begins with a man falling from the sky. Where he'd been floating. Straight into the path of Stella, who has been attempting to live a normal student life. Well, as normal as a girl can expect whilst been stalked by the well-meaning but overprotective staff of The Stranger Times. Obviously, they're the team to work out why the man was floating. But soon, reapers, mad cats, faded popstars, grave robbers, ghouls, and all manner of other lunacy complicate things just a smidge. And let's not even mention the freezing....

These books are delightfully bonkers. And every time I finish one, I have a big grin and aching sides from laughing. If you haven't read these, do so immediately, from the beginning. You won't regret it.

These books are always a great escape from reality and the characters really drive along the plot. I think that’s my favourite thing about the series in general, the strong characters that are present in every book. C. K. McDonnell is an excellent author and these books are always a great read!

A cracking fourth instalment in the Stranger Times series - it brings together all our protagonists and leads them down new and twisty paths in Manchester.
Stella is now at university studying Journalism (thanks to Banecroft) and all is going well , student life a breeze until that is it isn't. Something strange is going on in Manchester, where suddenly people seem to be able to fly, curse in flowers and other mystical things. When a young man goes splat in front of Stella, it is lucky that Hannah is close by, although that is not really luck as all the team are taking turns in shadowing Stella - just in case...
This isn't the only mystery troubling the team (and also DI Sturgess now relegated to the "weird bollocks" arm of policing) as graves are being robbed, strange powers rising and Banecroft with a tight timeline for redemption or being sent to Hell.
The action is well paced and the Founders interest in The Stranger Times team continues. I loved the celebrity zombies released from Cryogenic status plus the ghosts, ghouls and gnomes keeping things fun. It is also worth checking out https://thestrangertimes.co.uk/news/ for articles such as Coma, coma chameleon or I wax to suck your blood or the equally good classifieds -FOR SALE: psychic dog. Can read thoughts, is judgmental. Free to good Christian home. PO Box 19
Would recommend the series to everyone - my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC.

This offbeat urban fantasy series is undoubtedly funny – but it’s not remotely cosy. And there is a fair amount of swearing going on, too. Unsurprising when you take into consideration some of the extreme situations our plucky band find themselves dealing with – but do be warned that if f-bombs offend you, then avoid this one.

That said, I was delighted to see the whole team back together again. Though given the speed at which major problems overwhelm various team members, instead of coping with an overarching single enemy – certain employees at The Stranger Times newspaper offices are dealing with their own issues.

Stella is grappling with her complete lack of any sort of past – and keeping the monster within her sufficiently quiet so she doesn’t draw unwelcome attention from The Founders. The rest of the team are equally determined to ensure that doesn’t happen – so she’s followed everywhere she goes…

Hannah’s relationship with a certain D.I. has stalled after having apparently returned to her former husband in the previous book – I strongly advise you start with the first book to avoid crashing midway into the series, as the staff have been through so many major adventures, they are radically changed from the characters we first encountered in The Stranger Times. So they are both quite wary of expressing any feelings for each other. I’m hoping this slightly daft will they/won’t they state of affairs is soon sorted out, as they are frankly too old to continue with this sort of shenanigans. That said, I’m delighted to have Hannah back in the fold as she is one of my favourite characters.

Once again, Vincent Banecroft is magnificently unpleasant – his highly sarcastic comments to his long-suffering staff are hilarious. As are Office Manager Grace’s rejoinders. Initially, I found him thoroughly objectionable, but McDonnell has a gift for writing apparently irredeemably horrible people and making them sympathetic – Vincent being a case in point. I was really worried that he’d be whisked away to everlasting Hell – something that wouldn’t normally concern me if a main character generally behaved towards the people around him the way Vincent does.

I enjoyed the storyline and thought the plotting and pacing was very well handled, as ever. I particularly enjoyed meeting Brian the ghoul and I’m hoping we encounter him in other adventures to come. All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and well-written addition to The Stranger Times series and comes very highly recommended to fans of urban fantasy with a strong dollop of Brit-based humour. While I obtained an arc of Relight My Fire from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

The anticipated return of our weird friends at Stranger Times. I thoroughly enjoyed the first three books, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Weird, wonderful and laugh out loud funny. A great continuation of the story.

Book Review:
Relight my Fire (The Stranger Times 4) by C.K. McDonnell
Bantam, 25th January 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in.

But this isn't just the hunt for another story. Ehat have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this?

Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a funeral who has been sent to make the paper's editor atone for his sins.

All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity Who's Who that'd put a royal wedding to shame, and you're looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times.

Review:
There are more than enough clues here that it doesn't really matter if you've read the previous three books in the series or not. I really wanted to love Relight my Fire, and the synopsis made me think I would, but I found it quite hard to follow at times. It jumped around a bit and seemed to lose focus, so I lost interest at times.
Stella is an interesting character, who I warmed to more than Vincent. Whilst some of the plot points seem a tad convoluted, the humour between The Stranger Times team, the sisterly bond between Hannah and Stella and the sharp wit are high points.

*I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my unbiased review.

#BookReview #RelightMyFire #CKMcDonnell #Bookstagram #BantamBooks

Interesting and excellent, as always. The stranger times series is like no other and this story was no exception. I’m biased because I live and work in Manchester but the setting, quirky characters and outlandish plot all combine to make a very good page turner. I would recommend this any other title in the series.

Another brilliant book in the series! I have read the previous books, but the good thing about the series is that even if you haven’t, you can still follow along quite easily without the need to read the ones that came before. If you haven’t read them, I’d highly recommend those too. The story is clever and funny and it all comes together in the end and all the breadcrumbs you’ve been given fall into place. Definitely looking forward to the next instalment, thank you #netgalley

This is a brilliant story and a great carry on for the stranger times saga. I love these books and the characters if you love the rivers of London series you will love this. The only negative I have it's that it's too funny and I found I couldn't read it whilst looking after my three month old as me laughing would wake him up ! Can't wait for the next in the series

Another fantastic instalment of the Stranger Times series! McDonnell never fails to disappoint, a fantastic series by a fantastic author, definitely one of my favourites.