The Burning Air

December 17, 2012
In this tension-filled suspense novel from Kelly (The Dark Rose), when the members of the MacBride family gather in Devon to scatter the ashes of wife, mother, grandmother, and magistrate Lydia, after her agonizing death from cancer, it becomes clear that all is not well. The usually sober father—retired headmaster Rowan—is unaccountably drunk; daughter Sophie and son-in-law Will may have reached an impasse because of an affair and a breakdown; mixed-race grandson Jake has been in trouble with the law; and disfigured son Felix has a beautiful new girlfriend whose initial silence unsettles everyone. The disappearance of baby Edie, cryptic excerpts from Lydia’s diaries, and the narrative of an individual perhaps wronged by the MacBrides indicate that family secrets can have far-reaching implications. While a bigger payoff regarding Lydia and Rowan’s actions would have been welcome, skillfully drawn characters and masterful building of suspense, which reaches a literally searing climax, will leave most readers well satisfied. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.

Starred review from December 15, 2012
Kelly has hit her stride in this third outing, a classic dark thriller combining suspense with gorgeous, evocative prose. Told from the perspectives of four individuals, this story is British journalist Kelly's third offering and by far her most inventive novel. Set in England, the tale involves a close-knit family named MacBride, whose members soon become the focus of a pathological mission to destroy them. It starts with Lydia, beloved mother of the clan and magistrate of the court, who is dying. Lydia confesses in one of the diaries she's kept most of her life a deed so terrible and life altering that she realizes if her family reads it, the contents would forever change them. But she doesn't plan on that happening since she intends to destroy all of her diaries before the end arrives. Meanwhile, the rest of the MacBride family continues on with their lives: Her disfigured son, Felix, once a happy and handsome child, brings a mysterious woman into their midst. Sophie, the oldest daughter and mother of three boys and a baby girl, struggles with her once-perfect marriage to Will. And Tara, mother of the mixed-race teen, Jake, seems to finally be happy with her boyfriend, Matt, a surrogate father to Jake. Rowan, the former schoolmaster, mourns his wife but takes great joy in his grandkids. And the entire group comes together at the traditional family getaway near a remote village, where cellphones won't work and no electronics are allowed. It is there and in both Saxby and London that a tale of unreasonable, sustained hatred and revenge bubbles up, threatening to tear the happy family apart and leave them with a wound that will never heal. With writing so seductive and multiple voices that are pitch-perfect for the characters she's created, Kelly shows that she is a writer who doesn't need to keep repeating herself to stay in the game. A book that will consume the reader as fully as the bonfire set by the novel's characters.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 15, 2012
The MacBride family has only known privilege and successfather Rowan is headmaster at the elite Saxby School, matriarch Lydia is a respected magistrate, and their grown children have been afforded the luxury of being able to do as they please in life. When Lydia dies from cancer, a sinister chill takes over the family, and not just because they are in mourningDarcy, a mysterious figure from their past, has decided to exact revenge against the entire clan. Born in poverty to a deranged mother, Darcy was denied a scholarship to Saxby and has vowed revenge on the MacBrides, holding them responsible for every little thing that's gone wrong since then. As the family gathers at their rural vacation home to spread Lydia's ashes, they are unaware that their tormentor has put mechanisms in place to bring them down one by one. As with her previous psychological thrillers, Kelly (The Dark Rose, 2011) shows a knack for creating realistic, creepy characters that make readers squirm. Fans of Gillian Flynn, Tana French, and Ruth Rendell will be lining up to read this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)