Katie is haunted by a crime from her past. More than a decade earlier, she left her teenage brother, Chris, at home alone for the afternoon so she could spend time with her boyfriend. When she comes back, the police were everywhere. To her utter horror she learns that a man had tried to cut off Chris’s face Yes, you read that right.... I had to go back and read it again. We move ahead several years and find that Katie is now happily married to the same boyfriend that she had left Chris to meet, and they have a young daughter, 5-year-old Siena. More horror awaits our Katie as she now discovers that a man has been horribly murdered in a nearby mansion, and that Chris, who has now disappeared, is the number-one suspect. Katie investigates and discovers secrets and brutality that stretches back for decades. (From the book) “Something terrible and incomprehensible” lies ahead, Katie realizes. “Something that had always been coming for you, but which you wouldn’t even see until it swerved in out of nowhere and changed your world forever.' Those lines alone and the fact that Alex North wrote it, would have been enough to make me want to read this book. I don't think I have ever given an Alex North book less than 4 stars, usually they get a full 5, but sorry...this one is only going to get 3. While it certainly was an absolutely intriguing story, there was just so much going on...too much and all at the same time...so many twists and turns...so many characters...it simply became confusing, and I had trouble keeping up and had to make several "back trips" through the chapters to clarify what I had just read. I really love how this author's brain works and I will certainly read his next offering. ( )

I have yet to come across a book by Alex North that I do not like. I love his writing: how he can make you feel like he’s looked inside your heart and captured a feeling in just a few words. Just remarkable.
Katie is Chris’s older sister. When they were young, Chris was horribly attacked when Katie was supposed to have been looking after him, and she has never forgiven herself for that. This attack changed Chris’ life forever and takes him down dark, strange paths that unexpectedly -or is it?- lead him to discover the truth about himself.
Scary, brutal, heartbreaking, and full of twists, this is one not to be missed. ( )

Having read and enjoyed The Whisper Man by Alex North I was looking forward to his new book and was pleased to be gifted a copy by netgalley in exchange for an honest review. For those interested The Half Burnt House will be published as The Angel Maker in the US. Katie always swore that she would look after her younger vulnerable brother Chris but when he is attacked and both mentally and physically scarred by Michael Hyde she feels deep down that she is to blame. Professor Hobbes has been murdered and what is unusual is that Hobbes appeared to be prepared for his death and indeed welcomed it. Jack Lock “The Angel Maker” was a notorious killer of teenagers and following his death artifacts and objects that he owned became valuable for those who collected “murderabilia” In particular a book he wrote containing his macabre thoughts had become an invaluable document and appears to have been in the ownership of the professor before it was stolen. Hobbes has lived the life of a recluse in a rambling crumbling mansion where his wife and daughter died under suspicious circumstances. Chris had been a drug addict but it was hoped now that having met James Alderson he would finally find some peace and happiness. He had been employed by Hobbes but following the professor’s murder Chris appears to have gone to ground….Is he the killer? What is within the covers of Lock’s book that Christopher is attempting to sell to the highest bidder? He has disappeared and it is within this context that Detective Laurence Page and Detective Pettifer are tasked with the job of finding him and unraveling the mystery behind the death of Hobbes

This has been a very enjoyable read and some of the ideas discussed in particular “determinism” has been an education. Professor Hobbes until his retirement was a philosophy lecturer who took great pleasure in explaining ideas behind great philosophers to eager students…..”the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions.the doctrine of determinism states that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will."

I really enjoyed this book. It was most refreshing that it did not dwell primarily on the 2 detectives but rather built a very exciting read around a philosophical doctrine. The hero worthy of special praise is Katie who is fighting once again to right the wrong that has been done to her younger brother which she has always felt responsible for. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy of The Burnt House in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. ( )