i wasnt prepared to be so heart hooked line and sinker-ed by this book. but i was. and more beside that too. wow. just wow. if you could image me at the end just sat there still, going it all over, thinking it through then do just that. then be prepared to be the same place as i was when you too have read it. wow stunning Wright, just stunning. i dont know where you came from or where you have been but thank you for joining the author world and giving us your beautiful talented words.
this book had a plot. then it had a bigger plot. then it had a plot you never saw coming. oh gosh it was so good.
the characters. oh my! they weren't ok. i wasn't ok. just what was going on here. haha. i sound silly. i know i do. but this book was just too good, too much on my little emotional book heart that didn't think this was what it was going in. but boy am i glad that words people share with us truly can create these stories, these feelings, and these thinkers.
the characters in this book is what makes it. they are raw. yes they might be flawed or not be all whiter than white. but ask yourself what others would judge you for. ask yourself what goes on in families that we never know of or what people go through just within their own minds.
this book feel into my lap by chance. and im so glad it did. bring on more. many many more.

Into the Fire by G.D. Wright was a gripping and emotionally intense read. The story follows Steve, a seemingly ordinary man whose act of heroism—saving a baby from a burning house—throws him into the national spotlight. But as the past resurfaces, a dark mystery unfolds, linking him to an old, unsolved murder.

What I really appreciated about this book was how it balanced suspense with emotional depth. Steve’s inner turmoil felt real, and the way the story explored the impact of childhood trauma added a powerful layer to the narrative. The pacing was steady, and while there were a few quieter moments, the tension never really let up.

One of the standout aspects for me was how the line between hero and suspect is constantly blurred. It kept me questioning everyone’s motives right up until the end. The twist toward the end hit hard—it was unexpected and heartbreaking in the best way.

If you enjoy crime thrillers with strong character development and psychological insight, I’d definitely recommend this one. It’s the kind of story that stays with you after you turn the last page

First I want to thank Avon Books UK and Netgalley for this e-ARC.

I loved this book! I already want to read this again! Instantly will be put into my reread list and this was amazing!

I’ve heard good things about this authors first book (I do own it and haven’t got it yet). So when I saw this on netgalley I knew I had to request it!

I really thought I saw where this book was going but I was so wrong. I have no words, what a ride this book was and now I am officially a fan!

The storytelling, the plot just everything about this was perfect.

1000000% would recommend this book!

Into the Fire has a great concept - does carrying out a heroic act absolve you for your past crimes?

Steve runs into a burning building to save a child, and is subsequently hailed as a local hero. But a chance DNA test means that Steve's past comes back to haunt him, as his role in a historic major crime is uncovered. What will Steve's family and friends think, is he still a hero?

Into the Fire is a really interesting read, with lots of moral questions for the reader as we follow Steve's train of thought through the investigation process.

Into The Fire is the second book I’ve read by this author. The first being After The Storm which I loved.
Steve and his wife Sarah have two young children together. On a rare night out with best friends they find themselves walking home, drunk and finding a house ablaze. Steve runs in without a second thought and manages to save a baby. He is a local hero but for someone that stays out of the limelight this is in someways hell for Steve. Steve doesn’t do the past or social media but now he’s a hero he’s firmly in the spotlight and his whole world crumbles around him as the secret he’s been keeping has been found out, he must speak the truth but what will become of his family?
This was a good read, the first half was very fast with a lot happening, the second half was slower and maybe could have been a little sharper. The characters were likeable (until the end!!!). The plot line was different and interesting. The ending was like nothing I’ve read before. I thought the first book I read was very harrowing in parts and this one was a lot lighter but nooooo it’s not at all by the end.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

HE RUNS INTO THE FLAMES A HERO.
HE EMERGES FROM THE ASHES A SUSPECT.
BUT WHICH ONE IS HE REALLY?

Without a shadow of a doubt this is hands down one of my TOP reads of the year so far! What a rollercoaster ride of a book!

There are so many things that I loved about this one. It had BEAUTIFUL writing, it was TENSE, it had ACTION, it was GRIPPING, and it was EMOTIONAL!

The story is told from a multi-POV and at no point did I find it hard to follow. I thought the story flowed really well, and although it took me just under a week to read, I couldn’t put it down!

Another part of the book I loved were the interview scenes about Steve’s past. It was heartbreaking reading about what happened, and actually brought a few tears to my eyes 😭💔 It takes a lot for a book to move me, but this one did just that🥺

There was a twist towards the end that I didn’t see coming either, it left me shocked! 😳 On the last few pages of the book, you’re expecting something to happen…but then it’s something else. Itmade the ending really heartfelt and beautiful 🥰

A huge thank you to @avonbooksuk for the ebook ARC, Into The Fire is out 5th June and you can pre-order now!

Steve is a national hero. After rushing into a burning house and saving the life of a baby everyone wants to congratulate him. However, he couldn’t save the parents and feels distraught and certainly not a hero. He becomes extremely subdued and angry at the press intrusion. His loving wife, Sarah and friends Phil and Emma try to convince him he did an amazing thing. The police too were extremely complimentary. He is adamant he doesn’t want the attention. Is there something he is hiding? As the story progresses, it appears Steve has every reason to remain anonymous and as events spiral out of his control he knows he must finally face the demons that have plagued his life. A fast paced story told from different perspectives that has several twists and a dramatic conclusion that will have far reaching consequences for all concerned. An excellent story that delves into how the early lives of people can continue to affect them despite having apparent perfect lives. A time bomb hovering near the surface just waiting for the right moment to explode.

Steve is a normal guy - wife, kids, job - however there's an indication that bad things have happened to him in the past with his recurring nightmares.
One evening when walking home from the pub with his wife and friends, they spot a house on fire. Steve rushes into the flames and rescues baby Jack.
From this heroic act, Steve's past is slowly uncovered and his life gradually spirals into disaster.
I love a good twist in a thriller. Into the Fire has a great twist quite early on, then continues to twist and turn throughout.
This is a brilliant read.

Oh … my …word! This story is about a normal man who is a good husband and a wonderful father, and I was rooting for him right from the start. I could feel all his emotions and fears and could not turn the pages fast enough. There is so much tension and suspense in this book that it is difficult to put down. The twist at the end was breathtaking and brilliant. The only thing that I didn’t like, again, was the (very) overuse of tag lines and use of names where ‘he’ or ‘she’ should have been used. How many times do we have to hear ‘DS Willmott replied/said/asked/nodded/’? In many cases the tag line could have been left out, or at least changed to ‘she’ instead of her full title. In my review of After the Storm I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because of this, but here I’m upgrading my 4.5 to 5 because this was such a fabulous and well written book. Please, D G Wright, check how many times you could have changed ‘DS Willmott’ to ‘she’! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this amazing early copy.

I was having a drink with a friend whilst soaking in a hot tub the other day - as you do - and the conversation turned to holiday destinations. My friend loves to spend time in France, savouring the food, the wine, the scenery and the culture. She'll be travelling to Provence later this year and is already beaming in anticipation.

I could easily understand her thinking, and to some extent even agreed with it. But for me, there was one fundamental problem. I wasn't sure I could love a country that has the city of Paris in it.

Anyone who has ever spent any time in Paris should understand what I'm talking about. And if you haven't, I hope you're never unfortunate enough to need to. But anyone who tells you that it's romantic is either winding you up or has their head firmly stuck in the clouds. It's no such thing. It's a dirty, polluted and congested hellhole where, if you can survive crossing the road without getting run over by a suicidal maniac on a motorbike, there'll be someone else on a street corner trying to steal, or con you out of all your money. If France were a supermodel, I reasoned, Paris would be a big festering boil of pus on its backside.

It was at precisely this moment that I realised my argument had crumbled to dust. Because, of course, it's wrong to define a whole country by a single city, or other feature. France is lovely despite having Paris in it, in the same way that my friend is lovely and still would be if she happened to have a boil somewhere unmentionable. And it's this point that brings me to Into The Fire, the second novel by G D Wright. It's a book that has its imperfections, but ultimately it's your loss if you regard these as anything less than inconsequential.

This book is a sequel to the astonishing After The Storm, and it brings back Detective Sergeant Sue Wilmott in the fictional town of Beachbrook. And that's wonderful. But not as wonderful as the storyline we're presented with this time round, which opens with a bang as Steve rushes into a burning house and manages to pull a child from the flames. Only to then be revealed as the man responsible for the murder of another child in Beachbrook. A murder that occurred years earlier, but one which Sue Wilmott still remembers all too well.

As we learn more about Steve's life in the past and present, the reader - aided by some more of this author's wonderful, powerful, tense, emotional and beautiful writing - is torn between admiring and despising him. Admiration for his having managed to put his past behind him to become a loving and inspirational husband and father, and disgust not only for the crime he is suspected of, but for the ongoing grief and heartbreak that those closest to the victim still feel. If you'd asked me how I felt about Steve at any point during the book, I don't think I could have answered. My opinion of him changed from one chapter to another, and didn't really stop changing until ... that ending.

Wow. It's horrific and yet it all made perfect, terrible sense. It was almost unbearable to read, and yet at the same time I loved it for being as powerfully and yet sensitively written as it is.

I did mention that the book has a few small flaws, and that's true. I thought that the foreshadowing in the early chapters was a bit overdone and that overall, the book didn't seem to flow quite as well as After The Storm did. Some of the chapters about Steve's childhood in particular seemed a bit disjointed somehow.

Look at it this way, though. If the book as a whole is France, my few criticisms of it are like - not Paris, they're nowhere near as bad as that. Maybe Calais. On their own, they're valid but overall, they're irrelevant. And that's one of the reasons why I strongly recommend, even implore you to pre-order a copy of this book as soon as you can.

There's another reason, too, though. Its author. At the time of my writing this, Gaz Wright is in hospital where he's battling pneumonia, sepsis and several other infections. He's therefore unable to give his second book the promotion that it so richly deserves.

So please, do him, and yourselves a favour. Buy a copy of his - I'll say it again - astonishing debut, After The Storm and pre-order this one as soon as you can. I can't think of any conceivable reason why you shouldn't be amazed by them both. But even in the event that you aren't, the worst that can happen is that you'll still have done a good deed.

My thanks to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for the digital ARC of this book, which will be published in the UK on 5th June 2025. I will post my review on Goodreads, Amazon and my social media pages.

Wandering home after an evening socialising with his wife and friends Steve Minchin spots a house on fire. Without hesitating he plunges into the burning house and rescues a baby. Thanks to the power of social media he's soon labeled a hero but his life begins to crumble when his past catches up with him.

Author G. D. Wright has written a powerful novel that examines the essence of morality, showing clearly that right and wrong aren't always binary, it's far more of a spectrum. The opening of Into The Fire gives you a hint that Steve has a past, something that upsets him, a long-kept secret.

When Steve runs into the burning building you can feel his rising panic, particularly when he is filled with indecision about which way to turn. He knows the time available is limited, too long spent trying to decide risks his own life as well as anyone in the property. Unable to rescue all of the occupants of the property, Steve is filled with sadness and wracked with guilt. When you consider the way in which Steve feels and the fact that he didn't hesitate before running into the burning building, you know that at his core Steve is a good man. This is amplified when we witness his interactions with his family.

The nature of the society we live in means that Steve's actions were filmed and shared on social media, with the clip quickly going viral. In a world obsessed with celebrities and influencers Steve's unselfish act captures the hearts of the nation and he is labeled a hero. The press quickly picks up on the story and we see the unpleasant side of overnight fame, with Steve's family becoming prisoners in their own home as they are besieged, something Steve didn't want.

A brewing storm echoes the turmoil Steve is facing. It is impossible not to empathise as he grapples with feelings of guilt, uncertainty, humility and the terror that his past will become known. When his past does come to light the hero worship quickly turns into a braying mob, I could almost visualise the pitchforks and torches. Emotions are heightened as Steve struggles to explain to his wife, however, he can't find the words to express himself, to describe traumatic events he's built a wall around.

I was convinced I knew exactly where the conclusion was heading, but author G. D. Wright had me completely stunned by the twists that I didn't see coming. I was left reflecting on the nature of good and evil, how they aren't absolutes, and wondering if an act of goodness can atone for something an individual has done in the past.

Steve runs into the flames as a hero, and emerges as a suspect…. But which one is he really?

This was a slow burn, mysterious thriller that really ramped up the pace at the 60% mark.

The story is told from multiple pov, which I enjoyed, as it gave more depth to the story and explored events from different perspectives.

The way the story slowly unfolded built suspense, and I was not expecting that ending! There are a few flashbacks to the past, past, and it was interesting to slowly unravel these flashbacks to see the part they played with the past and the present.

This is a great story, one that is highly recommend picking up! Thank you so much to Avon books and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. Opinions expressed here are my own.

Steve is a family man with a loving wife and two young children aged 7 and 4. They live in Beachbrook, a seaside town on the South Coast where Steve owns and runs a coffee shop. An ordinary man who becomes a national hero after saving a baby from a terrible fire. However, within days he is arrested on suspicion of a 20 year old murder! Told from multiple perspectives but mainly those of Steve and DS Sue Willmott, the officer investigating the house fire, this is a compelling read.

Briefly, as we learn more about Steve, we also see the traumatic effect of both events on the lives of Steve and his family, as well as the arresting DS and Kevin, the father of the murdered girl, Charlotte. Events move forward in the most terrible way for all concerned as each of their lives is turned upside down. But then, just as Steve comes to an incredibly brave decision, matters take the most horrific turn imaginable.

The author has created two brilliant characters here in Steve, a flawed individual but who was the first to help when needed, and Sue, a kind and supportive officer you feel you could rely on to do the right thing. This is a story about a father’s love for his family and how he will do anything to keep that family safe. A really well drawn dark thriller from the start to the completely shocking end, I found it emotional and both heartbreaking and heartwarming. An easy 5⭐️ read.

Into the Fire started well with a brilliant description of a fire and the rescue of baby Jack by Steve the main character. Unfortunately for me from there it was spoilt for me by several issues of poor editing. I will not go into this any further in my review but one error could have a profound effect on the storyline. I continued to read the book which I thought got bogged down in the middle but saved itself with the ending which was totally unexpected hence 3*
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Into the Fire is set in a seaside town and the story revolves around Steve, his wife Sarah, and their two children. On a night out they witness a fire and Steve rushes in. He becomes a local hero. The story is very character driven. It's fast-paced (but slows in the middle) and has plenty of twists. Will Steve's past catch up to him? You'll have to read it to find out, and you won't be disappointed. This book is hard to put down once you start reading.

Steve is on a night out with friends when they come across a house fire and he runs in to help and saves a small baby but unfortunately the parents die, Steve feels guilty he did not get the parents out but the whole community calls him a hero until he has to give a DNA sample which alerts the police of a cold case of a murder and now the town turns on him.
Steve has decided to tell the truth of what happened when he was a teenager, which takes the story to his past.
A great emotional story.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

Steve lives a quiet life. He is not on social media, and he never talks about his past. But that all changed when he runs into a burning building and rescues a baby boy. Sadly, he couldn’t get to his parents in time. Which is always on his mind.
Steve is held a hero in the eyes of people and the media. But when the Police check his DNA, Secrets that has laid buried since his childhood come to life. Even from his wife that has always stayed by his side. When he was teenager, he killed a girl called Charlotte and circumstances got it off from being sent down. But Charlotte’s father Kevin has never forgotten his daughter and the person who killed her. And now its out in the open he wants revenge.
Wow I was blown away from the author’s debut novel After the storm and I thought his writing couldn’t get any better. But G. D. Wright has done it again with his second novel ‘Into the fire’.
This author is a great storyteller and knows how to stir one’s emotions. This is a story is about right a wrong. Can someone do something to redeem themselves of something that they wrong years previously. That is the moral question. This is such an emotional and thought provoking read and boy I didn’t see that ending coming. This is a fantastic read. 5 stars from me,

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and author for an early read of this gripping crime drama. I'd read and enjoyed G.D. Wright's first novel (After the Storm) and he's once again given us an emotional rollercoaster of a book. Good characters, a cracking plot with twists to keep you hooked and an ending that shocks..what more can you ask for? I'm more than happy to recommend.

This is an action-packed thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

A fantastic plot with amazing pace.

Having read "After the Storm" last year I was intrigued to see if G. D. Wright could top that story.
To start with I wasn't sure as it was a slow starter but boy did it make up for it. I did not see the ending coming AT ALL.
Another really great read which would be a perfect holiday or rainy day story.
Looking forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.