Book Review: Lola on Fire

Author: Rio Youers

Narrator: Jim Meskimen

Publication Date: February 16, 2021

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Book Description

Arthur Ellis Award finalist Rio Youers combines vengeance and deceit, love and bullets, secrets, and twists in this high-octane action thriller with a vibrant emotional core.

Brody Ellis is short on luck and even shorter on cash to buy the medication his sister Molly needs.

Desperate, he robs a convenience store, but on the way out, he bumps into a young woman and loses his wallet. Just when he expects the cops to arrive, the phone rings. It’s Blair Mayo—the woman he bumped into—and she’s got the missing billfold.

Brody will get it back, but only if he does her a favor: steal her late mother’s diamonds from her wicked stepmom. But when he gets to the house, he finds a gruesome crime scene—and a security camera. Brody knows he’s been framed.

Back home, the terrified young man gets another call. The police won’t get the incriminating video footage, Blair says. Instead, her daddy, the notorious mobster Jimmy Latzo, will exact his own kind of revenge. 

Brody and Molly realize that they’ve become pawns in a mysterious game—one that involves a notorious enforcer named Lola Bear who brutally crossed paths with Jimmy Latzo twenty-six years before. . . a ghost from the past who is intimately connected to their lives.

Book Review

Lola on Fire by Rio Youers is an action packed thriller that grabs your attention from the first page.

Brody robs a convenience store in order to pay for medicine for his sister, Molly. Brody loses his wallet during the robbery and gets a call from Blair who found his wallet. Blair agrees to give Brody his wallet back as long as he steals her mother’s diamonds back for her. When Brody goes to Blair’s father’s house to steal the diamonds, he realizes he is being set up for a crime much worse than robbing a store. Brody and Molly run away and try to find the only family they have left. Along the way Brody uncovers secrets about the past and his family.

Lola on Fire had me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading. There is so much action in this book. I really enjoyed the story and liked how it was mainly action but there was also family drama mixed in. I liked the characters. Brody is trying to do the best he can to raise his sister while still grieving his father’s death. Molly is the most important person to Brody. Molly has hardships to deal with but still sees the world in a positive light. Molly looks up to her brother. She sees the world in black and white with things being right and wrong. The infamous Lola is a very interesting character. She is smart and a strong fighter that could take out any opponent in her prime. I loved finding the connection between the stories and seeing them converge. I recommend Lola on Fire to anyone that likes fast paced, action packed thrillers.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jim Meskimen and enjoyed his narration. The narration fit well with the story and Meskimen was the perfect voice for Brody.

Thank you Harper Audio, William Morrow and NetGalley for Lola on Fire.

About the Author

Rio Youers is the British Fantasy and Sunburst Award–nominated author of Westlake Soul and Halcyon. His 2017 thriller, The Forgotten Girl, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. He is the writer of Sleeping Beauties, a comic book series based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King and Owen King. Rio’s new novel, Lola on Fire, published by William Morrow, is available now.

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