Once Burned: A Jack McMorrow Mystery (A Jack McMorrow Mystery, 10) - Hardcover

Boyle, Gerry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1939017602 ISBN 13: 9781939017604

Publisher: Islandport Press, 2015

Synopsis

Life is briefly as it should be for Jack McMorrow: He and his wife Roxanne have retreated from the stress and danger of their day jobs to raise their daughter Sophie. But when development and arson threaten the nearby town of Sanctuary, and a crazy accident brings back mistakes from Roxanne’s past, Jack’s nose for crime leads him into a darker and deeply twisted tale. Something explosive is smoldering beneath the glossy facades and picturesque town square in Sanctuary, and the enemy is closer than he thinks. In Once Burned, the tenth installment of the internationally popular McMorrow series, Jack will take you along as he hunts a killer with a long memory and a very short fuse.

About this title

About the Author

Like many crime novelists, Gerry Boyle began his writing career in newspapers―the best training ground ever. After Colby College, he knocked around, including stints as a roofer, a postman, and a manuscript reader at a big New York publisher. His first reporting job was with a weekly in the paper mill town of Rumford, Maine. After a few months it was on to the (Waterville, Maine) Morning Sentinel, where editors learned early on that he worked best when left to his own devices. He wrote about stuff he saw in police stations, courtrooms, in the towns and cities of Maine. Deadline came out in 1993. With an assist from Robert B. Parker, he landed a top-flight literary agent and the books came steadily after that. McMorrow and Boyle grew up together, though at different rates.

Review

Plot, characterization, atmosphere... everything works in Boyle's excellent 10th Jack McMorrow mystery (after 2010's Damaged Goods). Needing a story to sell to the New York Times, freelance crime reporter McMorrow begins investigating minor cases of arson in the town of Sanctuary, Maine, anointed a hidden treasure by a travel magazine and about to become a real estate bonanza. But the fires grow larger as the arsonist's self-control crumbles, while townspeople's ugly prejudices emerge as they try to preserve their community's seemingly perfect image. Meanwhile, McMorrow is increasingly concerned at how his social worker wife, Roxanne, is letting a disturbed young woman, Beth, insinuate herself into their home; Beth confuses her dead child with their trusting five-year-old daughter, Sophie. As McMorrow keeps stirring the pot, people start dying. Readers who enjoyed Robert B. Parker's ability to create smart, convincing heroes with a tough-guy surface but warmly empathetic interior will welcome this worthy successor. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

The details are crisp, the writing is concise, and Boyle's keen observational skills come across in the character and dialogue.
Steve Steinbeck, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

A taught, gripping story that gets more intriguing by the minute. --The Miramichi Reader

Once Burned is a well-written, suspenseful thriller. Its characters are uniquely different from one to the next. Boyle weaves his double-plot story with skill until all lines cross...Boyle skillfully creates unique characters you'll remember long after closing his book...Once Burned is action-packed with carefully drawn, memorable characters. --Lloyd Ferriss, Portland Press Herald

About this edition

• Publisher: Islandport Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1939017602
• ISBN 13: 9781939017604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368