You know that feeling when you pick up a book that should be amazing… and then it just kind of punches you in the face with bad decisions? Welcome to my experience with Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr.
On paper, it sounds like a slam dunk: a young journalist chasing down a stolen masterpiece tied to Nazi lootings. Art! Secrets! Betrayal! I was ready for a high-stakes thriller that kept me up at night. Instead, I got a melodrama that kept making me mutter, “Oh, come on.”
Let’s start with the audiobook. Oof. The narrator, who is originally from Italy, had a strange tonality that didn’t match the American characters or settings. It threw me off every few minutes. I tried to roll with it… but eventually, it was like trying to enjoy a concert with someone tuning a banjo in the background.
Then there was the unnecessary sex. Straight sex, gay sex, random sex—it was sprinkled all over the story like someone thought it would make everything more exciting. It didn’t. It just made me wonder why a stolen painting wasn’t enough drama. Spoiler: It was.
The heroine, Jules, is supposed to be sharp as a tack, but her decision-making skills are… questionable. And don’t get me started on the villain, who is basically one twirl of a mustache away from a cartoon.
All that said, the bones of a good story are there. The historical bits about stolen art were fascinating when they weren’t buried under all the noise.
Final verdict: ★★★☆☆.
** Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for a complimentary review copy. The opinions are my own.