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The Detainee Trilogy #2
Into The Fire
Ageing ‘Big Guy’ Clancy thought escape from the Island would be enough, but with the punishment satellites gone hell has been unleashed.
Having escaped the Island – a wasteland that housed those no longer able to contribute to society – ageing ‘Big Guy’ Clancy thought his fight was over. But they have returned to the mainland to find that it is not the haven they anticipated. With the punishment satellites that kept them on the Island – and the city under control – gone, hell has been unleashed. Clancy is about to discover that his work is far from over.
Having escaped the Island – a wasteland that housed those no longer able to contribute to society – ageing ‘Big Guy’ Clancy thought his fight was over. But they have returned to the mainland to find that it is not the haven they anticipated. With the punishment satellites that kept them on the Island – and the city under control – gone, hell has been unleashed. Clancy is about to discover that his work is far from over.
- GenresDystopiaScience Fiction
368 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2014
4 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Peter Liney
9 books24 followersI've been writing for a long time - twenty-thirty years. From poetry, through sit-coms, to novels. I've had work produced on German, Australian and Brit TV, and on Brit and South African radio. What you might call, the long scenic route to where I am today. And I have to confess that there were many times when I thought I just wasn't going to make it. In fact, I think I'd kind of come to that conclusion. But something has taken a firm grip, is dragging me along, and though it might be bumpy at times, though I might sustain the odd bruise, I think I've paid my dues enough to take this ride...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 16, 2014
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/08/15/b...
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, so the saying goes to describe going from a bad situation to a worse one, and that’s exactly what happens to Clancy “Big Guy” and his friends after they escape from the Island only to find out that the mainland they hoped to return to is not the home they remembered.
Into the Fire is the follow-up to Peter Liney’s The Detainee, an adult dystopian novel that impressed me by setting itself apart with its dark brutality but also a beautiful, compelling message about love and courage. The most exceptional aspect of the first book was Liney’s ability to tell a story which explored the unpleasant effects of a dystopian environment across multiple age groups, detailing the horrors that befall both the young and the old. The main protagonist himself is sixty-three years old. Along with others who are past their prime, he was banished to the Island with society’s other castoffs like the sick, the dying, and unwanted children.
I admit, I had my doubts when I first found out about Into the Fire. My first thought was, Does The Detainee really need a sequel? After all, I was quite satisfied with the way it ended. Obviously, Clancy, Lena, Jimmy and Delilah managed to find the way off the island with the children they befriended and adopted, and it was the classic moment of triumph as we leave them swimming across the channel towards freedom. It’s always nicer to leave things on a high note, and I might have been content with simply imagining bright and pleasant futures for our beloved Big Guy and the gang as they make brand new happy lives for themselves back on the mainland. Into the Fire, of course, erases those hopes.
However, with a sequel also comes an opportunity for something I didn’t think we were going to get after the end of the first book. Clancy’s past has always been shrouded in mystery, and we knew from occasional mentions that it was a checkered one. When he was younger, his huge stature served him well as a mafia crime boss’ thug, a position which required him to commit no small number of unsavory “errands” for the crooked Meltoni. Decades later, upon his return to the radically changed mainland, Clancy must turn to his old life again in order to help his friends survive and also save the woman he loves.
Clancy always was a captivating character and narrator for me, with many more years of experiences under his belt than most protagonists. Going back to some of those years and finding out more about his life working for the mob was one of the highlights of this novel. In my mind he was always like a Clint Eastwood, someone you wouldn’t want to mess with no matter what his age. Despite his desire to turn over a new leaf, his fierce loyalty also makes him capable of showing no mercy to those who would do his loved ones harm. It was interesting to see that young or old, Clancy was and still is a force to be reckoned with.
Into the Fire was thus a worthy follow-up, but The Detainee was a strong debut that was hard to beat. We went from a small island where the dynamics and everyday dangers were well understood to a large city where too much seemed to be happening at once. It was hard to visualize this society and figure out how everything was supposed to work, and it really wasn’t clear to me how scattered pockets of the city such as doctors’ offices, sushi bars, gaming arcades etc. could still be operating like nothing was out of the ordinary while most of the place burned and crumbled, with hordes of sick people wandering the streets, refugees looting stores left and right, and Infinity just gunning down people indiscriminately.
While the setting wasn’t as coherent as it was in The Detainee, that was probably my only stumbling block. I love the story and the characters, and we get lots of development into both in Into the Fire. Peter Liney takes this world he has created and carries its background and history even further, which is something I really wanted to see, and this book sees some major changes in the characters’ lives and I couldn’t even begin to guess where the author will take us next. This is shaping up to be a fascinating series, one I would recommend for fans of dystopian fiction looking for something different.
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, so the saying goes to describe going from a bad situation to a worse one, and that’s exactly what happens to Clancy “Big Guy” and his friends after they escape from the Island only to find out that the mainland they hoped to return to is not the home they remembered.
Into the Fire is the follow-up to Peter Liney’s The Detainee, an adult dystopian novel that impressed me by setting itself apart with its dark brutality but also a beautiful, compelling message about love and courage. The most exceptional aspect of the first book was Liney’s ability to tell a story which explored the unpleasant effects of a dystopian environment across multiple age groups, detailing the horrors that befall both the young and the old. The main protagonist himself is sixty-three years old. Along with others who are past their prime, he was banished to the Island with society’s other castoffs like the sick, the dying, and unwanted children.
I admit, I had my doubts when I first found out about Into the Fire. My first thought was, Does The Detainee really need a sequel? After all, I was quite satisfied with the way it ended. Obviously, Clancy, Lena, Jimmy and Delilah managed to find the way off the island with the children they befriended and adopted, and it was the classic moment of triumph as we leave them swimming across the channel towards freedom. It’s always nicer to leave things on a high note, and I might have been content with simply imagining bright and pleasant futures for our beloved Big Guy and the gang as they make brand new happy lives for themselves back on the mainland. Into the Fire, of course, erases those hopes.
However, with a sequel also comes an opportunity for something I didn’t think we were going to get after the end of the first book. Clancy’s past has always been shrouded in mystery, and we knew from occasional mentions that it was a checkered one. When he was younger, his huge stature served him well as a mafia crime boss’ thug, a position which required him to commit no small number of unsavory “errands” for the crooked Meltoni. Decades later, upon his return to the radically changed mainland, Clancy must turn to his old life again in order to help his friends survive and also save the woman he loves.
Clancy always was a captivating character and narrator for me, with many more years of experiences under his belt than most protagonists. Going back to some of those years and finding out more about his life working for the mob was one of the highlights of this novel. In my mind he was always like a Clint Eastwood, someone you wouldn’t want to mess with no matter what his age. Despite his desire to turn over a new leaf, his fierce loyalty also makes him capable of showing no mercy to those who would do his loved ones harm. It was interesting to see that young or old, Clancy was and still is a force to be reckoned with.
Into the Fire was thus a worthy follow-up, but The Detainee was a strong debut that was hard to beat. We went from a small island where the dynamics and everyday dangers were well understood to a large city where too much seemed to be happening at once. It was hard to visualize this society and figure out how everything was supposed to work, and it really wasn’t clear to me how scattered pockets of the city such as doctors’ offices, sushi bars, gaming arcades etc. could still be operating like nothing was out of the ordinary while most of the place burned and crumbled, with hordes of sick people wandering the streets, refugees looting stores left and right, and Infinity just gunning down people indiscriminately.
While the setting wasn’t as coherent as it was in The Detainee, that was probably my only stumbling block. I love the story and the characters, and we get lots of development into both in Into the Fire. Peter Liney takes this world he has created and carries its background and history even further, which is something I really wanted to see, and this book sees some major changes in the characters’ lives and I couldn’t even begin to guess where the author will take us next. This is shaping up to be a fascinating series, one I would recommend for fans of dystopian fiction looking for something different.
July 7, 2014
The first book in The Detainee series was out of this world - a brutal, brilliant novel which didn't look away from the worst humanity has to offer.
Book number two? Good, but not quite as good. Having made it off the island, big guy Clancy and his ragged bunch of survivors find themselves in a city torn apart by looting, rioting and evil corporate shenanigans. While the characters are as strong as ever - computer genius Jimmy is a particular delight, and Clancy is just amazing - it's the setting that proves problematic.
It's just a little hard to figure out how it all works. Some things - doctors, corporations - keep functioning, even as society disintegrates around them. Without the sheer noxious pleasure of the trash island setting of the first book, Into The Fire lacks a little something.
Still: you'll love it. Liney's one of the best writers working right now, and Into The Fire is a worthy addition to his cannon.
Book number two? Good, but not quite as good. Having made it off the island, big guy Clancy and his ragged bunch of survivors find themselves in a city torn apart by looting, rioting and evil corporate shenanigans. While the characters are as strong as ever - computer genius Jimmy is a particular delight, and Clancy is just amazing - it's the setting that proves problematic.
It's just a little hard to figure out how it all works. Some things - doctors, corporations - keep functioning, even as society disintegrates around them. Without the sheer noxious pleasure of the trash island setting of the first book, Into The Fire lacks a little something.
Still: you'll love it. Liney's one of the best writers working right now, and Into The Fire is a worthy addition to his cannon.
August 18, 2014
originally posted at: http://thebookplank.blogspot.com/2014...
Last year Jo Fletcher published the debut of Peter Liney, The Detainee, a futuristic dystopian story. In his debut Peter Liney created a new concept where the sick, elderly and unwanted children were sent to an Island, on this Island there were no police officers, only hovering sattelites that kept the population at bay... until a mist would cover the Island and the sattelites couldn't see any longer. This allowed for a brief period of time where in chaos would run free with horrible results when the fog clears. Peter Liney wrote a solid story and create a hauntingly vision in The Detainee. He did leave his story open on a cliffhanger in The Detainee, where Clancy and his friends managed to break free from the Island.
I did have one reservation when I picked up Into the Fire, having escaped the Island I was wondering just how Peter Liney would take his story further. Being contained on the Island gave a very clear picture as what the setting was and especially with all that went about added a certain level of danger. Well just a heads up, the mainland isn't a pretty place to be either... and soon Clancy and his friends would have wished to stay on that Island just a little longer... It is just as or even more dangerous than the Island.
In the end of The Detainee Clancy and the other on the Island managed to escape to the mainland. The story of Into the Fire picks up directly after the events of The Detainee. Clancy, Jimmy and Lena have managed to wash up a shore and the first moment they have when arriving on the mainland is a sense of joy and happiness finally being able to say goodbye to the horrid Island, but soon this sense of joy is over as they are present with the bleak reality, the Mainland is just as a hell on Earth as the Island was. However it wasn't so in the first place. Jimmy shut down all the satellites that controlled the human population and what he and Clancy hadn't thought about was that the satellites would also keep general population on the Mainland in check. Thus, they find themselves in a completely destroyed environment. The population ran rampaged looted every store and caused destruction of everything that could be destroyed. Clancy and his friends soon find out that there is one organization that is running the show (no pun intended) on the Mainland, a Media Cooperation that took over the reigns and has turned the Mainland in just a fearful place to live as the island. Soon Clancy and his company make it to a safe place but there is one problem money... Clancy doesn't have any spare change on him. He has to make money fast, Clancy hasn't always been the best guy and still has his addresses here and there for a job, he readily accepts one that will give him some pocket money. But when he gets to the location he is introduced to an old acquaintance. His half brother Ray. This wasn't something that Clancy had thought would happen, but Clancy will sacrifice everything in order to help his loved ones and most of all to help Lena recover her sight. If you thought that wasn't enough soon after their landing on the Mainland and trying to start over and pick up their old lives Clancy has run-ins with Infinity agents on more than one occasion (those dragonflies are nasty). And yes there is still more, Lena, the new found love of Clancy's live, gets taken/abuducted. Now Clancy does everything to get her back, now one will stand in his way. And if you know Clancy character, you don't want to be in his way when he gets angry, he might be of age but don't underestimate him...
With the story of Into the Fire Peter Liney has again created a grippingly and hauntingly story, though some elements of fear were better embodied in The Detainee. For me, I think it was mainly owed to the directness of the first story where everything took place in a more or less confined area and you knew who was at play with the Wastelords etc. Into the Fire shows everything on a much bigger scope and for me was therefore a bit harder to connect with. But as I mentioned Peter Liney does create this possible near future vision that is just terrifying.
As for the characters of Into the Fire most of them are recurrent ones that you met in The Detainee. "Big Guy" Clancy still leads the group, he is a natural born leader and though he has led a past of crime and other bad things, it seems that now he wants everything just to be ok and lead a normal life for as far as that is possible. He is redeeming himself, making sure he is the better man, but in doing or I should say trying to do, he does involve others which he hadn't planned. Clancy is just as strong and resilient as when you met him in the first book but now the stakes do become higher with what Lena has with her... and this adds another level of "don't mess with my friends" to Clancy's character. Jimmy is also one from the first book, he is the techy nerdy guy, give him a computer, doesn't need to work though (he will fix) and he will be able to do some cool stuff with it. Jimmy is also one of the younger ones and his tone adds some more lighter moments to the narration of the book, compared to the normally present dark current. Lena doesn't feature that strongly in the book as a person of speech, but is tightly involved in the plot of the book, which I won't spoil here. The newly introduced characters where that of Ray and Nora Jagger, more to be seen in the light of the bad guys of the book, I liked the highlighting of these characters and in particular that Ray was the half brother of Clancy and that they weren't on the best of terms. Nora Jagger is an Infinity agent and a deadly one at that. You can clearly see that there is more emphasis on the characters surrounding Clancy but the other supporting cast be it the folk that Clancy and his company encounter along the way or the bad guys of Infinity, they are all developed nicely with their own personalities to make them fit in the story.
Dystopian fiction comes in many sizes, from taking place in the far future, in space or in our near future. In the world that Peter Liney envisions in The Detainee and Into the Fire, there isn't a mentioning of the day and age of where it takes place. However judging by the surrounding and technology that is used, it cannot be far off from our own time. This is just what get me all freaked out by such a story. Whenever I encounter a dystopian story I wonder how far we are off from it, the nearer the better for me. All the details that Peter Liney involves in his world building; the nefarious big brother organization, the locking away of people, the satellites that keep persons in check are all things that could possibly happen to us. Somehow now that I am typing up this review I am going through all the things in the book and upon reflection the destroyed town on the Mainland and the rioting and looting population AND lets not forget Infinity does add heaps of extra flavor to the dystopian setting of Into the Fire.
What works well with trying to embody the dystopian effect is the first person narration of Clancy, it's by his eyes that you see everything start to unfold in the book, his experiences. And when bad things happen to him and his friends, it's by these emotions that the dystopian theme gets another level completely. Added to this comes the excellent writing style of Peter Liney, he will readily draw you into his story and show you no remorse when he plays on your own emotions.
Into the Fire is a solid continuation of The Detainee. Peter Liney doesn't let his story falter at any given moment, instead he keeps his story unpredictable until the end. By taking the scene from the Island to the Mainland, Peter Liney has enough new material to use for a continuation but keeping the attention on his established character cast. Our hero and saviour of the people of the Island, "Big Guy" Clancy had thought that all his problems would be over once they reached the Mainland, but his thoughts are wrong. They just set foot in an even more dangerous place. Once again Peter Liney has written a great dystopian story that on more than one occasion will give you goosebumps, he involves society on a much larger scale in Into the Fire. As I said with The Detainee, it's captivated me and this is exactly what Peter Liney does again, his writing causes you to be right there next to Clancy in the story and it is impossible to not relate to all the hardship he has to go through. Peter Liney showed more of his world in Into the Fire and several events that happened did reveal a possible direction for the conclusion of The Detainee Trilogy. I am looking forward to see what will happen to Clancy, will he finally be free? Or is it impossible to fight the system?
Last year Jo Fletcher published the debut of Peter Liney, The Detainee, a futuristic dystopian story. In his debut Peter Liney created a new concept where the sick, elderly and unwanted children were sent to an Island, on this Island there were no police officers, only hovering sattelites that kept the population at bay... until a mist would cover the Island and the sattelites couldn't see any longer. This allowed for a brief period of time where in chaos would run free with horrible results when the fog clears. Peter Liney wrote a solid story and create a hauntingly vision in The Detainee. He did leave his story open on a cliffhanger in The Detainee, where Clancy and his friends managed to break free from the Island.
I did have one reservation when I picked up Into the Fire, having escaped the Island I was wondering just how Peter Liney would take his story further. Being contained on the Island gave a very clear picture as what the setting was and especially with all that went about added a certain level of danger. Well just a heads up, the mainland isn't a pretty place to be either... and soon Clancy and his friends would have wished to stay on that Island just a little longer... It is just as or even more dangerous than the Island.
In the end of The Detainee Clancy and the other on the Island managed to escape to the mainland. The story of Into the Fire picks up directly after the events of The Detainee. Clancy, Jimmy and Lena have managed to wash up a shore and the first moment they have when arriving on the mainland is a sense of joy and happiness finally being able to say goodbye to the horrid Island, but soon this sense of joy is over as they are present with the bleak reality, the Mainland is just as a hell on Earth as the Island was. However it wasn't so in the first place. Jimmy shut down all the satellites that controlled the human population and what he and Clancy hadn't thought about was that the satellites would also keep general population on the Mainland in check. Thus, they find themselves in a completely destroyed environment. The population ran rampaged looted every store and caused destruction of everything that could be destroyed. Clancy and his friends soon find out that there is one organization that is running the show (no pun intended) on the Mainland, a Media Cooperation that took over the reigns and has turned the Mainland in just a fearful place to live as the island. Soon Clancy and his company make it to a safe place but there is one problem money... Clancy doesn't have any spare change on him. He has to make money fast, Clancy hasn't always been the best guy and still has his addresses here and there for a job, he readily accepts one that will give him some pocket money. But when he gets to the location he is introduced to an old acquaintance. His half brother Ray. This wasn't something that Clancy had thought would happen, but Clancy will sacrifice everything in order to help his loved ones and most of all to help Lena recover her sight. If you thought that wasn't enough soon after their landing on the Mainland and trying to start over and pick up their old lives Clancy has run-ins with Infinity agents on more than one occasion (those dragonflies are nasty). And yes there is still more, Lena, the new found love of Clancy's live, gets taken/abuducted. Now Clancy does everything to get her back, now one will stand in his way. And if you know Clancy character, you don't want to be in his way when he gets angry, he might be of age but don't underestimate him...
With the story of Into the Fire Peter Liney has again created a grippingly and hauntingly story, though some elements of fear were better embodied in The Detainee. For me, I think it was mainly owed to the directness of the first story where everything took place in a more or less confined area and you knew who was at play with the Wastelords etc. Into the Fire shows everything on a much bigger scope and for me was therefore a bit harder to connect with. But as I mentioned Peter Liney does create this possible near future vision that is just terrifying.
As for the characters of Into the Fire most of them are recurrent ones that you met in The Detainee. "Big Guy" Clancy still leads the group, he is a natural born leader and though he has led a past of crime and other bad things, it seems that now he wants everything just to be ok and lead a normal life for as far as that is possible. He is redeeming himself, making sure he is the better man, but in doing or I should say trying to do, he does involve others which he hadn't planned. Clancy is just as strong and resilient as when you met him in the first book but now the stakes do become higher with what Lena has with her... and this adds another level of "don't mess with my friends" to Clancy's character. Jimmy is also one from the first book, he is the techy nerdy guy, give him a computer, doesn't need to work though (he will fix) and he will be able to do some cool stuff with it. Jimmy is also one of the younger ones and his tone adds some more lighter moments to the narration of the book, compared to the normally present dark current. Lena doesn't feature that strongly in the book as a person of speech, but is tightly involved in the plot of the book, which I won't spoil here. The newly introduced characters where that of Ray and Nora Jagger, more to be seen in the light of the bad guys of the book, I liked the highlighting of these characters and in particular that Ray was the half brother of Clancy and that they weren't on the best of terms. Nora Jagger is an Infinity agent and a deadly one at that. You can clearly see that there is more emphasis on the characters surrounding Clancy but the other supporting cast be it the folk that Clancy and his company encounter along the way or the bad guys of Infinity, they are all developed nicely with their own personalities to make them fit in the story.
Dystopian fiction comes in many sizes, from taking place in the far future, in space or in our near future. In the world that Peter Liney envisions in The Detainee and Into the Fire, there isn't a mentioning of the day and age of where it takes place. However judging by the surrounding and technology that is used, it cannot be far off from our own time. This is just what get me all freaked out by such a story. Whenever I encounter a dystopian story I wonder how far we are off from it, the nearer the better for me. All the details that Peter Liney involves in his world building; the nefarious big brother organization, the locking away of people, the satellites that keep persons in check are all things that could possibly happen to us. Somehow now that I am typing up this review I am going through all the things in the book and upon reflection the destroyed town on the Mainland and the rioting and looting population AND lets not forget Infinity does add heaps of extra flavor to the dystopian setting of Into the Fire.
What works well with trying to embody the dystopian effect is the first person narration of Clancy, it's by his eyes that you see everything start to unfold in the book, his experiences. And when bad things happen to him and his friends, it's by these emotions that the dystopian theme gets another level completely. Added to this comes the excellent writing style of Peter Liney, he will readily draw you into his story and show you no remorse when he plays on your own emotions.
Into the Fire is a solid continuation of The Detainee. Peter Liney doesn't let his story falter at any given moment, instead he keeps his story unpredictable until the end. By taking the scene from the Island to the Mainland, Peter Liney has enough new material to use for a continuation but keeping the attention on his established character cast. Our hero and saviour of the people of the Island, "Big Guy" Clancy had thought that all his problems would be over once they reached the Mainland, but his thoughts are wrong. They just set foot in an even more dangerous place. Once again Peter Liney has written a great dystopian story that on more than one occasion will give you goosebumps, he involves society on a much larger scale in Into the Fire. As I said with The Detainee, it's captivated me and this is exactly what Peter Liney does again, his writing causes you to be right there next to Clancy in the story and it is impossible to not relate to all the hardship he has to go through. Peter Liney showed more of his world in Into the Fire and several events that happened did reveal a possible direction for the conclusion of The Detainee Trilogy. I am looking forward to see what will happen to Clancy, will he finally be free? Or is it impossible to fight the system?
August 18, 2024
After the brilliant first book in this trilogy, I had high hopes for book two. It makes me sad to report that it is nowhere near as good as the first book.
The ending of book one was satisfactory and I already had books two and three to read, and they seemed like the cherry on top of the sundae. I was excited to learn how Clancy and the other characters would survive back on the mainland. At first, it was gripping. The mainland setting drew me in completely. And then things slowly started to unravel a little. First the characters lost all sense of urgency. And the concept of waiting for days, while in grave danger, to help Lena with her eyesight perplexed me. Yes, it brings in the relationship between Clancy and Lena, and that is a great contrast to the grim dystopian setting. But it cancels out any sense of urgency built up in the first few chapters. From that moment, I figured the characters must not be feeling in grave danger, despite the constant threats flowing through the streets of the city.
And then there are some plot devices that don't add up. Firstly, how does the ruling body learn everything about Jimmy. That is never explained and it really doesn't make sense that it happened at all. Then we have one character who's had an organ removed and, without medical attention, somehow does not develop any issues or infections, despite the setting basically being an urban war-zone. That doesn't make sense. There are other things, but I don't want to list them all on Goodreads.
I still enjoyed the story and the characters. There were still some moments where I held my breath while I waited to read what happened next. But, unlike book one, there were moments in this book that I felt didn't fit and were badly plotted.
Still, I have hopes for the third book. I'm hoping for a happy conclusion to the trilogy, but I also feel the author doesn't shy away from the unhappy, so I have no idea what's going to happen next.
The ending of book one was satisfactory and I already had books two and three to read, and they seemed like the cherry on top of the sundae. I was excited to learn how Clancy and the other characters would survive back on the mainland. At first, it was gripping. The mainland setting drew me in completely. And then things slowly started to unravel a little. First the characters lost all sense of urgency. And the concept of waiting for days, while in grave danger, to help Lena with her eyesight perplexed me. Yes, it brings in the relationship between Clancy and Lena, and that is a great contrast to the grim dystopian setting. But it cancels out any sense of urgency built up in the first few chapters. From that moment, I figured the characters must not be feeling in grave danger, despite the constant threats flowing through the streets of the city.
And then there are some plot devices that don't add up. Firstly, how does the ruling body learn everything about Jimmy. That is never explained and it really doesn't make sense that it happened at all. Then we have one character who's had an organ removed and, without medical attention, somehow does not develop any issues or infections, despite the setting basically being an urban war-zone. That doesn't make sense. There are other things, but I don't want to list them all on Goodreads.
I still enjoyed the story and the characters. There were still some moments where I held my breath while I waited to read what happened next. But, unlike book one, there were moments in this book that I felt didn't fit and were badly plotted.
Still, I have hopes for the third book. I'm hoping for a happy conclusion to the trilogy, but I also feel the author doesn't shy away from the unhappy, so I have no idea what's going to happen next.
November 8, 2014
http://draumrkopablog.wordpress.com/2...
This review may contain spoilers from the first book, The Detainee, so I would advise to only read this review after you’ve read the first book.
At the end of The Detainee, Clancy and his companions managed to escape the island and were making their way to the mainland, full of hope. No time has passed at the beginning of Into The Fire and we see all of the people from the island reaching the shore and experiencing the mainland for the first time again. We all know by now that Clancy, though he doesn’t think so, is a pretty clever dude. He notices right away that something isn’t right and that there’s more going on than meets the eye. Pretty soon it’s clear that they’ve gone out of the frying pan and into the fire (I see what you did there!). With the satellites down, there is no easy policing system on the mainland anymore either. The City has erupted in chaos, there’s looting everywhere, violence around every corner and a palpable fear. It also seems like the Media Giant, Infinity, has taken over control of the city. They come eerily close to Big Brother from 1984. Clancy, Lena, Jimmy, Delilah and the kids have to find a place to hide again if they want to survive. The people working for Infinity have no mercy and are not afraid to kill off everyone that comes along their path.
If you remember my review about The Detainee, though I enjoyed it very, very much, I thought some parts were a bit predictable. With Into The Fire I didn’t have that feeling at all, which made me really happy, because Clancy’s is an interesting story. This sort of dystopian representations of the future always scare me, because I can somehow see it happening one day if everything goes horribly wrong. This time Liney also added some other plausible aspect that may threaten humanity in the future: incurable disease. When I first read the word “Zombie-sick” in the book, I groaned a bit, because I didn’t want any zombies in this story. But they aren’t the living dead, there’s actually an explanation for why some people are like this and it gives us a whole new, interesting storyline.
There are a lot of strong emotions going on here: the tangible hope after they escaped the island, the sinking feeling that they rejoiced too soon and are no better off on the mainland, the fear of the violence and death, the immense sadness when something horrible happens to one of them and the despair and helplessness when Clancy isn’t able to protect those he loves . It’s a powerful rollercoaster that manages to drag you along and makes you feel all of it together with the characters. Next to all of the negative emotions, there are also little sparkles of positive ones, the ones that give hope for the future. Young love, the promise of something they couldn’t have imagined was possible and the strong belief that they will get away from this horrible city and find a better place to live.
I liked this second book in the Detainee Trilogy better than the first book, which is rare. There’s more than enough going on to keep the reader entertained and it’s such an interesting and emotional story that it will appeal to all kinds of genre readers. I’m curious about what the third book will bring and look forward to finding out!
This review may contain spoilers from the first book, The Detainee, so I would advise to only read this review after you’ve read the first book.
At the end of The Detainee, Clancy and his companions managed to escape the island and were making their way to the mainland, full of hope. No time has passed at the beginning of Into The Fire and we see all of the people from the island reaching the shore and experiencing the mainland for the first time again. We all know by now that Clancy, though he doesn’t think so, is a pretty clever dude. He notices right away that something isn’t right and that there’s more going on than meets the eye. Pretty soon it’s clear that they’ve gone out of the frying pan and into the fire (I see what you did there!). With the satellites down, there is no easy policing system on the mainland anymore either. The City has erupted in chaos, there’s looting everywhere, violence around every corner and a palpable fear. It also seems like the Media Giant, Infinity, has taken over control of the city. They come eerily close to Big Brother from 1984. Clancy, Lena, Jimmy, Delilah and the kids have to find a place to hide again if they want to survive. The people working for Infinity have no mercy and are not afraid to kill off everyone that comes along their path.
If you remember my review about The Detainee, though I enjoyed it very, very much, I thought some parts were a bit predictable. With Into The Fire I didn’t have that feeling at all, which made me really happy, because Clancy’s is an interesting story. This sort of dystopian representations of the future always scare me, because I can somehow see it happening one day if everything goes horribly wrong. This time Liney also added some other plausible aspect that may threaten humanity in the future: incurable disease. When I first read the word “Zombie-sick” in the book, I groaned a bit, because I didn’t want any zombies in this story. But they aren’t the living dead, there’s actually an explanation for why some people are like this and it gives us a whole new, interesting storyline.
There are a lot of strong emotions going on here: the tangible hope after they escaped the island, the sinking feeling that they rejoiced too soon and are no better off on the mainland, the fear of the violence and death, the immense sadness when something horrible happens to one of them and the despair and helplessness when Clancy isn’t able to protect those he loves . It’s a powerful rollercoaster that manages to drag you along and makes you feel all of it together with the characters. Next to all of the negative emotions, there are also little sparkles of positive ones, the ones that give hope for the future. Young love, the promise of something they couldn’t have imagined was possible and the strong belief that they will get away from this horrible city and find a better place to live.
I liked this second book in the Detainee Trilogy better than the first book, which is rare. There’s more than enough going on to keep the reader entertained and it’s such an interesting and emotional story that it will appeal to all kinds of genre readers. I’m curious about what the third book will bring and look forward to finding out!
March 21, 2024
I bailed on “Into the Fire” by Peter Liney (2014) yesterday. The book actually started out ok, but Liney made a mistake that I’ve seen other authors do in the past: trying to cram a large number of potentially good ideas into one book without sufficiently expanding on any of them. There was just so many plot twists that should have been climactic that turned out to be speed bumps that I got tired of it.
Liney also awkwardly inserted some rather basic social commentary to the effect that “government good, private enterprise bad”. This is such an infantile take that it is embarrassing to see anyone espouse it, much less someone older than me. He talks about the previous government going away because they ran out of money and then a corporation takes over and ruins everything. First of all, that government (like every government) got what money it had through theft and lost it through fraud (which they write the rules on; how do you screw that up?), which sounds rather “ungood” to me. Secondly, when has a government defaulted on its debt and then just vanished? Third of all, the evil corporation in the book is portrayed as being really, really bad… by behaving like a government: they have men with clubs and guns as well as scary military machinery to enforce tyranny and this is highlighted as the reason why the corporation (whose name I forget and can’t be bothered to look up) is evil. All those things are done every day by every state. Finally, governments are corporations (ever wonder why a really small town without a municipal government is called “unincorporated”?); remember kids, if you don’t like monopolies, government is the worst kind of monopoly that mankind has ever devised.
Unnecessary preaching aside, there were a lot of instances of “wait, if the situation is X, then why is there result Y?” that I got distracted by too; a lot of plot holes that were just weird and inexplicable. I tried to just not dwell on them and move along but that got to be a chore before too long.
The story just really failed to draw me in and wasn’t fun to read. It’s rare that I don’t see a book through to the end, but this one just didn’t earn my attention and I have too many other books I’d rather move on to.
Liney also awkwardly inserted some rather basic social commentary to the effect that “government good, private enterprise bad”. This is such an infantile take that it is embarrassing to see anyone espouse it, much less someone older than me. He talks about the previous government going away because they ran out of money and then a corporation takes over and ruins everything. First of all, that government (like every government) got what money it had through theft and lost it through fraud (which they write the rules on; how do you screw that up?), which sounds rather “ungood” to me. Secondly, when has a government defaulted on its debt and then just vanished? Third of all, the evil corporation in the book is portrayed as being really, really bad… by behaving like a government: they have men with clubs and guns as well as scary military machinery to enforce tyranny and this is highlighted as the reason why the corporation (whose name I forget and can’t be bothered to look up) is evil. All those things are done every day by every state. Finally, governments are corporations (ever wonder why a really small town without a municipal government is called “unincorporated”?); remember kids, if you don’t like monopolies, government is the worst kind of monopoly that mankind has ever devised.
Unnecessary preaching aside, there were a lot of instances of “wait, if the situation is X, then why is there result Y?” that I got distracted by too; a lot of plot holes that were just weird and inexplicable. I tried to just not dwell on them and move along but that got to be a chore before too long.
The story just really failed to draw me in and wasn’t fun to read. It’s rare that I don’t see a book through to the end, but this one just didn’t earn my attention and I have too many other books I’d rather move on to.
April 18, 2018
This book was terrific. I love that the heroes of this story are old and blind, bald and smelly, children and not that smart. This feels more real because of their fragility even though the horror around them is over the top. Clancy is a well rounded character who is developing into a leader and I hope the next story helps him get there. I think that Jimmy needs his own story! He is the most interesting of all the characters and his back story could be a whole new trilogy!
July 31, 2019
If you want a book that has mature characters taking the lead and in a great kick-ass way, this is the book for you. Very refreshing despite a somewhat depressing world. I hadn’t read the first in the series but it didn’t prevent me from enjoying this as the background is given. It has a lot of violence in it and there are some unsettling themes. Recommended to the normal crew.
August 18, 2017
Although I enjoyed the various themes in this novel and predictions for the future, I did not really enjoy the characters. They tended to be flat and the protagonist seemed to always be talking and doubting himself. The tone was also a bit off and left a disconnect feeling to this novel.
May 18, 2018
#2 in the Detainee Trilogy. For any fans of dystopian fiction this is really good read. Picks up where The Detainee left off and does explain a little of what happened in the first book. Had a little bit more Sci Fi than I like but I enjoyed and need to get to #3 soon.
March 3, 2022
I didn't hate this book but I also didn't love it. It got a 2 star from me because there was a lot of babbling and things that seemed irrelevant. overall the plot was good. I just wish it focus more on the plot and not the other stuff that seemed there as a filler.
October 14, 2017
Big Guy!
February 10, 2022
Such a fantastic, gripping follow on to The Detainee. I enjoyed it from start to end.
July 14, 2014
CHARLES DICKENS WOULD APPROVE.
Clancy and the gang are back in the second installment of Peter Liney’s brilliant dystopian trilogy.
They’ve freed themselves from the tyranny of the Warlords and the punishment satellites, escaped Garbage Island and floated across the channel to the Mainland like a small army of beaten-up refugees. No sooner do they reach the “promised land” they realize they’ve gone out the frying pan and Into the Fire (thus the title).
Without the punishment satellites, all hell broke loose: Looters are ransacking the City, “running wild through burning streets populated by the mysterious zombie-sick. Worst of all, the City is under the control of the brutal and sinister Infinity.” Infinity, who used to be a Media Corporation has turned into the Big Brother from Hell.
Clancy, Lena, Jimmy, Delilah and the kids find refuge in a church to catch their breath, regroup before they escape the fires and find their way to the country; Clancy soon realizes that Lena’s blindness is a bigger problem now that they’re out of her familiar surroundings. He will do everything in his power to help Lena recover her sight: Returning to his life of crime, dealing with Ray, his half-brother/nemesis, and running up against Infinity’s head of security, a monster called Nora Jagger, Clancy unwittingly endangers the lives of his new-found family and above all, the love of his life.
The action-packed, nerve-wracking and extremely touching sequel to the Detainee is sure to grip you and make you think that the world Liney’s created is not that far-fetched. Look at today’s headlines and think where we’re heading…. That’s what so scary.
In the opening lines of “Tale of two Cities” Charles Dickens wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
“Into the Fire” is a fine heir to Dickens’ tale. And Liney an amazing story teller. Like the Detainee, INTO THE FIRE is A MUST READ this summer.
Oh, by the way, The Detainee is now out in paperback.
Do yourself a favour: make sure you pick up a copy of both novels and tell all your friends!
Can’t wait for his next book!!
Daniaile
Clancy and the gang are back in the second installment of Peter Liney’s brilliant dystopian trilogy.
They’ve freed themselves from the tyranny of the Warlords and the punishment satellites, escaped Garbage Island and floated across the channel to the Mainland like a small army of beaten-up refugees. No sooner do they reach the “promised land” they realize they’ve gone out the frying pan and Into the Fire (thus the title).
Without the punishment satellites, all hell broke loose: Looters are ransacking the City, “running wild through burning streets populated by the mysterious zombie-sick. Worst of all, the City is under the control of the brutal and sinister Infinity.” Infinity, who used to be a Media Corporation has turned into the Big Brother from Hell.
Clancy, Lena, Jimmy, Delilah and the kids find refuge in a church to catch their breath, regroup before they escape the fires and find their way to the country; Clancy soon realizes that Lena’s blindness is a bigger problem now that they’re out of her familiar surroundings. He will do everything in his power to help Lena recover her sight: Returning to his life of crime, dealing with Ray, his half-brother/nemesis, and running up against Infinity’s head of security, a monster called Nora Jagger, Clancy unwittingly endangers the lives of his new-found family and above all, the love of his life.
The action-packed, nerve-wracking and extremely touching sequel to the Detainee is sure to grip you and make you think that the world Liney’s created is not that far-fetched. Look at today’s headlines and think where we’re heading…. That’s what so scary.
In the opening lines of “Tale of two Cities” Charles Dickens wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
“Into the Fire” is a fine heir to Dickens’ tale. And Liney an amazing story teller. Like the Detainee, INTO THE FIRE is A MUST READ this summer.
Oh, by the way, The Detainee is now out in paperback.
Do yourself a favour: make sure you pick up a copy of both novels and tell all your friends!
Can’t wait for his next book!!
Daniaile
September 30, 2014
I loved 'The Detainee'. Into the Fire is the second book of the trilogy and it picks up right where the first one ended. I really enjoyed author Liney continuing the story in that format as if the reader hasn't missed a thing. Also, all the characters and their qualities and quirks are still present. What has changed is the mainland. It is no longer the imagined setting where the detainees can return and begin a new quiet life. Instead there are more perils to overcome.
For some reason, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first. Having said that, I want to clarify that it is still good and worth the read - I'm not about to give up on this trilogy because I want to know what happens to everyone and there is a surprise or two in this book. But, something did not have me wholly invested into this novel as much as the first. Looking forward to #3 bringing back the suspense of book #1.
For some reason, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first. Having said that, I want to clarify that it is still good and worth the read - I'm not about to give up on this trilogy because I want to know what happens to everyone and there is a surprise or two in this book. But, something did not have me wholly invested into this novel as much as the first. Looking forward to #3 bringing back the suspense of book #1.
February 23, 2016
Into the Fire is the second of the Detainee trilogy and is an enjoyable read. Told in the first person, Peter Liney writes in an easy to read style while describing a dark future. He takes the outcast future and puts a nice twist on how the society focuses on the wrong solutions and removes the "problems". While the story is certainly dystopia, it is at its heart, a love story, which Liney does a nice job weaving the sub-story within the larger context. This is popcorn for the mind, which is not a bad thing. At some point, I fully expect to see this series as a movie. Good read
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