Devil’s Kitchen by Candice Fox

Publisher's Synopsis

When a city’s heroes become its boldest criminals . . .

For years the firefighters of New York’s Engine 99 have rushed fearlessly into hot zones, saving countless lives and stopping devastating blazes in their tracks.

They’ve also stolen millions from banks, jewellery stores and art galleries. With their inside knowledge and specialist equipment, they’ve become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast.

Their newest member, Andrea ‘Andy’ Nearland, is not what she seems either. She’s an undercover operative, hunting the men of Engine 99 for a host of crimes – including the murder of an off-duty cop and the disappearance of a mother and child.

As the clock counts down to the gang’s most daring heist yet, loyalties begin to fray and mistrust boils over. Andy’s career is all smoke and mirrors, but infiltrating this crew of ‘heroes’ might prove to be her most dangerous job of all . . .

My Review of Devil’s Kitchen by Candice Fox

Candice Fox has presented an extremely interesting variation on the way thrillers are set up to create one of the more interesting that I’ve read in recent times. She has turned the tables on the regard given to first responders, in this case firefighters, and set them up as the criminals in our society. Into the melee is thrown Andy Nearland, a highly adept undercover operative who inserts herself into the midst of a crew with danger everywhere as they’ll do anything to protect the scam that’s so far earned them millions.

A squad of NYC firefighters have come up with a scheme of manufacturing incidents in buildings as a way of scoping out and preparing for a heist, hitting businesses such as jewellers and the like. The team has developed a high-tech approach to their robbery technique and have been careful enough to have never come under suspicion.

One of the dirty firefighters is Ben and his partner and her son have gone missing and he suspects the other members of his team are responsible. He leaves a note on a police detective’s car explaining who he is and what he and his team have done in the hope that the investigation will find his family.

Enter Andy Nearland, a freelance investigator who works deep undercover on cases to expose crooks. She has been given a pair of responsibilities: find out what happened to Ben’s girlfriend and her son and get evidence about the activities of the crooked fire crew. It’s astounding the lengths she goes to when immersing herself in her character and it was this side of the story where things become extremely interesting.

The focus of the story sits firmly on Ben and Andy, chapters alternating from each of their viewpoints, working on the stresses and strains of two people operating under the pretence of a lie. Andy’s gathering information about the 4 men and Ben continues to carry on as if nothing has changed. All the while the possibility of discovery sits close to the surface with severe repercussions an inevitability should they’re true motives be discovered.

As the lines begin to blur between what’s real and what’s make believe between Ben and Andy the tension builds to almost unbearable levels. Candice Fox does a wonderful job of throwing in ever more difficult situations for the two main characters to deal with. This tension is justified because, right on the opening page, we witness Andy being accused of being a police informant by Matt, the crew leader. So we know they’re headed for an inevitable showdown as they prepare for the ultimate heist pay-off.

As mentioned, a particularly fascinating area of the story is the undercover work performed by Andy. We get her background to explain how she reached the point she’s now at in her career - and it’s fascinating in itself. But the craft she uses to fabricate her undercover story to ensure she remains under the radar no matter how much digging the bad guys may do is genius itself. Surely there’s certainly more mileage to be made from this type of character.

Once again Candice Fox has constructed a high octane thriller that threatens to turn incendiary at any moment. Even with a full team of firefighters on hand through every moment, it’s almost impossible to work out how things are going to turn out.