The Burning

By: Jane Casey

Narrated by: Caroline Lennon, Penelope Rawlins, Paul Thornley

Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

A serial killer who wants to watch you burn.…

The media call him The Burning Man, 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 the fifth victim has been found….

Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable, keen to make her mark on the murder task force. Her male colleagues believe Maeve’s empathy makes her weak, 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? And when so much of the evidence they leave behind has gone up in smoke?

©2010 Jane Casey (P)2010 Random House Audiobooks

Good old murder mystery!

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

The story is mainly told by Maeve Kerrigan who is a strong character who though has great ambitions in the police force is a character who seems normal without major flaws which can often plague the main woman in a book.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

This was a book I had listened to after 3 very ordinary stories so this for me was a good, intriguing story line with interesting characters some of whom I'd like to explore further in the next stories written by the author.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ahh just love the lilt of the Irish.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not necessarily but I did enjoy listening to each chapter.

A really strong Detective Story Read with style

The three narrators are excellent and they tell a superbly crafted tale in a totally absorbing way.
The plot is simple and the number of characters is small enough to be well developed and you get plenty time to get to know them.
It is a strange book in that it seems to have so little action and drama but it is wonderfully captivating and creates and urgent demand for the reader to understand
Absolute pleasure this one and I will be checking out more of Jane Casey's catalogue
Definitely worth a listen.
Enjoy

Pacey, intelligent, great characters!

I'm so glad I found this author. I loved this novel and very much look forward to reading the others in the series. The characters were exceptionally well drawn, the story was absorbing, exciting and contained real surprises along the way.

The narration was of the highest standard. If you enjoy a crime novel, this surely won't disappoint.

A good start to a series

I hold out quite a bit of hope for Jane Casey in her new Maeve Series. The interplay between police procedural and intimate relatiuonships is nicely handled - I enjoyed this book and didn't want it to end.

Story worth a listen

I enjoyed this audio book and liked how the story developed. I found some of the voices used in the narration a bit annoying (occasionally),but not enough to stop my enjoyment of the listen overall. This book should appeal to any 'crime novel' fans.I would like to hear more from this author

Engaging but with some oddities

I found this an odd mixture of a book. Firstly, considering the title, I was struck by how little of the plot was given over to the investigation of the serial killer. Not wanting to spoil anything too much for those who have not yet listened, I now assume the title perhaps refers to long burning feelings of certain characters. The serial killer plot-line investigation was not thoroughly fleshed out until one long evening of exposition over a pizza and its resolution was somewhat underwhelming. It felt a bit unbalanced alongside the other investigation, although, I do understand it was necessary in order to give the heroine her own time to develop.
There were odd things in the reading - the heroine is irritated that everyone teases her about her Irish heritage even though, as the narration specifically tells us, she lost her accent long ago and yet Caroline Lennon still has an Irish accent.
Similarly, the ubiquitous Paul Thornley was an odd choice for a character who is specifically described as Welsh. There was also no effort to give another character the Midlands accent we were also told that he had. Again, I found the structure a little off balance in that Paul Thornely's character appears as the reader only twice (only once really as the second time is pure legal wrap-up). All the readings were good ...just possibly miscast and IMHO strangely written/used.

Almost 5*

Jane Casey is a new author for me and I enjoyed her writing. The story itself I found predictable as it telegraphed to me who was responsible very early on hence 4* and not 5. That said it was well worth the read anyway. I like her style.

Narration was for the most part good.... until.... Paul Thornley and his part is small luckily. Why he needs to take a audible gulp of air before each sentence I don't know but it's pretty irritating so 4* and not 5 for me.

Excellent

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it moved between 2 narrators and the story was gripping. Not too long either. I would certainly recommend it if you like modern detective stories.

Disappointing

Dragged on. Poor narration - for one character in particular the narrator's voice was quite wrong. And as for the last chapter, all of it was devoted to the murderer taking us back to childhood and through adult life to present day in order to explain and justify the murder. It was incredibly boring and I stopped listening. I'll not be listening to any Jane Casey novels again.

Match

I was disappointed with this book. I expected so much more. It wasn't quite gritty enough for my liking.

Recommended!!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Well written, well narrated and excellent story!
Good characters that were believable and likeable.
I will definitely move on to the next in the series!