The Burying Place

To be honest this is the first book I have ever read by Brian Freeman. I happened to pick it up on a whim and am so glad I did. I will not go through the whole synopsis of the book because that can be read in the description.

What I didn't realize until I got home that this was a series, which concerned me at first. Lo and behold this is a fantastic novel as a stand-alone. Granted there is an obvious back story with Stride but enough was mentioned that it didn't interrupt the flow of the read. Once you realize that it is an absolute fantastic fast-paced read.

I loved the fact that it took place in Northern Minnesota- being from Minnesota really added to the way I read the book. I could actually visualize all the settings and was able to show more put together the destinations (i.e. Highways) easily.

Brain Freeman was able to balance both cases wonderfully, you were never lost as it switched from one case to the next. He also was able to develop a character that I HATED with all the passion in the world- and I HATED this character till the very end, actually I think the husband will NEVER be forgotten by me. Did I mention that the husband was meant to be despicable?

I spent the whole book trying to figure out the "whodunit" in both cases and it wasn't until the last few chapters when all was revealed that I got blindsided. Yes! Blindsided to the point that I thought I missed a bunch of chapters and actually went back a few chapters to reread them just to make sure. I ended the read by closing the back cover and my jaw still on the floor. Blew my mind that I had not figured anything at all out and the ending well just.. an ending that I will never recover from.

I adored this book and the twists that it took. I will surely pick up the rest of the series, along with anything written by Brian Freeman.

*Personal Sidenote* I hated returning it to the library- One because I wanted to keep the book and Two because the frigging copy was also a SIGNED edition! show less

I loved this book! The Burying Place has everything. A missing baby, a psychotic killer, and several romantic entanglements. The suspenseful, eerie descriptions of the lonely rural countryside, the suffocating fog, and the abandoned school! Oh my God! Brian, were you doing research inside a creepy building, or did you make all that up? The dripping water, broken glass, rotting wood, and the smells. It all gave me the creeps. Besides the tremendous descriptive writing, the plot was a mind-blower. I can usually figure out where the author is going at some point, but this one was very twisty and very surprising. My one complaint was Jonathan Stride's macho attitude. Yes, he was having PTSD panic attacks. I've experienced them myself, so I show more know how debilitating they are, but when you are going through something like that, you run to someone for help. You can't handle that stuff on your own. With that said, I still love this character and this series. show less

There's a serial killer in the town, and his latest killing is witnessed by a cop, a cop who has plans to change her life away from police work and away from the cold of Minnesota. Meanwhile, there's an 11-month-old missing baby, chief suspect is the father, an unemotional surgeon who has never shown any real feelings for the child, and who was apparently alone with the child that night.

This is part of an ongoing series and I've only read one other in the series but a lot of the story is similar and the characters lacked depth. The story sped through and there were moments where the twists really caught me but overall it wasn't stellar.

Freeman's book carries two strong-- yet inevitably intersecting, to the not-so-great surprise of the reader-- plots, a serial killer and a child abduction. Both plots are suspeneful and compelling, and the novel alternates well between the two; it never gets bogged down in one and leaves the other unattened to. The inevitability and predictability of the two plot lines intersecting is the only thing about the plot lines that insults the reader's intelligence.

The characters are all well-drawn; none of them are flat, except for perhaps Marcus, who is an exaggerated surgeon stereotype (which he almost has to be, in order to drive the plot). Trophy wife Valerie is also a little colorless, but the main detectives-- Stride, Serena, and show more Maggie-- are all vivid and full of life, each a little psychological portrait.

Four stars. show less

Soap Opera. 4 stars, so it's a good soap opera, but a soap opera nevertheless. An 11 month old baby is kidnapped and women are being murdered by a serial killer (SK) for a reason that seems never to be explained. In the course of the investigation, every relationship that is probed and analyzed and re-analyzed, including three marriages, is destroyed. But the story moves fairly quick, the characters and plot are interesting (most of the time). Yet there is a doctor who seems to get more than his fair share of lumps, and a Nurse R(atchett) whom we hope has a close personal encounter with the SK. There is also a tense, scene-shifting climax that goes on for about 100 pages and peaks at least twice, but this is soap opera - and in all show more fairness you don't want to put the book down. Soaps never die. I'm sure there'll be a Stride-Serena-Maggie #6 or whatever the number is, but I'm not too sure I'll be along for the ride. show less

A serial killer is terrorizing the country side in a small town north of Duluth, MN. Jonathon Stride, erstwhile investigator with the Duluth police, is nearby recovering from a nearly-fatal ending of book 4. A friend asks him to investigate not these murders, but the disappearance of her 11 month old niece who was home alone with her ambivalent surgeon dad at the time.

Typical with Freeman books, there is a lot of misdirection. Clues all seem to implicate the surgeon, who, as a total asshole, gets little sympathy from anyone. Meanwhile, Stride's detective girlfriend, Serena, is also helping with the case while Stride's deputy, Maggie, latches onto the serial killer investigation. Evidence in both cases are not quite adding up, mostly show more because the principals in the investigation are all being evasive or dishonest. Ultimately, the cases converge with an unlikely character at the center.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Stride and Serena is strained, mostly from the psychological trauma Stride is coming to terms with. When he has liaison with Maggie, however, the breaking point is reached. Serena moves out at the end, but not so far away as to miss the next book. show less

In some ways this is a terrific thriller. The guilty party isn't known until a few pages from the end, and there is plenty of action and some interesting characters. But the story is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of quite a variety of characters, and it really breaks up the flow. Sometimes this works, but in this case it diminishes the suspense.