From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I knew that i wanted to read it. As soon as I started reading I was gripped and couldn't put it down. I liked the feel of the writing, the style of writing, and found the characters interesting and mostly enjoyable, right up until about page 65 at which point the story for me, dropped like stone, at the introduction of the gin swilling detective, but I read on and the pace picked up again. For me my favourite part of 'flames' was the elememtal feel to it, and the way everything was inextricably linked with seemingly no purpose. Ultimatly I did enjoy this book, but I feel it could have been better, and could have been a real standout novel. So although I enjoyed it, I was slightly disappointed.