Burn by Ted Dekker & Erin Healy

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Copyright: January 2010

Pages: 384

Book Source: Review copy courtesy of Phenix & Phenix Publicists

The past Janeal thought had burned away is rising from the ashes.
Years ago, the Gypsy Kumpania where Janeal Mikkado lived was attacked by outsiders. With her best friend about to be consumed by a fire, Janeal had two options: try to save her friend--at serious risk to her own life--or disappear with the million dollars that she had just discovered . . .

But the past is quickly coming back to haunt her. Both the best friend and the boyfriend that she was sure were dead have reappeared in her life, as has someone who knows about the money. There's a debt to be paid for the money she found, but there's an even greater debt she must face--and if the chaff isn't burned from her own heart, it will consume her.

Review: Burn is a thrilling and unusual suspense novel with page-turning pace and a supernatural twist that I really didn't see coming. It's also my first Ted Dekker novel and although I was unaware at the time of reading, my first foray into Christian suspense. While the story drew me in from the first page, I wasn't able to make the emotional connection with the characters I had hoped for. The intensity and intricacies of the plot carried me through the pages to the totally unexpected and thematic ending.

I found Janeal to be an unlikeable protaganist and I think that may possibly be because the authors intended the reader to feel a little uncomfortable with the decisions Janeal made. Janeal's best friend Katie is much more relatable, as is her boyfriend Robert but once again, this may have been because I found their life choices more palatable. The antagonist, drug lord Sanso is the ultimate bad guy with no redeeming qualities whatsoever but fittingly evil. On a whole, the characters are strong and complex, but individually they're not as compelling as I would have liked.

Burn had an intense thematic undercurrent that got me thinking about the message the authors were trying to convey. Burn is about choices, about life-altering decisions and the consequences that arise from those decisions. Decisions that must ultimately be faced, no matter how far or fast you run or how well you hide from them initially. It's about the capacity we all have for loyalty or betrayal. If choices were presented as purely good or evil then the choice for Janeal may have been easier but as in life, this novel explores the grey area in between. The cover of Burn is striking and the significance is clear after reading the novel.

About the authors: Ted Dekker and Erin Healy, best selling co-authors of Kiss, reunite for Burn. Dekker is the best selling author of more than 20 books, visit www.teddekker.com/ to find out more. Healy will release her first stand-alone novel in May 2010. Visit http://www.erinhealy/ for more information.