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    Burn
    Burn
    Burn
    Audiobook12 hours

    Burn

    Written by Nevada Barr

    Narrated by Joyce Bean

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Anna Pigeon, a Ranger with the National Park Service, is newly married but on administrative leave from her job as she recovers from the traumas of the past couple of months. While the physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones are still healing. With her new husband back at work, Anna decides to go and stay with an old friend from the Park Service, Geneva, who works as a singer at the New Orleans Jazz NHP. She isn't in town long before she crosses paths with a tenant of Geneva's, a creepy guy named Jordan. She discovers what seems to be an attempt to place a curse on her—a gruesomely killed pigeon marked with runic symbols; and begins to slowly find traces of very dark doings in the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans. Tied up in all of this is Jordan, who is not at all what he appears to be; a fugitive mother accused of killing her husband and daughters in a fire; and faint whispers of unpleasant goings-on in the heart of the slowly recovering city.

    Now it will take all of Anna's skills learned in the untamed outdoors to navigate the urban jungle in which she finds herself, to uncover the threads that connect these seemingly disparate people, and to rescue the most vulnerable of creatures from the most savage of animals.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateAug 3, 2010
    ISBN9781441816054
    Burn
    Author

    Nevada Barr

    NEVADA BARR is a novelist, actor, and artist best known for her New York Times bestselling, award-winning mystery series featuring Anna Pigeon. A former National Park Service Ranger, she currently lives with her husband in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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    Reviews for Burn

    3.5/5

    218 ratings42 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Excellent writing, as always, but the plot was weak, with too many convenient coincidences and an ending that rushed to tie up loose ends. Not very convincing.
    • 1/5
      I've always wanted to like Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon books, but have had a hard time liking her main character. This latest novel did me in. Besides the unlikeable Anna, the prose was trying to hard--too many allegories, too much mood. I gave up and moved on to Ridley Pearson
    • 3/5
      Oh, what happened to my favorite NPS ranger... now in New Orleans taking a break from her service in the forest and her husband? The last book, BORDERLINE, was almost back to normal, she was in a park on vacation. This book went everywhere and had nothing to do, in my mind, with the NPS, child trafficking and underbelly of NO, I couldn't get through it. Maybe the next one.
    • 4/5
      Bring back our park ranger...this was good but too much city for me...no beautiful visuals to go with the mystery.
    • 4/5
      4-star Review based upon average rating. Once I read this book I will write a proper review,
    • 3/5
      16th book in the Anna Pigeon series, a NPS ranger who somehow gets around from park to park, hence crime fiction cum travelog - my first Nevada Barr. I was intrigued by the plot description - a ranger in New Orleans, a woman accused of burning her house down and killing her two kids and husband, voodoo, child prostitution - all in one novel. Maybe that's why I had a lot of pluses and minuses. By the time you get to the end, a lot has happened, there are a lot of dead bodies, but somehow the whole thing gets very conveniently resolved in about 3-4 pages. There were other stretches of credibity for me, including the very convenient shooting of one of the primo bad guys - and then there was the dog-that-tags-along (I thought we had jumped into a Disney movie. I couldn't get a good feel for Anna; maybe after fifteen books its ahrd to write fresh about a recurring character for a new reader. But I was a ambivalent about her, not a good sign re reading the rest of the series. Anna is not a cop, not a PI, not a crime reporter, but she just threw herself into the action to solve the mystery. I did like the semi- schizo thing one of the characters does, but is it possible? Don't know. The story moved along well, had a touch of well done humor, didn't feel too sympathetic to the woman falsely accused. Now for the big question - will I read another Nevada Barr ? Probably. Curious to see how well the different day, a different park thing comes off. And one other thing. While researching this book, I noted a number of reader reviews from obviously long-term fans who were very put off by a major issue the book deals with, namely child prostitution. Some proudly spoke of literally trashing the book, others said grandmas shouldn't be subjected to such horrible scenes. Well look, grandma, you took enough time after reading the book to write a review. If you took half that time before buying the book to check it out, you would know what you were reading - the topic was clearly identified in critic reviews, other reader reviews, descriptions on book retailer websites, on the book's flap. Duh, why were you all surprised?
    • 5/5
      Anna Pigeon is back and she doesn't disappoint. She's on vacation in New Orleans, trying to rest and recover from her two previous brushes with death and finding it hard to simply relax and do nothing. She is staying with her blind friend, Geneva, and becomes suspicious of Geneva's other tenant, a smelly, angry, gutter punk named Jordan who is an apparent pedophile. Anna gets drawn deeper and deeper into the Big Easy's seamiest side of strippers, hookers and sex clubs until all the loose threads come together in a thrilling climax. I prefer Anna in a National Park rather than a big city, but found this book riveting and fast paced and found myself wishing for a friend like Anna.
    • 3/5
      I guess I have read every one of Nevada Barr's books at one time or another. If you are lookingfor fast reading, enjoyable entertainment, these Anna Pigeon books are great. But this latest bookby Barr trends in the same direction as a few other of her later books, which is to say into thedarkest, most distrubing places in the human experience. This one, for example, deals with pedophilia.I'm not sure where she is going with this series, but I have to think she is losing readers by goingtoo far in this direction.
    • 4/5
      A darker book than usual, but one I couldn't put down. I've enjoyed joining Anna in most of her posts and her vacations are just as riveting.
    • 3/5
      National Parks Ranger Anna Pigeon is on administrative leave as she is recovering from recent traumatic events and decides to head to New Orleans where she can stay with a friend, Geneva. One of Geneva’s tenants, a creepy bloke named Jordan, appears to curse Anna using voodoo for no real reason which makes Anna very suspicious. Upon following him into the very seediest parts of post-Katrina New Orleans she becomes involved in a very grim situation involving child sex slavery.

      At the same time as these events unfold, another story is also being laid out in intervening chapters. In Seattle, after a late night run to the chemist, Clare Sullivan comes home to find that her husband, her two young daughters and their nanny are all missing from the house. After searching all over she runs next door to see if the neighbours know anything but the house explodes into flames and when they die down firefighters walk out of the wreckage with three bodies, assumed to be her husband and their children. Clare is thought to have murdered them all but goes on the run before she can be arrested.

      As you might imagine the two stories end up intertwining, though in a rather unexpected way (though it wouldn’t be so unexpected if you read most of the blurbs and other reviews which give away a fairly major plot point that I was glad I did not know when I started the book).

      Although I missed Anna being in the beautiful natural environment of one of the national parks I still enjoyed Barr’s skill at creating a sense of location, this time the city of New Orleans, which is depicted here with beauty and ugliness both and as much more than the tourist destination or news-headline the name conjures up for most. The last part of the story, which takes place inside a club catering to the most perverse sexual tastes is equally well described, if not nearly as enjoyable to immerse oneself in.

      Having two main characters whose stories are told in alternating chapters was another difference for this book from any of the others I have read. I liked the structure; particularly in the second half of the book it really added successfully to the build up of tension. I was less taken with the character of Clare, though I can appreciate that Barr was trying something new to keep a series fresh. I can’t give details about what didn’t work for me without giving away plot spoilers so I’ll just say that I didn’t find the focus on Clare’s ‘unique psychology’ particularly engaging. I also thought that it was a bit too easy for Clare to have been a theatre company actor which allowed her to have a diverse range of skills, knowledge and insight that the average suburban mother just would not have.

      Overall though the book was compelling, even when the subject matter got very tough to handle. On that score I give Barr credit for not incorporating excessive or gratuitous descriptions of horrid things happening to children, though one’s own imagination does fill in the gaps grimly enough. This is not a book for the faint-hearted but is a well-written, intelligently plotted mystery. It’s worth reading for the character of Anna alone who continues to evolve, grow, make mistakes and generally be a very credible human being. I’m looking forward to number 17.

      What about the audio book?

      I was a bit wary of this edition because it’s a different narrator than has read the previous two Anna Pigeon books to me but Joyce Bean did an excellent job and I quickly forgot that Anna used to speak with a different voice. The wide range of accents and complex dialogue must have been a stretch for any narrator but Bean sounded like a natural.

      My rating 3.5/5
    • 5/5
      First Line: "Shit, Blackie, this one's dead, too."In this, her sixteenth outing, National Park Service ranger Anna Pigeon is still recuperating from the events of Winter Study and Borderline. While her husband, Paul, keeps on working, Anna stays with a friend in post-Katrina New Orleans, little knowing that she's soon going to be fighting for what's right out in the concrete jungle.While staying in one of her friend's apartments, Anna sees the creepy Jordan, a bartender by night and a "gutter punk" by day. Observing some of Jordan's behavior, Anna comes to believe he's a pedophile. But Jordan is not what he seems, and his connection to Clare Sullivan, an actress whose family was murdered in Seattle, is at the very heart of Barr's powerful plot.If I'd known how good this book was, I would've kissed Barr when I attended her author signing at a local bookstore. For some reason, I caught on almost immediately to one of Barr's surprises, and I was able to gobble this book up at a fast clip. (In comparison, my husband was listening to the audio version and was confused. When I ascertained that he was within a very few pages of the reveal, I clued him in, and he settled down to enjoy the book, too.)Anna isn't all that much different in the wilds of New Orleans as she is out in the middle of a national park, as you can see from her thoughts on the local "gutter punks": "These kids were not her brand of criminal. She wasn't well versed in their migration patterns, did not know their natural habitat, what they preyed upon or what preyed upon them-- but people who valued fear and enjoyed pain were scary. Healthy animals, bunnies and foxes and cougars and grizzlies, ran from what frightened them and avoided pain at all costs. When they stopped behaving this way it was because they were sick, rabid."Anna may not be in Kansas anymore, but her observations are finely tuned.A word of warning: this book deals honestly and in some detail with the loathsome subject of child sexual abuse and pornography. Did I enjoy the subject matter? No. Did I secretly harbor a tiny little wish that Anna was in a park keeping visitors away from the bears? Yes, for a few pages. However, one of the most important things I've loved about the character of Anna Pigeon throughout sixteen books is that she constantly evolves as a person.At the beginning of the series, she fought for what she believed in, but if she could get away with staying away from people, that's what she would do. She's kicked her dependence on alcohol, she's learned to trust another human enough to fall in love and marry, she's knowingly coming to the end of her career, and she's still brave enough to fight-- and in fact she puts more of her heart into the battle than she ever did before.In Burn, Anna found herself in a situation that literally made her sick, but children needed her desperately, and she refused to turn her back. You can't ask for better than that.Imagine my surprise when I went to Amazon to check out the reviews for what I believe to be an excellent book, and found that it was rated 2.5 stars out of 5. Why? The subject matter."There's so much ugliness in the world today that I refuse to read about it for fun."There's a lot of truth to that statement; however, I can't help but feel that many of these people turning up their noses at Barr's choice of subject matter in this book would also turn their heads and refuse to see when confronted face-to-face with the actual horror. (It's so nasty and uncomfortable, don't you know?)I read most of the reviews, and it seemed to boil down to a consumer's version of Tough Love: Write about what I want you to write about, or I won't buy your books. I want blue skies and sunshine and cute animals!Fair enough. I'm happy to let everyone read what they want, as long as I get to do the same. I'll continue to enjoy Anna's evolution as a character wherever she may roam, and I won't tell y'all that Anna will be at Lake Powell the next time she appears. I'll keep all that azure water, sky and sunshine to myself. I don't know about the cute animals, though. I've seen plenty of birds, fish and lizards at Lake Powell....
    • 4/5
      This novel focuses on the child sex trade/slavery and was very hard for me to read due to the topic. Barr's writing seems to be getting more graphic and this one reminded me somewhat of an Andrew Vachss novel. With that said, the writing was exquisite. Barr's descriptive passages of New Orleans are truly beautiful. One passage in particular stands out as it describes the architecture of New Orleans seeming to melt into the landscape; the curving lines, the breaking of what is rigid, the fecundity ... left me with an image I won't soon forget.
    • 3/5
      I have really enjoyed the Anna Pigeon series, and a big part of what I enjoy is the National Park setting, in particular the isolated wilderness settings. So to say that a story set in New Orleans is in a National Park is stretching it. Maybe it is "technically" true, but it is not what I expect from this series. The topic, child prostitution, is very dark, even though the book is not very explicit. It leaves a lot to the imagination.

      The beginning, with the introduction of Jordan, was interesting. The part with Clare and her family felt like a totally different book. I couldn't see how they would ever intersect. Of course, they eventually did, and it made sense. Jordan, as a person, was not a very likable character. There was a slight "voodoo" element in the story. Why? Just because it was New Orleans? It didn't add anything to the story. The ending was very unbelievable. Anna and Jordan against a well organized child prostitution ring. It seems impossible that they should triumph.

      Overall, the book was ok. Not the best in the series by far.
    • 4/5
      Anna Pigeon is back, and she is in New Orleans on leave from the NPS. Anna not working has been the modus operandi for the most recent two Pigeon books. However, that does not mean that Anna is idle. She involves herself with a fugitive mother from Seattle who is accused of killing her husband and two children by setting fire to their house. Child slavery and pornography figure heavily into the plot as well as all of the craziness that is New Orleans, including voodoo. While it's not a book for the squeamish, Barr has written a very suspenseful story. I had to walk away from it for awhile just to give my nervous system a rest. Then there's the matter of Anna's marriage to Paul. Are they or aren't they? Only the next book may tell.
    • 3/5
      I just logged my 1100th book as read in LibraryThing, I wish it had been better. I am a big fan of Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr's Heroine who works for the National Park service and moves from park to park in each of her adventures. However, it's hard to identify the City of New Orleans in my mind as a National Park - it's really just Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve - more an historic landmark/area than National Park, IMO and Anna isn't even working there, she's on vacation.The story centers around a woman who is hiding from the law because they suspect her of murdering her husband and children. Anna somehow becomes involved with the woman -posing as a man - who is searching for her children because she believes that they are still alive. They get immersed with child pornography rings and so it goes. Not one of Anna's best.
    • 4/5
      I listened to this book which I downloaded from my library's electronic site. I have read quite a few Nevada Barr books and enjoyed them because each one takes place in a different US National Park. This one, however, takes place in New Orleans which does have a small National Park in the French Quarter. I recently visited New Orleans and I started listening to this before I left. I'm glad I hadn't gotten too far into the book while I was there though. It paints a pretty scary picture of the city.Anna is visiting a friend who works for NPS in New Orleans. Her friend rents out part of her house to a young man who hangs out with the street kids during the day and works at a strip club on Bourbon Street at night. There is also another story about a woman from Seattle whose life has come apart. Her husband left her with the nanny and then her children disappear. While she is rousing the neighbours her house explodes. However the firefighters find her husband's body in bed and the bodies of her two little girls in their beds. She is about to be charged with their murder when she manages to escape.Finally these two stories come together in a tale of child prostitution and molestation that will make you wonder if anyone can be trusted. Pretty disturbing stuff. I thought New Orleans was charming but I'm sure if you scratch the surface of any city you will find all kinds of horror.
    • 4/5
      WoW! Quite interesting. I have never read such a book. It was hard to get into at the start because of the way Nevada uses a new chapter to flip between characters. I think my problem was because I let a few days lapse between readings which, made it hard to remember just what was going on. Once I committed myself to reading it, things got much clearer ... and WoW! Did I say that already?This is a great book. I admit I got a bit creeped out in certain parts (like when it described what the children were seen doing). I think it set images in my mind that I'll never get rid of. I'm sure this really happens and that's just too much to swallow.Anyway, WONDERFUL book, Nevada! I definitely give it a thumbs up!
    • 2/5
      The only Nevada Barr book that I truly did not like. Maybe because it wasn't in a national park and she wasn't Ranger Anna? I never grew attached to Jordan/Clare and didn't find myself caring whether or not she got her children back. As someone who loves the religious undercurrent of New Orleans, I did enjoy those parts
    • 5/5
      All of you naysayers just don't want to accept the truth - humans are a failed species. You whiny people are the reason monsters like this get away with this type of thing - - you CHOOSE TO IGNORE THE TRUTH. This sort of thing --- IT IS YOUR FAULT FOR IGNORING IT! Nevada Barr does an EXCEPTIONAL job of telling the truth about horrors that are the horrible, devastating truth. If you can't stand it? Do something about it. Find these people. Kill them. They don't deserve to live.

      Ms Barr has taken on a horrific subject and made it real. The people that really disturb me? The blind idiots who gave the book a bad review. This is a desperately important issue, one that is ignored, denied, and swept under the rug by people who would just as soon pretend it doesn't happen. If you stick your fingers in your ears and hum really loud, it will just all go away, right? R i i i i g h t......

      I had a minister tell me once upon a time that things like this simply didn't happen - that humans were too "Godly" for this to ever happen, and that I was a monster for saying it did. Yes, and Santa comes down the chimney, the Tooth Fairy delivers quarters, and the man with the van really only wants to give your child a piece of candy - he never would really hurt a fly, right? Yes, dear morons, it happens, and No, it isn't a 'curable disability' it is a monstrous, horrific twist to the psyche that is incurable, other than with a needle in the arm or in "Old Sparky" (too good a fate) or by burning slowly at a rotisserie operated stake (much more like it).

      Thank you, thank you, Ms Barr, for writing "Burn". Yes, the reviews of many are stupid, simplistic, blind and cruel. I wonder what these same people would say if it were THEIR children who were taken and used in this manner?

      Ms Barr does an exceptional job of pulling off the cover of banality and blindness and writing a book which brings these horrors to life. To say true, I had sort of gotten bored with Anna. As she has gotten older, she has gotten stodgy and dull (sort of like the rest of us). None of her stories, in my estimation, really addressed anything truly important any longer. It was more like running around telling you about state parks and having fights. Apparently, Ms Barr was a bit bored with Anna herself, and decided to do something deeply worthwhile with her character. Hooray for her! The book is absolutely fantastic, and, hopefully, will bring attention to an issue that Americans have ignored for far too long.
      If the book opens the eyes of only a few, it will be worth the effort she put into writing a deep, intelligent, and worthwhile book.

      What if it were YOUR child?
    • 4/5
      Anna Pigeon is back, and she is in New Orleans on leave from the NPS. Anna not working has been the modus operandi for the most recent two Pigeon books. However, that does not mean that Anna is idle. She involves herself with a fugitive mother from Seattle who is accused of killing her husband and two children by setting fire to their house. Child slavery and pornography figure heavily into the plot as well as all of the craziness that is New Orleans, including voodoo. While it's not a book for the squeamish, Barr has written a very suspenseful story. I had to walk away from it for awhile just to give my nervous system a rest. Then there's the matter of Anna's marriage to Paul. Are they or aren't they? Only the next book may tell.
    • 4/5
      Another winner from Nevada Barr. The subject matter is dark and disturbing, but there's such a brilliant thread of light, hope, and determination that runs through it. The book switches POV between Anna and another character, which is atypical for the series, but it works, and it makes for a vivid, effective story about survival and sheer will.
    • 3/5
      I enjoy a good thriller, and I have enjoyed a number of Nevada Barr's previous thrillers about National Park Ranger Anna Pigeon, but I didn't enjoy this one. The National Park setting is incidental, Anna Pigeon is a secondary character, and the case in question is a particularly gruesome one - think "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" levels of abuse, only worse.I think the law of diminishing returns might have caught up with Anna Pigeon as a character.
    • 4/5
      I started this book two or three years ago but the first 25% were so slow and boring that I just couldn't finish it. Now I gave it a second chance and after the first few chapters the story was much better. Still, I would like it to be less Jenner introspections and more action. The plot and characters were nice.
    • 5/5
      Pedophiles, park ranger, actress all get together to keep you in suspense throughout.
    • 4/5
      Anna is in New Orleans on leave trying to recover from her last horrible case and visiting a blind friend. The two women mus break a child sex trafficking ring and catch a pedophile. Unusual for an Anna story as it's set in the city, is darker and more violent. Heartbreaking, disgusting and realistic. Anna's love life complicated and deepens her character.
    • 4/5
      Another entertaining story featuring Anna Pigeon. This woman never has a dull moment. On a mental health break from the National Forest Service, Anna visits a friend in New Orleans. Immediately, she is immersed in life and death child sex trade/trafficking. Instead of the wilderness, Anna is against the inner city element and police corruption.I enjoy Neveda Barr's writing. The dialogue is witty, sometimes to the point of being almost unnatural in its flow and delivery. But that rarely interferes with the story. Barr's love for nature and animals (particularly dogs--my favorite) shines through. I will continue to read the series.
    • 4/5
      It's been a long time since I read this book but I have read the entire series, up until the most current book and I really like it. I love how the series is set outdoors in the different parks. If you like C.J. Box, then you'll like Barr too.
    • 3/5
      Cael Traylor is a super-hero: he's gorgeous, speaks lots of languages (including "Southern"), has limitless martial skills, and was trained by no less than Mossad. Nowadays, he and his team - all of whom are unusually good-looking, smart, well-heeled and fun to be around - take assignments in surveillance. Jenner Redwine is a former blue-collar worker who won one of the biggest lotteries anywhere and is now rich enough to buy a small country, but she hasn't found a place where she seems to fit. Jenner gets in Cael's way, literally - his team was supposed to be in her stateroom on a cruise, but the paranoid bad guy arranges a swap at the last minute. Cael solves this in true "Romanceland" style: her friend is kidnapped onshore, and Cael kidnaps her on the cruise. She must pretend to be in love, giving him an excuse to be in her stateroom, and there are endless situations that develop, including the feisty heroine handcuffed to the muscular hero all night.

      That said, if you are a Howard fan this book will probably be a struggle to get through in the middle of the book, but keep going. The end is good.
    • 4/5
      Good book. Good characters. Enjoyed it the whole thing!
    • 4/5
      I've been disappointed in most of LH's more recent releases, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It reminded me quite a bit of All the Queen's Men. Kind of light on the romance and heavy on the storyline, but still oddly satisfying.

      I was concerned that the resolution between Jenner and Cael wouldn't be quite satisfactory, but I was pleased with the way it turned out. I felt we got to know both characters and they worked well together.

      The storyline was interesting b/c it took place almost exclusively on a cruise ship. The suspense plot didn't contain much mystery - the villain was introduced almost immediately - but it still worked. I'm sure if I thought long enough I could find plenty of holes in the story, but the truth is I was entertained enough that I didn't care.