Phoenix by A.J. Scudiere

Mystery

Phoenix from the authors web site:

Jason Mondy’s world is unraveling.

He may be the town hero, but his job is in chaos,

his girlfriend has left him and his nightmares keep him from sleeping.

Even just a simple trip home to find some rest leads his adoptive mother to

share a secret she’s kept for over twenty-six years . . .

Jason has a brother he doesn’t remember existed.

He doesn’t remember his life before he was adopted at age seven.

Now the foundation on which he built his world is crumbling.

The life he doesn’t remember is lost somewhere and his brother left behind.

Armed with only this stunning new piece of information,

Jason embarks on a quest to find the truths buried deep in his past.

As he searches, one by one the pieces of his life fall like dominoes.

And the more he uncovers, the more everything he thought he knew

about himself and his past begins to turn to ash.

His truth isn’t true at all . . .

There are a lot surprises Phoenix.  For a start there are the characters.  Many or maybe I should say most of them are not what they seem.  I confess the big character surprise near the end was really a surprise to me.  If there was any foreshadowing about who was who I missed it.  Alone with the surprises I also liked the fact that the characters grew and changed as the story progressed.

Phoenix is set in the world of the firefighter and the author really did her homework on fire fighting and the life a firefighter lives.  These is a lot of information about the life style and fire fighting methods mixed in the story.  It adds an interesting element to the book. 

What started out as something that should have been a simple quest for information kept getting more and more complex.  To use an overused phrase “the plot thickened”.  Each new development kept my interest and lead to even more complications.   I was kept guessing throughout the book.

I think A.J. Scudiere has written a winner with Phoenix.

Griffin Inc published Phoenix by A. J. Scudiere in 2012.

I recieved an eARC of Phoenix from Netgalley.