The Burnt House

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Faye Kellerman spins a gripping tale of a modern-day nightmare that ensnares L.A. Homicide Detective Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus in a web of secrets and murder.

A small commuter plane carrying 47 passengers crashes into an apartment building, and LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker works overtime to calm rampant fears. But a grisly mystery lives inside the plane's wreckage: the unidentified bodies of four extra travelers. And there is no sign of an airline employee who was supposedly on the catastrophic flight. The fate of the unaccounted-for flight attendant, 28-year-old Roseanne Dresden, remains a question mark more than a month after the horrific event, when the young woman's irate stepfather calls, insisting that she was never on-board the doomed plane. Instead, he claims, she was most likely murdered by her abusive husband. But why was Roseanne's name included on the passenger list?

Under pressure to come up with answers, Decker launches an investigation that carries him down a path of tragic history, dangerous secrets, and deadly lies - and leads him to the corpse of a three-decades-missing murder victim. And as the jagged pieces slowly fall into place, a frightening picture begins to form: a mind-searing portrait of unimaginable evil that will challenge Decker and his wife Rina's own beliefs about guilt and innocence and justice.

Combining relentless suspense with intense, multi-layered human drama The Burnt House is Faye Kellerman at her mesmerizing best.

©2007 Plot Line, Inc (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

An extra star for narration

George Guidall did a masterful job of narrating this book and bumped it up one star in my rating. When a character was spitting mad, Guidall was spitting mad. I selected the book I'm listening to now (Critical) partly because Guidall is doing the reading. The Burnt House was a good story with some amazing coincidences that I didn't feel detracted from it. If I had one criticism (and I'm probably in the minority here), I thought the descriptions of scenes and clothing could have been less encompassing. At times I though I was listening to an announcer at a fashion show. I guessed the plot twist at the end so you can't say that everything that happened was outside the realm of reasonable deduction. An enjoyable listen.

A true page-turner

I could not stop listening to this book once I started!

Good storyline

Great story line camp wait to read the next book in the series Looking forward to it

Well Done

Having read many of the other Decker books, I stayed away for a while as they are very detailed and can be overwhelming. This book, however, was intriguing and entertaining. The details were there, but they didn't require such work to get through. The characters interact well and the even the religious overtones are treated with respect as they can be very educational. The performance on this book is excellent. Afterall, if the performer isn't entertaining, it is often hard to stay with even the best books. This is one of Kellerman's better works.

Decent Suspense

The book was pretty good except fot the stupid ending which was too co-incidental to be acceptable to most readers. It kept my interest for most of the book and provided some suspense and plot twists. Not great but not bad.

Gets Better

Even though it was hard for me to build interest in the story at first, the more I listened the more it grabbed my attention. In the end I thought this book was fabulous.

A potential new series for me?

I’m currently combing through my “old” bookshelves looking for books to reread that I have forgotten all about in an effort to save a few bucks.

I read this one in 2007; I don’t know why I only gave it 1 star, I would say it deserves at least 3 and I love Geroge Guidall as the narrator so he gets a minimum of 4 stars by default! I must have been in a bad mood.

I liked the way the investigation unfolded, I found the plot was intriguing and it kept me guessing to the end… In an oversimplified nutshell: an investigation into a missing person in the aftermath of a plane crash uncovers a cold case from the 70s.

My only criticism is that there was a TON of tedious exposition; I think the plot was explained and re-explained and re-re-explained over a dozen times. “Let me see if I understand” “So what you’re saying is” “Here’s what we’ve determined so far”… Normally I would appreciate this kind of recapping because my mind wanders a lot, but I really didn’t need THIS MUCH; it was so blatant that it became funny!

This is book 16 in a series that is now up to 22 installments. I liked the characters enough to try the series from the start, however this book felt a little dated so we’ll see if I persevere or just continue on as of book 17. I like the idea of a good go-to series and I hope this is one of them.

Burnt House Review

I don't read all of what Faye Kellerman writes but I do like her books that take place in California in the present. Although this book was very interesting and well written, there were some bizarre coincidences that detracted from the overall enjoyment. The story will keep your interest right up to the end though. Overall, an interesting read but not one of her best.

Exciting story with the best reader

George Guidall made the characters a live and each voice was different. Each woman sounded different also with the men making it all so believable

Rina and Peter...

Always glad to see another title from this Kellerman. Her characters have become my friends. The plots are common and embraceable; a parallel universe right next door.

I made the purchase reluctantly, and only because of the author; I'm disappointed whenever I see this choice of narrator. I'm forced to constantly make the effort to overlook his delivery. His vocal characterizations are simply not believable and border on what seems to be subdued hystrionics.