The Burning

A Novel (Maeve Kerrigan, Book 1)

By: Jane Casey

Narrated by: Sarah Coomes

Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

The Burning Man. It’s the name the media has given a brutal murderer who has beaten four young women to death before setting their bodies ablaze in secluded areas of London’s parks. And now there’s a fifth.

Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable, keen to make her mark on the murder task force. Her male colleagues believe Maeve’s empathy clouds her judgment, but the more she learns about the latest victim, Rebecca Haworth, from her grieving friends and family, the more determined Maeve becomes to bring her murderer to justice. But how do you catch a killer no one has seen when so much of the evidence has gone up in smoke?

Maeve’s frenetic hunt for a killer in The Burning, Jane Casey’s series debut, is a gripping introduction to one of the most engaging crime fiction characters in recent memory.

©2011 Jane Casey (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Disappointing

What aspect of Sarah Coomes’s performance would you have changed?

It must really be a challenge to distinguish so many English accents as well as the different ages and characters of everyone in this book. Coombes makes a brave job of it, but some character's voices sound cartoonish, sometimes it's hard to tell who's speaking in a conversation where both voices sound quite similar. There are also times when the character is thinking the words, but it's hard to understand that except in retrospect.

Did The Burning inspire you to do anything?

This is a ridiculous question.

Any additional comments?

There are some interesting characters and events, and I did listen all the way through. The romantic relationships are incompletely drawn. A couple of characters (no spoilers here- don't worry) do not seem consistent--their personalities seem to shift to fit the needs of the plot. I was disappointed in the book as a whole. To me, it seems that the murderer is transparently easy to guess very early on. The last hour or so is eye-rollingly trite and tedious. The combination of an over-long letter and some supposed newspaper accounts try to do what should have been accomplished in the main part of the book.

By far the best of Jane Casey

This mystery novel stands alone among the Jane Casey books in my library, both for the quality of it's writing and particularly for its narration. In the books I've heard, Sarah Coombs' performances vary widely - some are almost painful, as she grinds out strangled dialog between male characters. But her performance in The Burning is perfect. The plot is complicated and nuanced, the characters vibrant and interesting. I hope there will be more Casey like this one.

Excellent story and narration

Where does The Burning rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I liked the story and I especially liked all the unexpected twists! I also enjoyed listening to the narrator, I like her accent and I appreciated how she adapts it for each character.

Good mystery

I read a lot of mystery/thrillers and this was very interesting. A bit predictable (but maybe that’s because I read a lot of these type of books), but a good performance and good story. I will definitely buy more books by this author.

Great modern detective story

I am hooked. Will be getting the rest of the books in the series. This story had the things that make a detective story interesting to me: good clues and facts, red herring, just a bit of romance, interesting characters that one can associate with the times the story is set

Rocking book rocking series

I loved this book kept me on the edge all the time. I could not put it down. Exciting thriller, and I love the narrator. One of the best I have had so I bought the series and have never looked back.

it's ok slow going

it's ok slow going confusing a bit but overall but a decent story in the end

Good story but...

Good story but a little predictable. Not great if you love mysteries and like twists.

Not bad !

I found the story relatively engaging until I realized who did it, but then I didn’t quite have enough interest in the character to care, especially once the confession came in. This was not Tana French- the writing wasn’t gorgeous and and the characters lacked some depth, but I did find the relationship between the two cops pretty spicy. All in all, not bad for a first novel! I will read the next one to see if I think this series has promise.

Good story, nice beach read.

A good solid listen even if you figured it out in the first 2 chapters. Excellent narration for an enjoyable story.