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dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
P.I. Janelle Watkins left finding missing children behind after a failure that led to her leaving the San Francisco PD. Or so she thought. Now she's back in the town where she grew up, on the trail of two missing boys. Can she overcome her personal demons long enough to find the boys and bring their abductor(s) to justice?
I got this courtesy of Angry Robot/Exhibit A and Netgalley.
Karen Sandler has been around for a while but this is her first detective novel. I hope she sticks to writing detective novels from now on.
Janelle Watkins won me over right away, from her injured leg, to her dysfunctional childhood and subsequent psychological issues, to her sassy black secretary. About halfway through the first chapter, I started measuring Janelle Watkins and Clean Burn against Carol Starkey and [b:Demolition Angel|241937|Demolition Angel|Robert Crais|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344368484s/241937.jpg|1945124]. Janelle held her own.
The comparison to Demolition Angel proved to be an apt one. Watkins and Starkey are both damaged heroines, Watkins from her dysfunctional childhood and the accident that saw her get chained to a desk with a bum leg and Starkey from the bomb blast that killed her partner/lover and left her off the bomb squad. They both also have bad coping mechanisms: Starkey loves the sauce and Watkins burns herself with match heads. They're both strong ladies when the chips are down.
Watkins' cases take her to her old home town of Greenville and back into her past, confronting both memories of her childhood and the sheriff, her old partner on the SFPD with whom she had an affair. Ken, the sheriff, is working on arson cases. The two inevitably team up and find themselves up against a serial kidnapper/nutcase called Mama.
Things develop along the usual thriller-y lines, chasing down leads and moving closer to the inevitable hookup, a standard trope for the genre. It all came together at the end and the last 30% was nearly impossible to put down.
It was right on the line between three and four so I gave it a four, the same rating I gave Demolition Angel. When's the next Janelle Watkins book coming out?
I got this courtesy of Angry Robot/Exhibit A and Netgalley.
Karen Sandler has been around for a while but this is her first detective novel. I hope she sticks to writing detective novels from now on.
Janelle Watkins won me over right away, from her injured leg, to her dysfunctional childhood and subsequent psychological issues, to her sassy black secretary. About halfway through the first chapter, I started measuring Janelle Watkins and Clean Burn against Carol Starkey and [b:Demolition Angel|241937|Demolition Angel|Robert Crais|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344368484s/241937.jpg|1945124]. Janelle held her own.
The comparison to Demolition Angel proved to be an apt one. Watkins and Starkey are both damaged heroines, Watkins from her dysfunctional childhood and the accident that saw her get chained to a desk with a bum leg and Starkey from the bomb blast that killed her partner/lover and left her off the bomb squad. They both also have bad coping mechanisms: Starkey loves the sauce and Watkins burns herself with match heads. They're both strong ladies when the chips are down.
Watkins' cases take her to her old home town of Greenville and back into her past, confronting both memories of her childhood and the sheriff, her old partner on the SFPD with whom she had an affair. Ken, the sheriff, is working on arson cases. The two inevitably team up and find themselves up against a serial kidnapper/nutcase called Mama.
Things develop along the usual thriller-y lines, chasing down leads and moving closer to the inevitable hookup, a standard trope for the genre. It all came together at the end and the last 30% was nearly impossible to put down.
It was right on the line between three and four so I gave it a four, the same rating I gave Demolition Angel. When's the next Janelle Watkins book coming out?
shelleyrae's review
4.0
Clean Burn is a gripping crime fiction novel introducing Private Investigator Janelle Watkins. An injured ex-cop, Janelle mostly makes a living from exposing cheating spouses but a personal plea for help has her reluctantly agreeing to search for two missing children. The cases seem unconnected but both lead Janelle to her hometown of Greenville where she enlists the aid of her ex-partner, and ex-lover, Sheriff Ken Heinz. Heinz has his hands full with a series of arson attacks in the small town but when two more children go missing, and a fire is discovered at each scene, Janelle begins to suspect their cases are connected...
Psychologically and physically damaged heroines are increasingly common in crime fiction, and Janelle Watkins is no exception. Her personal history of abuse at the hands of her father has led to an unhealthy fascination with fire, she regularly burns herself with matches to, among other things, relieve stress. PTSD from a previous case involving a murdered boy is also a factor in Janelle's fragile emotional make-up and the reason she attempts to refuse her client's pleas for help. In addition an accidental firearm discharge by a rookie cop all but destroyed her leg, leaving her with a painful limp, and forced her resignation from the police force. Despite Janelle's self loathing and disturbing affinity for fire, I found her a likeable protagonist. She is both a sympathetic character and an admirable one, many would have buckled under the weight of dysfunction Janelle is forced to live with.
While much of the novel is narrated in Janelle's first person voice, a third person perspective fills in the missing pieces of the story. In terms of the plot, the reader knows from the start of the link between the missing children and the fires, something which is not immediately obvious to Janelle. Janelle's painstaking investigation to identify the abductors is believable, and the tension remains consistent, especially as we are privy to 'Mama's' increasingly disordered behaviour and the circumstances in which the children are being kept.
Clean Burn is grim at times, delving into family dysfunction, child abuse, addiction and pyromania but there are lighter moments. Janelle's secretary isn't afraid to speak her mind and Ken's niece is as rebellious as all teen's are. There is also the relationship between Janelle and Ken which sizzles with unresolved attraction.
This is a promising debut series from an author better known for her Silhouette Romance novels. Despite its dysfunctional characters and dark themes, Clean Burn is an entertaining read. I was engrossed and I'm looking forward to Janelle's next case.
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