The Spark by John Kenny

“Excuse me. I see you like to read adventure stories. I am an author!”

This is how the conversation started in the long security lineup in the Ottawa airport. I was standing there reading a Lee Child novel as the line inched forward.

This is how our conversation began.

Kenny explained to me that he was a firefighter in Toronto and had also written his first book called The Spark. After telling him that I had done some book blogging for Penguin and Nimbus publishing, he offered to mail me a copy of his book to check out for myself.

The Spark is an adventure-mystery story about a Toronto firefighter named Donny Robertson. He had been fighting a fire where his captain had been killed. Although it was ruled accidental, Robertson doesn’t believe it was. There is more to it than meets the eye. Robertson decides to take it upon himself to figure out the mystery and find out what really happened in that fire. However, the closer he gets to the truth, the more his life becomes endangered!

I found The Spark riveting. It held my attention all the way through, and I kept wanting to read what would happen next. The action was fast-paced, and the dialogue and descriptions to the point.

Throughout the book there is a detailed mention of a few fires that Robertson and his crew fight. From the description it is obvious that the author knows what he is talking about, but not so much that those not in that field can’t understand. There was a great mix of technical language and easy descriptions.

When I am enjoying reading a book, I always hold out till the end in hopes that there will be a satisfactory ending and not ruin my reading experience. This book had a satisfactory ending and everything wrapped up logically, although maybe not what you expect! I shall say no more!

For a first time novel, The Spark is a fantastic read! I highly recommend picking up a copy of it to read this summer! I look forward to reading what else Kenny writes in the future!

Again, I asked my mom to read the book. Here’s what she said: I enjoyed this story about fire fighting. I haven’t read a lot in this are so I found it enLIGHTening.

The protagonist Donny Robertson was spared while his captain was killed while fighting a fire together. He doesn’t believe that the fire was accidental and tries to find out what happened. This, of course, starts all sorts of repercussions.

The story flows along quickly and the suspense builds up like a fire before it explodes. There are several side plots which keep the readers interested and it comes to a conclusion that is unexpected but believable. I would like to have seen more character development for some of the other characters involved in the story.

The story is worth a read and I would read another by the same author. Great for a quick read.

It’s times like these that you realize you were supposed to meet a certain person in time!
Happy reading!

Find out more about John Kenny!