Before The Fire by Sarah Butler

Before The Fire
Written by Sarah Butler
Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Published March 1st 2015
256 Pages
It's June 2011. Stick and Mac are a couple of months shy of eighteen, summer's approaching and they're about to leave their north Manchester estate for the beaches of southern Spain. But the night before they're planning leave, Mac ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, the victim of a random knife attack, and suddenly Stick's going nowhere. His mum doesn't want him to leave the house; his dad's desperate to be his best friend, and his nan's boyfriend keeps telling him Mac's doing just fine in the spirit world. Then he meets J and she might just be everything he needs. Except she's a firebrand with a grudge against the police, and the August riots are just around the corner...
Stick and best friend Mac are embarking on the journey of a lifetime, traveling to Spain for the sun, fun and girls. Mainly the girls. The night before they are set to leave, Stick finds himself in the toilets with his latest conquest, while Mac leaves alone, never making it home. Somewhere between the party and the unit he lives in with his single mother, Mac is brutally stabbed.

Stick is angry. Mac has left him to rot in his going nowhere life, with his borderline insane mother and a father who walked out after losing a child. All he wants to do is to find Mac's killer and inflict his own justice. He's drinking his life away with no regard to those around him, who are torn between support, and allowing him space to grieve. Spiraling downwards to little more than crude, rude substance abuser.

Then Stick meets J. J is a mystery that Stick wants to unravel. Chance meetings his only opportunity to see the girl with hair as loud as she is. But J is fighting her own demons, and isn't the positive influence that Stick needs in his life. She represents everything he wants and enables his drinking, drug abuse and delinquency. As the court date looms closer for Mac's killer, London is set a blaze in a span of violent riots. This is the turning point in Stick's life, will he choose to live or just become another statistic that may end up with the same fate as Mac.


As readers, we want to be immersed in a storyline, we want to feel a connection to it's characters and invest in their plight. I was torn between the fascination that was Stick, otherwise known as Kieren, and wanting to smack him about with a shovel. His behavior made me cringe, but more importantly, Kieren made me feel, even if it was disgust. He's confronting, abrasive and crass. I loathed him, even before the incident. If your aspirations narrow down to drinking, getting high and getting off, it's time to reassess your life choices. He treated girls like sexual objects for his own gratification.There didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities to him at all.

Then he replaces one delinquent with another, his love interest only enables him further. I'm being judgmental, but it's clear both Stick and J are just a pair of felons in the making and he's the poster boy for juvenile detention. J replaces his best friend Mac, promising to help Stick through his grief but she was nothing more than a romantic sidekick that we never really know more than at face value.

The most striking aspect of Before The Fire is it's honesty and rawness. Stick isn't a pleasant character, he isn't even likable, but his story is told with brutal honestly and will strike a chord with readers wanting to delve into the dark world of grief and self loathing through substances. The most prevalent issue I had with his character, is his treatment of females as little more than sexual objects. Both he and Mac were only looking to get off, to put it bluntly. As much as I enjoy realistic fiction, his character grated on my nerves. He was far too confrontational and being older than the intended audience, I wanted to kick this dickhead into next week.

Although Before The Fire wasn't for me, in the right hands a reader will enjoy it's ability to cut through the bullshit and appreciate the depiction of a rough and desperate life of being lost. It does contain sexual situations, deplorable profanity and a realism that could have been mistaken to have been derived from a teenage boy himself, struggling with life.

24 comments

  1. Love, love, LOVE it. It sounds so vivid, and raw. Definitely going to pick this up if I see it. :) So many news stories echo in this story, and I just can't wait to read about Stick's development.

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    1. In the right hands, someone will absolutely love this book. It's dark and confronting and definitely sets it apart from your typical young adult contemporary. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts Mawa.

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  2. You've said it perfectly Kelly - this book did have some very unlikable main characters, but I do think it could appeal to some more than others if they can get past that. It definitely was an edgy read!

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    1. Edgy is the perfect way to describe it. It was one of those uncomfortable, in your face type reads. But I just felt disconnected to it all, mainly due to loathing Stick, which I think was intended.

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  3. Sorry this didn't work well for you. I like brash, realistic novels but there has to be something to connect too and that's often the characters, and it sounds like this book doesn't do that well.

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    1. Exactly Lauren, and for me that was lacking sadly. I really hope readers do appreciate it's honesty though.

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  4. Whack him about with a shovel? Yes. Let me help you. -_- I absolutely loathed this book. STICK IS GROSS. I'm not saying he's unrealistic, because I'm sure there's awful people like him, but I feel like reading a book by someone so rude was just a waste of my braincells.

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    1. Wasn't he just. My goodness, he was having ice cold water thrown down your back, ice cubes and all. He was far too confrontational for my liking.

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  5. I've read nothing but bad reviews for this book so I wasn't all that surprised when you didn't enjoy it either Kels. I haven't even bothered to pick this one up yet but it reminds me a lot of the British teen show, Skins. Stick sounds like a horrid person, but I applaud the author for tapping into the mindset of someone that we don't usually read/see in YA fiction. Interested to see how I would react to this book now. Wonderful and honest review Kels! xx

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    1. I haven't seen Skins, but if you've seen The Inbetweeners, it's a bit like that but without an ounce of comedy. It's pretty crude delving into Stick's thoughts actually, and I just couldn't relate. He really angered me. Hopefully you have more luck that I did Joy, I'm assuming this'll be another one Alana will be reading.

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  6. Ew, I don't like the sound of this book. I mean, treating females like sexual objects? That sounds slightly disturbing *shudders*. Stick and Kieren don't really sound like nice characters that I want to read about. Great honest review Kelly.

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    1. More than slightly disturbing Jeann. All he could talk about was 'blow jobs', it was confronting and a perfect example for girls who NOT to date. Stick and Kieren are one in the same, but he was so grating that I just couldn't warm up to the storyline whatsoever.

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  7. This one was not on my radar....AT ALL but my feminist flag was raised the minute i finished your review. Nope, this one is not for me. *Backs away slowly*
    Lily @ Lilysbookblog

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    1. I don't blame you Lily. I don't usually discourage readers from any book, but judging from your favourite type of reads, I can safely say that this probably won't be your thing.

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  8. I felt the exact same way that you did about this book :/ It had the potential to be an ok book is J wasn't just as bad as Stick. She could have helped him, yet she just enabled him instead. I hope someone does enjoy this book, I've only heard everyone hating it like us.

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    1. Me too Gina. It's actually well written with confidence and a rawness that we don't often see in young adult, but Stick was far too confronting for me to relate to or want to invest in his plight. I felt so sorry for his poor mum.

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  9. Thank you for your honest and objective review, Kelly! I agree that there are just some books that won't work for us. And it's also true that there are some books with characters that are not meant to be liked. I may read this one as I've read unlikeable heroes before and loved the book. They're always dark and I prefer dark stories sometimes as it explores things I shy away from in real life.

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. So true Faye, and just because it didn't work for me, I wouldn't want to discourage others from giving it a go. It's dark and brutally honest, but in the hands of the right reader, someone will love it's rawness.

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  10. Just from reading your review I can tell this most likely wouldn't be for me either. I think there's a line to be crossed when reading about characters being unlikeable and being unlikeable, you know? It's a shame that Stick crossed the line here. :| Sorry you weren't a huge fan of this one, but thank you for sharing your thoughts Kelly! ♥

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    1. I'm not sure anyone is going to be a fan of Stick's to be honest Zoe, he's just so abrasive and most females who read young adult contemporaries won't be too fond of his treatment of girls either, and rightly so. I wish I could have enjoyed this more. If Stick had of had at least some redeeming qualities, I probably would have. But he was horrid.

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  11. Yikes, this one doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but thank you for giving it a try .. I hope your next read will wow you, amazing breakdown of the book though x
    <3 Benish | Feminist Reflections

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    1. Thanks Benish. I don't like to write negative reviews, and usually only post reviews of the books I really enjoyed, that's why you don't see many reviews under three stars on here. But this one really effected me, but not in a positive way. I wanted to share what it was all about. It won't be for everyone, but the author should be applauded for releasing a book that doesn't sugar coat or hold back on the shittier parts of life, as uncomfortable as it is to read about.

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  12. This sounds really weird, and I feel like if I read this book I would be less inclined to travel haha...ha. But I'm sorry Stick got on your nerves. I don't like reading about characters that I personally don't like, so I think I'll skip this one for now. But I love that cover though!

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    1. The cover is really eye catching isn't it. This book won't be for everyone, but with the right reader, they'll absolutely love it for it's honesty and in your face attitude of the struggle with grief and life.

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