Spreading Fires

by John Knowles

Author of the American classic, A Separate Peace shatters the surface of human relationships in a literary feat of chilling psychological suspense. The sunsual French Riviera is the setting for a sinister dance of passion and terror which hurls five people inexorable toward their own private hells.

Genres: Fiction

123 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

John Knowles was an American novelist best known for A Separate Peace (1959).

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short novella by John Knowles, 166 pages and it read very quickly. It took place in a rented villa in Cannes which had a psychotic servant who came with the house. This was had some exciting parts and I don't know why this didn't get a movie sale. Great read but not John Knowles usual milieu.

[Lisa Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowles is a master of setting, atmosphere, and troublesome relationships. This short novel wasn’t as complex or developed as some of his other works, nor were these characters all that endearing, but it was still an intriguing story that leaves me wanting to contemplate its themes more deeply,

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a chore to get through, but it kinda felt like one of those Alfred Hitchcock's, figure who at the party did what.

[Robin Reynolds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many years ago my daughter read A Separate Peace, by this same author at school, and wanted to read more by him, so I got this book for her. I don't know what she thought of it, or if she ever even actually read it. Now that I've read it myself I realize it's not a Young Adult book, and she was only 13 at the time I received it for her. I think I had just assumed this author's books were written for teens.

Anyway, that aside, I just finished reading this myself today. In the beginning it was ok. Brendan Lucas has rented a villa while on vacation, and is to be joined there by his sister, her fiance who is also his best friend, his mother, and the fiance's sister. Neville, the cook who came with the house, is a very odd duck.

The book read smoothly but the story pretty much slid right out of my mind when I put the book down. Neville's behaviour becomes more and more erratic, and the last third of the book did turn out to be pretty gripping.

[Sycobabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spreading Fires is a very short book that proves that John Knowles talent wasn't only tied to his most famous novel A Separate Peace. This book reminded me a lot of a W. Somerset Maughm book, with it's depiction of class struggles. The ending was a very far cry from what I expected.