Burn: An Anna Pigeon Mystery, Book 16

By: Nevada Barr

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Anna Pigeon, a Ranger with the National Park Service, is newly married but on administrative leave from her job as she recovers from the traumas of the past couple of months. While the physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones are still healing. With her new husband back at work, Anna decides to go and stay with an old friend from the Park Service, Geneva, who works as a singer at the New Orleans Jazz NHP. She isn't in town long before she crosses paths with a tenant of Geneva's, a creepy guy named Jordan. She discovers what seems to be an attempt to place a curse on her - a gruesomely killed pigeon marked with runic symbols; and begins to slowly find traces of very dark doings in the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans. Tied up in all of this is Jordan, who is not at all what he appears to be; a fugitive mother accused of killing her husband and daughters in a fire; and faint whispers of unpleasant goings-on in the heart of the slowly recovering city.

Now it will take all of Anna's skills learned in the untamed outdoors to navigate the urban jungle in which she finds herself, to uncover the threads that connect these seemingly disparate people, and to rescue the most vulnerable of creatures from the most savage of animals.

Investigate more mysterious doings with Anna Pigeon.

©2010 Nevada Barr (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Very Dark

Good book overall, but very dark.
A message at the end of the book about the subject line would have been nice to hear.

A good but difficult read

This was a gritty, suspenseful & edgy book. I had a hard time listening to it & if the story line hadn't gripped me so completely would have turned it off. Her portrayal of pedophilia & child abuse was very disturbing & realistic.
The narrartor, Joyce Bean did an excellent job as always.

Not her usual stuff.

this book, while interesting, seems to turn too many corners to stay on top of what's happening . I'm not real sure what to say about it. I've been a fan of Nevada Barr's for sometime, but this just doesn't do it like her other books. I might have to go back and listen to it again!

Disturbing subject matter, in true Barr style

Anna Pigeon is still off duty after the attack at Isle Royale. She is visiting a fellow ranger in New Orleans and meets Jordan, her friend's tenant, a gutterpunk. There's something just not right about Jordan, and Anna decides to investigate. Ms. Barr has returned to the topic of sexual abuse of children, as she wrote about in Hard Truth. It's not the easiest subject to listen to, and I can say I prefer the Anna Pigeon books that deal with other subjects. Nevertheless, there are plenty of plot intersections, as there usually are in Ms. Barr's books. New narrator for this one. She does the variety of voices well, but I do miss Barbara Rosenblat, who performed the previous books.

A dark entry in the Anna Pigeon series

I did not enjoy this book. The subject matter is very depressing, and it's set in New Orleans rather than in a beautiful natural area. I did enjoy the new narrator - she has a brighter tone than Barbara Rosenblatt, and kept me listening when I was seriously thinking about quitting.

Excellent story, but tragic and TW

I disagree with most reviewers. This is an excellent story and does not deviate from Nevada Barr's style or skill set. it is just a much more complicated story than many of hers and it is about the endangerment and abuse of children, which horrifies most people. Because Barr is such an excellent writer, her ability to brings scenes to life, to accurately envisage carnage, is truly disturbing in this story. No one wants to believe this kind of inhumane treatment of children is possible. But as I am sure some readers can attest, it does. Read with caution. This book will break your heart.

Anna didn't like the book either

I have all Ms Barr's books and am a big Anna fan but if this is the break-out piece (there are a limited number of National Parks of course) please, let's not put her in the city solving social woes. If Anna has truely reached the age of Ms Marpole let us have some of these great senior adventures. Let her ride the train to Istanbul or the boat up the Nile but keep her out of Kiddy sex shops!

Ugh

I am a big fan of Nevada Barr but this one was disappointing. It started off strong and I enjoyed the way she brought the two threads together but the last part was very unpleasant to read. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they have a strong stomach. Also I wish Nevada would stick to stories set in the great outdoors. When she writes about a national park in an urban setting she loses my interest.

Very readable ... as usual.

This series is very dependable. The reading is done well, the writing is done well. Nothing that happens really surprises you, if you have read any of the other books in the series. That's okay. You might not get blown away by unexpected plot twists, but you won't be disappointed either. Great light reading with lots of information about our national parks.

Narrator Change Not Good

The stories are becoming more violent. Humans suck.
this narrator is terrible. what happened to Barbara Rosenblatt? If she was busy, they should have waited.