Burn Out

July 7, 2008
After the travails of The Ever-Running Man
(2007), Sharon McCone retreats to her high desert ranch near Yosemite in MWA Grand Master Muller's fine 26th novel to feature the San Francisco PI. Depressed, bored and uncertain about her future in a dangerous business, McCone is unwittingly drawn into a local case—the murder of Hayley Perez, the estranged niece of ranch manager Ramon Perez, and the disappearance of Hayley's teenage sister, Amy, and their alcoholic mother, Miri. As she looks into the Perezes' relationships, McCone uncovers secrets that hint at more than simply family dysfunction. Two more murders and a suicide add to the confusion, which McCone can only untangle, with the help of her husband and her Shoshone birth relatives, by tracing the victims' complex past. By the upbeat ending, McCone has learned that with judicious use of both her investigative and executive skills she can reshape her life.

Laura Hicks gives us the strong narration we need to believe in the power of detective Sharon McCone. McCone herself, recovering from a narrow escape from death, wonders if her detecting days are over. We are less surprised than the heroine when her caring nature leads to her involvement with a troubled Native American family. As McCone unearths a series of bodies, she gives up her reluctance to sleuth and uncovers a web of hookers, millionaires, and more. The story has a large cast of characters, but Hicks shows a gift for differentiating and insightfully presenting each one in a series of vignettes that add to this high-speed adventure. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine