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.

Bring other narrator back!!!!

Although I don't love the dark hole Nevada Barr seems determined to shove Anna into, I still enjoyed the latest book in the series. I agree with another reviewer who begged Barr to take Anna back into the wild. Part of the charm of her books is the scenery the non-city National parks afford (her Liberty Island book had similar issues for me). My biggest issue was the change of narrator. Joyce Bean did OK, and it sounded like she had listened to Rosenblat and was imitating her style. But Rosenblat IS the voice of Anna. I can't stand it when series like this change narrator. For those of us who listen to all the books, part of the attraction to the series is Rosenblat's voice.

Exciting Listening

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Anna Pigeon series, but it took me a few chapters to get into this story. It was a great departure from the usual story line; however, once in it was difficult to stop listening.

Also, Joyce Bean did a excellent job on the voices and the very unusual characters in the story.

Hard Truth, Indeed.

Most of us lead sheltered lives. Nevada Barr exposes a portion of the dark underbelly of society that we generally don't see - and with good effect. There's lots going on in this story, and I only regret that I took so long to listen, based on a friend's opinion that the book was "too dark." Fiction exposes truths. I hope and pray that children captured in settings such as those described in "Burn" are rescued and are able to be made whole. Well done. I was also concerned that Ms. Bean wouldn't make a convincing Anna Pigeon, compared to Barbara Rosenblatt, but my worries were allayed by Ms. Bean's performance. Congratulations on giving Anna Pigeon an audible voice.

Awful voice of reader.

Not sure I will finish. I wish I could teturn. Rosenblatt is the only voice of Pigeon for me.

Slow story

Dislike the transitions of the unrelated storylines. Not the usual Park Ranger stories and I realize the naturalist point of view must be what I enjoy in the Pigeon series. Not even interested in getting past Chapter 5 and I started it twice. Maybe next one.

"Burned" by this "Burn" - No Stars!

To describe "Burn" as a huge disappointment would be an understatement. I would give it a "no stars" rating if I could. The plot and character development were weak, and with the exception of Anna and her few friends, all the characters were one-dimensional and evil. The bleak tale of child sex abuse was completely lacking in balance or perspective, and seemed at times to be going for maximum shock value just for the sake of being shocking. While I don't begrudge Anna Pigeon a story set in a city, there was little development of the flavor of New Orleans except as a back drop for bad guys doing terrible things. Anna's actions were not very believable so that made the flimsy story even harder to swallow. Save your time and money and avoid this one. I wish I had!

Contains Sexual Child Porn Imagery WARNING

Had I know about the child porn I would have skipped this one. Have purchased and read ALL her other work. What was she thinking about her loyal fans? Not much apparently. Please do yourself a solid favor and skip this one. I am not kidding. This upset me for days. I avoid this type of writing and feel like I was somehow tricked into paying for this horror. I choose to pay and read Barr's Annie Pigeon series because her character is a national park ranger. (This work should have been with a different heroin, and that would have given us a heads-up about the 180 degree directional change of the series). Warn us more openly next time! I certainly feel like I got burned!

Go back to the forest, Anna!

I like the Anna Pigeon character, but this preposterous story set in New Orleans was hard to swallow. Really, little Anna and her cross-dressing friend single handedly take on the corrupt New Orleans PD and save lots of little kids from sex slavery? People are killed, buildings burn down, fugitives are harbored, but apparently Anna only has to answer to her husband after fibbing to him about her involvement in these indiscretions.

I hate this book!

I have read all of Nevada Barr's books about forest ranger Anna Pigeon. The last couple have been brutal, but still were interesting and worth reading. This book was not about a national park really, and was so dark and disturbing that I warn against reading it. The character should be hospitalized after what the author put her through in the last few books.

Where did Nevada Barr Go?

This was so gross in it's detailed disgusting sex scenes. The whole story from start to finish was vile.