Burg

De: Billy Betts

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Brian Whitecross thought he had the perfect system. A legitimate property business and a loving wife, Rose, provided the ideal cover for his real work: a lucrative career as a master thief, stealing exclusively from other criminals. For twenty years, the partnership with his best friend, Yeal, was like clockwork. But when Yeal suddenly retires, Brian’s carefully constructed world is thrown into chaos.

Desperate, he turns to the only family he has left to help run his operation: his estranged older brother, Max, and impressionable teenage nephew, Toby. Bringing them into the fold dredges up a lifetime of resentment and unearths a dark family secret Brian has suppressed for decades . When a job arrives that crosses every moral line, Brian finds himself trapped between his criminal code and a web of devastating secrets that threatens his marriage, his future, and his very soul.

For fans of Ocean's Eleven and Dennis Lehane, Burg is a gripping thriller where the most dangerous secrets aren't in a vault, but within a family. It’s a story of loyalty, betrayal, and the harrowing price of keeping the truth buried.

About the author

Billy Betts is a versatile author of dark, suspenseful fiction whose work explores the depths of psychological tension. His writing is deeply informed by his keen observations of the human condition. He enjoys hiking and traveling, having visited more than 20 countries and lived in several.

In a remarkable creative surge between late 2019 and early 2021, Betts released five distinct books in just 15 months. This period showcased his incredible range, including three novels—Falter, Burg, and Grassland—the eclectic short story collection Mixtape Volume 1, and the transgressive fiction novella I Paid to Stab a Lion. From his collection, he cites “The Karma of the Wildest Man in the West” as a personal favorite for its unforgettable final scene. You can read this story for free in the Amazon sample for Mixtape Volume 1 as it's the first story.

Following this prolific period, Betts devoted the years between 2021 and 2025 to mindfulness, including the practice of Vipassanā meditation. He recommends the notoriously challenging 10-day introductory course to anyone with the time to undertake it.

2025 marks his return to writing with the release of his latest novella, Then, I Hear The Train Coming, which was initially written in 2021.

His current public works are:
1. Falter (Novel, 2019)
2. Burg (Novel, 2020)
3. Grassland (Novel, 2020)
4. Mixtape Volume 1 (Short Story Collection, 2020)
5. I Paid to Stab a Lion (Novella, 2021)
6. *The Karma of the Wildest Man in the West (Short Story, 2025)
7. *The Moon (Short Story, 2025)
8. Then, I Hear The Train Coming (Novella, 2025)

*Short Stories originally published in the Mixtape Volume 1 collection