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

Well worth it!

This is a very pleasant detective novel. The characters are very likable people who follow clue after clue to solve the mystery. George Guidall is excellent in his interpretation of the various characters and I was sorry to see it end.

Yawn...

This story was B-O-R-I-N-G, especially for a crime novel/police procedural. It's hour after hour of interviews, no action or suspense whatsoever. No grit, no tough police work, just a bunch of uneccesary banter.
Honestly, I really dont really need to know how a certain detective is dressed, from head to toe. I do not care what sort of shirt she is wearing, the type of sandals she is wearing, or what her favorite food is. I dont care that she is watching her calories, or that her daughter is remodeling her house.
Enough already! I gave up this silly book with 5 hours left. I just couldnt finish it. It's more about interior decorating than police work.

narrator didn't do his research

What made the experience of listening to The Burnt House the most enjoyable?

The narrator didn't do his homework. Another narrator narrated Street Dreams. While that narrator was not great, and I much prefer this one, that book centered around Cindy's relationship with her new boyfriend. He is from Ethiopia, and it states in that book that he is heavily accented. This narrator seems to have missed that fact and makes the character sound like decker.

ALL AT ONCE

From beginning to end there were many balls in the air. I was always involved with the nicely described story and plot. The narration was only OK, but the book, itself, made that almost insignificant. I found all character as believable as the excellent story. Try it you'll like it.

Great Read

This is an excellent book. I enjoyed the narrator, who is very good. I listen to a lot of books while traveling and driving to work. This is one I have sat in the drive to get to a point where I felt I could stop.

George Guidal adds to the story!!

If you could sum up The Burnt House in three words, what would they be?

Interesting/story twists

Who was your favorite character and why?

Peter Decker is growing as he ages.

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

Without crazy voice changes, Mr Guidal brings a sence of humor to his reading. He brings the characters alive!

Poor Narration

We love this series, the characters and the Jewish aspects of the stories (when narrated by Mitchell Greenberg)

It was so difficult listening to Mr. Guidall that we have decided to skip the next book in the series so that we can get back to the real characters and their stories.

Slow

I have not read any in this series and wanted to give one a try. I found my mind wandering, and though I have liked this narrator, I didn't enjoy some of his characterizations. The irritated characters-three of them-all sounded exactly the same. But the story was just too plodding.

A thrilling head turner

I loved it as I have loved all the books in this series! It was difficult to stop reading to do other things. A definite must read.

not believable

there is no way it would have worked out that the two cases in this story were linked the way they were. Without giving away the plot line, the chances are astronomical.