Goodnight, Irene

Rating:
Summary: Irene's a Winner!
Review: Back in 1955, a young woman was found murdered on the beach in Las Piernas, California. Her face was destroyed and her hands and feet cut off so that she couldn't be identified. The police dubbed her Hannah and were never able to close the case. Newspaperman, O'Connor wrote the original stories back then and has never given up on finding the identity of this Jane Doe. Every year, on the anniversary of her murder, he writes his now famous "Hannah" column. But not this year. Several days before his annual article will come out, O'Connor is killed on his front porch by a package bomb. Now his dearest friend and protege, Irene Kelly, is on a mission to find out why. As she and the police begin to investigate, going back over O'Connor's notes and files, it seems he was just about ready to break this very old case wide open and pretty soon Irene finds out first hand that there are people who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried forever..... Jan Burke has written a terrific, well paced debut mystery, easily read in one sitting, full of vivid scenes and enough twists and turns to keep you off balance and guessing to the end. Her writing is down to earth, her characters, real and her dialogue, very true to life. This is the start of a terrific, fun series and once you've met Irene, you'll want to read them all.

Rating:
Summary: Irene's a Winner!
Review: Back in 1955, a young woman was found murdered on the beach in Las Piernas, California. Her face was destroyed and her hands and feet cut off so that she couldn't be identified. The police dubbed her Hannah and were never able to close the case. Newspaperman, O'Connor wrote the original stories back then and has never given up on finding the identity of this Jane Doe. Every year, on the anniversary of her murder, he writes his now famous "Hannah" column. But not this year. Several days before his annual article will come out, O'Connor is killed on his front porch by a package bomb. Now his dearest friend and protege, Irene Kelly, is on a mission to find out why. As she and the police begin to investigate, going back over O'Connor's notes and files, it seems he was just about ready to break this very old case wide open and pretty soon Irene finds out first hand that there are people who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried forever..... Jan Burke has written a terrific, well paced debut mystery, easily read in one sitting, full of vivid scenes and enough twists and turns to keep you off balance and guessing to the end. Her writing is down to earth, her characters, real and her dialogue, very true to life. This is the start of a terrific, fun series and once you've met Irene, you'll want to read them all.

Rating:
Summary: hello Irene!
Review: Great mystery! Picked it up secondhand, but am now rushing to buy all the rest. Lots of intrigue, and for once I didn't guess "whodunit" halfway through. Like Cornwell and Hillerman, Jan Burke has constructed a believable main protagonist with a well-rounded background--she's not just a puppet in service to the case at hand. Lots of intrigue, but not as hard-edged, as say, Cornwell's books. I'm looking forward to following her through other mysteries. If you're a fan of the genre, I'll bet you'll get hooked on Irene too!

Rating:
Summary: hello Irene!
Review: Great mystery! Picked it up secondhand, but am now rushing to buy all the rest. Lots of intrigue, and for once I didn't guess "whodunit" halfway through. Like Cornwell and Hillerman, Jan Burke has constructed a believable main protagonist with a well-rounded background--she's not just a puppet in service to the case at hand. Lots of intrigue, but not as hard-edged, as say, Cornwell's books. I'm looking forward to following her through other mysteries. If you're a fan of the genre, I'll bet you'll get hooked on Irene too!

Rating:
Summary: A fast, fun read
Review: I found the book to be fast paced and highly entertaining. I picked it up for casual reading but it became a one-sitting read that had me up late because I just couldn't put it down. From the opening chapter of the book, the plot does not stop barreling ahead(although in a movie-ish bang 'em up and shoot 'em out kind of way). The ending also has the obligatory twist that I normally expect, but just didn't see coming in this book. Hard core mystery fans may not find it meaty enough, but I found it a great quick read and I'll definitely read the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: A fast, fun read
Review: I found the book to be fast paced and highly entertaining. I picked it up for casual reading but it became a one-sitting read that had me up late because I just couldn't put it down. From the opening chapter of the book, the plot does not stop barreling ahead(although in a movie-ish bang 'em up and shoot 'em out kind of way). The ending also has the obligatory twist that I normally expect, but just didn't see coming in this book. Hard core mystery fans may not find it meaty enough, but I found it a great quick read and I'll definitely read the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Book
Review: I got this to read for a trip, and am very sorry I did. I can't believe anyone ever gave this a good review. It is so bad! First of all, "Irene Kelly" is a very pale, bland rip-off of Kay Scarpetta without half her intelligence or personality. Second of all, the plot is completely predictable, trite and stereotypical. There is not one shred of originality in the entire thing. Third, the writing, as other reviewers have pointed out, is so bad it is unbelieveable that this ever went through an editor and got published. I think this is just someone who has succeeded in stealing Patricia Cornwell's formula, but without one tenth of her talent. Don't waste your money!

Rating:
Summary: Gonna read them all now!
Review: I read NINE because Amazon recommended it. I liked it so much that I thought I'd give the Irene Kelly series a try and I enjoyed the first one. I imagine her writing gets better (it did in NINE) - this story is a little dated (they use pay phones not cell phones, use the term "yuppies" - stuff like that). I am going to read the next in the series - I found the main characters real and likeable.

Rating:
Summary: Gonna read them all now!
Review: I read NINE because Amazon recommended it. I liked it so much that I thought I'd give the Irene Kelly series a try and I enjoyed the first one. I imagine her writing gets better (it did in NINE) - this story is a little dated (they use pay phones not cell phones, use the term "yuppies" - stuff like that). I am going to read the next in the series - I found the main characters real and likeable.

Rating:
Summary: A Knockout Debut!
Review: If my review prompts just one person to check out this new series, I will be happy indeed. In this first book, Irene Kelly goes back to her old job as reporter after the bombing murder of O'Connor, her best friend and former mentor at the newspaper. It seems that O'Connor had been about to make a breakthrough on a thirty-five year old case of an unidentified murder victim. The victim was a young, pregnant woman. Her hands and feet had been cut off and her face smashed to prevent identification. When Irene and Frank Harriman of the Las Piernas police become involved in the case, bodies start piling up too fast to keep count. Ms Burke's theme seems to be that past misdeeds will always come back to haunt us. This is a theme that also echoes through her work in later books. If you're a mystery fan, you definitely should check out this new series. It's well written, with fine character development, and intelligent plotting. I highly recommend it.