Sunburn

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

On Spain's Costa Brava, passion and intrigue are everywhere - especially in the hearts of those who dwell there. As the dictator Franco teeters on the edge of overthrow, two couples are entwined. One is a husband and wife bored with the existence they have drifted into, the other a passionate, combative pair who relish every moment of life.

Into this potent mix comes a young American seeking his missing lover - bringing a shadow of danger into the machinations already at work. Soon, loyalty will be tested and blood will be shed as the country of Spain prepares for revolution. And none of them - lovers, fighters, man or woman - will ever be the same.

©2009 John Lescroart (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A terrific yarn-spinner." (Chicago Sun Times)
"Lescroart's a pro." (Jonathan Kellerman)

Sunburn

weak plot, do not waste your time or money.

Sunburn a disappointment

Couldn't finish this book. I've loved all of Lescroart's other books, but this, his first book, meandered on for too long. Didn't seem to have a plot. Certainly was not focused like his Dismas Hardy stories. It was Lescroart's first published book, so one might expect that it wouldn't have the impact of his later work.

Drama not suspense

I read Lescoart for the mystery and suspense. This was more an exercise in character development. And, more about how some let life determine their destiny.

For completists only

Like the recent Harlan Coben novel, Play Dead, this is an author's first work which has been out of print being reissued as a result of the author's subsequent success. I am an admirer of John Lescroart's books and have read them all which is why I was tempted by this, although I should have know better, as it was probably out of print for a reason. In the introduction the author acknowledges that he has tidied up some parts of the book for the reissue, so I dread to think what it was like beforehand. He is self-mocking in saying that he believed he was going to write a great book, and like Hemingway it was going to be set in Europe. In the course of the books he also mocks some incidental characters as 'trying to be Hemingway'. Unfortunately that is almost exactly how this novel comes across, and if that really was the intention, it falls well short of the mark. This novel bears no relation to any of John Lescroart's other books and as per the subject is really for completists only.