Jan Burke

Burke does a pretty good job of maintaining the suspense of Bones, although I found the Ben Sheridan character more interesting than the protagonist Irene. This is a killer-showing-the-cops-where-the-bodies-are-buried thriller, with the standard turn-around of the villain stalking someone in that group.
The book is easy to read, and you can hurry through it. There are a couple of twists, some predictable. But the bad guy is creepy enough, and the main characters intriguing enough, that you show more want to finish the book. show less

I read my first Jan Burke book over ten years ago and really enjoyed it. Yet, for some strange reason that I still can’t figure out, I never picked up any of her other books until a few months ago, when I read her short story anthology, Eighteen, which I loved so much that it inspired me to write a fresh batch of my own short stories.

I know Burke’s Irene Kelly series is wildly popular, but I’m fickle about series. You get attached. You make (imaginary) friends. Eventually the author show more takes the characters you know and love down a character arc you can’t forgive, and you lose a loved one. I no longer see the point in entering what is bound to be a tragic relationship doomed from the start.

Nine is one of Burke’s stand alone novels. It seems as though she feels that it’s important for the reader to really know the characters, to understand where they’re coming from and what their motivation is. That may have slowed the pacing in this book a bit. By the end of the book, it didn’t matter at all. If she had sped through the plot instead of building the slow and steady suspense that culminated in a big, breathless climax, it wouldn’t have been the same ride. (And this book is a ride.) 5 stars. show less

This is the best Irene Kelly novel to date, which was a wonderful surprise to me. I normally find serial novels peak around the 3rd or 4th book in the series. After that, reading them feels more like catching up with an old friend rather than meeting someone new and exciting. Bloodlines brought the new and exciting aspect to an old friend. The story was interesting, and the different timelines flowed together really well. Most of all, it was great and unexpected to actually get to know O'Connor.

Bones is the seventh book in author Jan Burke’s series about reporter Irene Kelly. This book was a real page turner as Irene falls under the scrutiny of a cunning serial killer. Psychopath Nicholas Parrish has been arrested and now is willing to reveal the burial place of one of his victims. This is the woman whom Irene has been writing about since her disappearance 4 years ago. Irene joins the investigative team as they search for the grave deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But Parrish show more has an ulterior motive behind his cooperation, he has engineered an elaborate escape plan that also includes future plans for Irene.

The first third of this book was excellent, as the team hiked through the mountains the suspense was continuously rising, it was obvious that they were being manipulated by this very creepy murderer and it wasn’t long before Irene found herself in full out survival mode. The inclusion of the cadaver search dog, Bingle, made the story even more interesting. I found the excitement faded somewhat in the middle of the book, but then by the last third of the book the author was back in stride with the suspense and excitement.

I have been reading this series for years, and unfortunately not only have I not read them in order, I have let a lot of time go by between books so they now have a slight dated feeling about them. I started the series by reading book numbers eight and nine and then backtracked to the beginning, now, with my completion of number seven, I am ready to continue on in the proper order. The series has eleven books in total and I fully intend on reading them all as I have enjoyed each and every one of the books that I have read so far. show less