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Into the Flames
There are those we'd run back into the flames to save.
Jamie spends his days counseling patients who suffer from anxiety disorders. To his patients, he is Dr. Jamie Scarborough—a brilliant psychiatrist. Yet secretly, Jamie is losing his own battle against an acute panic disorder. Ever since Basil—his lover of five years—left him, Jamie has been in misery. Still hopelessly in love, he's faced with a heal or lose Basil for good.
After a particularly revealing session with Dance Young—Jamie's most challenging patient—Dance disappears without a trace. For the last two years, Jamie has been trying to crack the compulsive liar's hard candy surface, but to no avail. When Dance's identical twin, a trans woman who calls herself September, comes out of seclusion to ask for his help, Jamie can finally shed light on the Young twins' tragic past. But as he and September begin to collect the pieces of their dismantled lives, a few streets away, captive of a mentally unstable firefighter, Dance is fighting for his own life. And to find Dance, Jamie will have to confront all of his monsters...
Including those he unknowingly helped create.
Jamie spends his days counseling patients who suffer from anxiety disorders. To his patients, he is Dr. Jamie Scarborough—a brilliant psychiatrist. Yet secretly, Jamie is losing his own battle against an acute panic disorder. Ever since Basil—his lover of five years—left him, Jamie has been in misery. Still hopelessly in love, he's faced with a heal or lose Basil for good.
After a particularly revealing session with Dance Young—Jamie's most challenging patient—Dance disappears without a trace. For the last two years, Jamie has been trying to crack the compulsive liar's hard candy surface, but to no avail. When Dance's identical twin, a trans woman who calls herself September, comes out of seclusion to ask for his help, Jamie can finally shed light on the Young twins' tragic past. But as he and September begin to collect the pieces of their dismantled lives, a few streets away, captive of a mentally unstable firefighter, Dance is fighting for his own life. And to find Dance, Jamie will have to confront all of his monsters...
Including those he unknowingly helped create.
264 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
81 people want to read
About the author
Mel Bossa
31 books218 followersI think I've written and changed my bio on here a hundred times in the last decade. See, that's why I don't have tattoos!
I've been a GR for over ten years and I still use it daily to keep up with my reading and to learn about books, old and new ones, but more importantly, because as I grow older and hopefully wiser, I realize that readers are my favorite type of people. They seem to be a little more empathetic and open-minded, and generally more cultivated.
If you look at my shelves, you'll see that I used to read about 70 books a year but in the last years, I've grown more selective and take my time with my lovers, ahem, books.
Yes, I am also a LGBTQ writer and Francophone Montrealer.
I cherish my readers, and want to take this space here to thank you all personally for reading and reviewing my books. You make reality tolerable like a good class of wine.
May your life be blessed.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 14, 2012
Engrossing but disturbing gay literary fiction in which Bossa skillfully pulled together her seemingly disparate plot threads. I'm still not sure what I think about this book. On one hand, I did sit down and read it straight through. On the other, I'm absolutely sure I'll never reread it and I was reminded why I don't particularly enjoy literary fiction. Your mileage may vary...
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June 1, 2016After reading Puppet Boy, I'm eager to see what else Bold Strokes Books has to offer.
April 6, 2014
This isn’t a story for the week of heart although you keep hoping for a happy end. But it is a long way until the end. The life of several people seems to be shattered: Flynn and Basil broke up their relationship because Flynn suffers from compulsory behaviour and can’t really open up. This also influences his work as a psychologist. At work he has to deal with twins, one of them troubled and suddenly gone, so that his brother, a transgender with anorexia wants Flynn to look for him. And to add even more trouble, there is Neil, an ex-fire-fighter who isn’t able to deal with other people at all. When you put all of these problems together, it seems absolutely impossible that there is any hope for those people but remaining hopeful and seeing that some things can turn out rather well, is the strength of this novel. A tough read, but absolutely worthwhile.
August 21, 2012
interestingly written. a gay fictional story that was well written and a quick read though not particularly my type of book the author was detailed and possessd a skill in writing. Not a book I would read normally nor a book I will intend on reading again but not because of its writing but because it was not of my interests.
June 11, 2013
This was a strange and unexpected story. I am not sure how I came upon it or the author. What I liked about this story is the depth of each character written; the story jumps between about four protagonists. A few things were not believable, September's character being a little too "special" and perfect (but she is still easy to like). One main character turns absolutely evil, and I was not convinced of his descent. I liked his character too much in the beginning. Into the Flames is a semi-dark, somewhat psychological story. There is romantic tension and a romantic story on the sideline. Intimacy is mentioned, but not described, which is a bit of a disappointment. However, the story is unique and well written...so I enjoyed it and stayed up way too late making sure everyone survives to a happy ending (of sorts).
May 4, 2018
3.75👏🏼
December 23, 2015
From AntonySimpson.com:
Into the Flames by Mel Bossa is written in the perspectives of the three main characters: Jamie, Dance and Neil.
Jamie or Dr. Jamie Scarborough to his patients is a psychiatrist. But poor Jamie suffers with his own mental health – he has severe anxiety (which at times lead to panic attacks) with a bit of OCD thrown in. He’s recently split up from bisexual Basil his partner of five years, leaving behind Basil’s sisters twin children Mallory and Marshall.
Dance is an eccentric, loveable and very intelligent compulsive liar. He’s homeless and the only family he has is a twin brother Seth whose desperate to become a woman named September. September however has an eating disorder so can’t get the psychiatric pass to allow the surgery.
Neil is a fire fighter who has been suspended due to putting his colleagues life at risk. Neil is a loner with his only family being an old dog that has to be put down by the vet. Neil’s poor mental health worsens after this trauma, making him unstable, neurotic and a very sinister person later in the book.
Jamie, Dance and Neil all have mental health issues in this story, the root cause of which is childhood trauma. This heavy subject matter made Into the Flames difficult to read at times, but what encouraged me to read on was the genuine care and compassion that I felt for the characters.
The story was slow to get going and initially focused on the characters issues rather than the characters and their development. I’m not sure if this was deliberate from Bossa, wanting the reader to care about the main characters to the point of us wanting to rescue them. Bossa also took her time in building the links and associations between the different characters which also encourages the reader to read on.
Towards the end of the book tension builds and you become hooked. Neil starts to have a neurotic breakdown becoming dangerous and Dance disappears. Will Neil harm anyone? If he does will it be physical or psychological torture or both? Where has Dance gone? Will he be OK?
Bossa uses the twin connection cleverly throughout the book and for more than one of the main characters. The story concludes traumatically but leaving the reader with a sense that everything will be OK in the end. I did feel sorry for Matt (one of the minor characters) who I felt was a loose string that could have been tied up at the end.
Overall the story is well written with the use of the characters perspectives being pleasing; it is obvious that Bossa has a lot passion for writing queer literature.
Into the Flames by Mel Bossa is written in the perspectives of the three main characters: Jamie, Dance and Neil.
Jamie or Dr. Jamie Scarborough to his patients is a psychiatrist. But poor Jamie suffers with his own mental health – he has severe anxiety (which at times lead to panic attacks) with a bit of OCD thrown in. He’s recently split up from bisexual Basil his partner of five years, leaving behind Basil’s sisters twin children Mallory and Marshall.
Dance is an eccentric, loveable and very intelligent compulsive liar. He’s homeless and the only family he has is a twin brother Seth whose desperate to become a woman named September. September however has an eating disorder so can’t get the psychiatric pass to allow the surgery.
Neil is a fire fighter who has been suspended due to putting his colleagues life at risk. Neil is a loner with his only family being an old dog that has to be put down by the vet. Neil’s poor mental health worsens after this trauma, making him unstable, neurotic and a very sinister person later in the book.
Jamie, Dance and Neil all have mental health issues in this story, the root cause of which is childhood trauma. This heavy subject matter made Into the Flames difficult to read at times, but what encouraged me to read on was the genuine care and compassion that I felt for the characters.
The story was slow to get going and initially focused on the characters issues rather than the characters and their development. I’m not sure if this was deliberate from Bossa, wanting the reader to care about the main characters to the point of us wanting to rescue them. Bossa also took her time in building the links and associations between the different characters which also encourages the reader to read on.
Towards the end of the book tension builds and you become hooked. Neil starts to have a neurotic breakdown becoming dangerous and Dance disappears. Will Neil harm anyone? If he does will it be physical or psychological torture or both? Where has Dance gone? Will he be OK?
Bossa uses the twin connection cleverly throughout the book and for more than one of the main characters. The story concludes traumatically but leaving the reader with a sense that everything will be OK in the end. I did feel sorry for Matt (one of the minor characters) who I felt was a loose string that could have been tied up at the end.
Overall the story is well written with the use of the characters perspectives being pleasing; it is obvious that Bossa has a lot passion for writing queer literature.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews