Disturbance

Irene Kelly #11

by Marianne Kavanagh

You don't know what's going on in Sara's house... Or in her head.
Sara is lonely. No one talks to her - not even her bad-tempered workaholic husband or her two beloved sons. Her solace is her house, the biggest in the village, hidden away behind high hedges.
Then she strikes up a friendship with Katie, a college student living nearby, and a new world opens up. Her neighbours have been dying to get to know her, and they rush to help when Sara is devastated by a terrible accident.
But nothing is quite what it seems. And when new betrayals and shocking revelations disturb her peace, Sara realises she has no choice: she must act to protect the safety of those she loves.
***
'So subtly done, and well achieved, and horrifyingly, hilariously believable - just the blackest of delights.' Jenn Ashworth, author of Fell
'A massively enjoyable book - creepy, funny, surprising and absolutely unputdownable... My only wish is that I hadn't finished it so quickly.' Daisy Waugh
'I raced through it. Dark, tense and very twisty.' Tamsin Grey, author of She's Not There

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Crime

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2011

About the author

Marianne Kavanagh is a writer and journalist. She has worked on staff for Woman, the Tatler, the Sunday Telegraph magazine and British Marie Claire, and has contributed features to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and websites. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read "Should You Ask Me" by Marianne Kavanagh and thoroughly enjoyed reading it, so I was very keen to read her latest book "Disturbance" as the premise had me very intrigued.
"Sara lives with her entrepreneurial husband and sons, university bound James and autistic Edward, in the Old Rectory, a large house hidden behind tall trees in a small village. Mike perceived to be the doting father and loving husband is becoming increasingly irritable and angry, while Sara feels lonely and isolated. When eighteen year old student Katie offers to dog walk for Sara, a new friendship develops. Katie is full of energy and vibrancy, the complete contrast to Sara. After a shocking accident occurs and Mike's sister arrives from Australia asking awkward questions, disturbing truths start to emerge. Nothing is what it seems. A story about secrets within a marriage, lies and pressure that cause relationships to crack, this book is an extraordinary psychological drama about fragility and revenge with twists you won't see coming"
I find Marianne's writing style very natural and is so easy to read and to follow. Her characters are always exceptionally portrayed and people you can really relate to. I wholeheartedly sympathised with Sara and what she appeared to endure within her marriage but as the book progressed the element of suspicion and the feeling of unease makes you stop and rethink what you think you know.
Superbly crafted and frighteningly believable this is a truly unputdownable book that keeps you turning pages well after you should have put lights out! I'd easily and happily recommend "Disturbance" and the author generally, I will be reading more by her and wish her every success with this fabulously written family drama.
4.5 stars

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I enjoyed this book immensely. The concept, the execution, everything was perfectly delivered for maximum impact. It's not one of those fast and ferocious novels but instead, it's subtle, dark and brooding with a distinct menacing undertone and a slow build-up of tension. It's well written and intelligently plotted, so much so that I simply couldn't stop reading. The evocative descriptions of the challenges pertaining to family life and the rural small-town community where everyone knows everyone else business made this a pleasure to pick up. The intricate detail and acute observations that feature throughout creates a special atmosphere and you never knew exactly where it was heading.

The narrative is sprinkled with sardonic humour that is welcome especially as it becomes more chilling and disturbing and we see the facades crumbling to reveal peoples true nature. The characters are each memorable in their own way. This is a refreshingly original domestic/family drama, and Kavanagh grabs your attention from the very beginning and holds it throughout. It also highlights the lengths someone will go to in order to protect their family unit. Essentially, it turns out to be a meditation on the topics of obsession, possessiveness and manipulation and a warning about the dangerous nature of gossip and assumption.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbance is the fourth novel by British journalist and author, Marianne Kavanagh. It is years since Sara Porter's marriage has been idyllic, but when a back injury forces Mike to work from the couch at home, it hits a new low. Mike has never been particularly patient, but the pain turns him into a difficult, irascible, demanding bully. He expects Sara to give up her job with a legal firm to cater to his every whim.

Sara is grateful that village teenager, Katie’s dog walking service seems to curb Bundle’s manic backyard barking and, before long, she is relying on Katie’s support in other areas. Managing the big Old Rectory, her two teenaged sons (one on the autism spectrum) and Mike is a challenge, even when Mike returns to work part-time.

When, thanks to Katie’s involvement, Sara begins to interact with the villagers, she’s at first wary, but soon accepts that their concern and advice is benign, although she always plays down Mike’s belligerent behaviour, his pain as the excuse. She’s going to need their support when tragedy strikes.

Kavanagh’s depiction of the modern English village is an excellent one, and if some of the villagers seem rather stereotypical, it is worth remembering that, due to several factors, not the least of these being her stressful circumstances, Sara's narrative may not be entirely reliable. This story deftly demonstrates the power of gossip in the village setting. Without including spoilers, it is difficult to say much more about this story, except that it is brilliantly plotted, the psychopath is very well portrayed and it has a deliciously ambiguous ending. An utterly superb read!

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very impressed at how quickly this novel drew me in, I started reading it then before I knew it I was done and nodding my head in appreciation at the execution of it.
At first glance this is a slow burner of a domestic drama as we follow the day to day life of Sara, living in a small community but keeping herself separate from it as she deals with a husband in pain and angry about it, looks after her more challenging son and tries to keep things peaceful. She meets Katie, dog walker and college student and before she knows it she becomes enmeshed in village life.
Disturbance is a quietly observant and clever novel, the further into it you get the more it starts to intrigue. The author captures the gossip and nosiness of a small community perfectly, with little intricate details and often ironic humour, placing her main protagonist right at the centre of it. Then slowly she starts to reveal a darker side, a truth that rises to the surface in small, seemingly insignificant events and actions, until you see clearly what has been right in front of you all along.
This isn’t a book with a twist you won’t see coming this is a book where you will be unsure whether it will or not, it is an intelligent plot with memorable characters and a real emotional feel to it. I loved every minute of it. Nice to be challenged in a different way and I’ll probably read it again with hindsight.
Recommend.

[Sarah]

I don’t think this book was for me at all. It was too slow and dull for me. Not much happening and I normally like more of a fast pace book.

[Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent portrayal of the minutiae of family and village life with an ominous undertone but a let down of a twist.

The synopsis for Disturbance indicates that readers are to expect some kind of domestic thriller, but for a considerable period it is simply a pitch-perfect portrayal of family and village life with a palpable sense of unease running through it. Reading this from the perspective of a crime thriller I suspect my disappointment in the twist was more to do with the fact that I had spent the previous ninety percent of the book anticipating something that cast the set-up in a very different light and hence it was an anti-climax. For me the synopsis gives too much away and encourages the reader to look for things not being all they appear and therein lies the problem.

The story begins when Sara Parsons gets a call telling her that belligerent and workaholic husband, Mike, has injured his back at work and this sets in motion a lengthy and painful recuperation process. With overbearing and autocratic Mike working from home, cursing, ranting and raving at Sara as she runs around on his behalf and generally poisoning the air with his belittling attitude to his wife, tensions are running high. With eighteen-year-old and eldest son, James, keen to move out and go to university and twelve-year-old autistic and highly sensitive son, Edward, dependent on routine and unable to support his mother, Sara is pushed to the brink of exhaustion and desperately lonely. Forced to give up her job to assist Mike’s recovery she appears the living embodiment of a saint...

Resident in an isolated and spacious Georgian rectory shielded by high hedges for the past two decades, shy Sara has rarely entered into the local village and it takes the unexpected arrival of eager to please innocent young student, Katie, offering to walk the family’s springer spaniel that opens up her world. Lacking in self-confidence and full of admiration for Sara a friendship develops with Katie introducing Sara to the villagers and vice verse with a liberal spreading of two-way gossip. With Katie in an on/off relationship with the unsuitable Danny and Mike demanding a celebratory fiftieth-birthday party at the rectory their mutual support for each other strengthens their burgeoning friendship and Sara comes to rely on Katie for the sake of her sanity. But when an unexpected tragedy strikes and the locals rally round to support Sara the arrival of Mike’s antagonistic sister, Ursula, and a series of malicious rumours and betrayals suddenly gives the whole village an air of suspicion and Sara is forced to make some stark choices.

It is vaguely embarrassing how quickly I was gripped by what is simply an intimate look at the domestic life surrounding married mother, Sara Parsons, and objectively should be tedious. Hearing about husband Mike’s back pain, Sara’s daily chores and Bundle the dogs barking wouldn’t normally hold my attention but when accompanied by a brooding and dark vein of menace it reeled me. From the intimacy of the narrative, distinctly dry edge of humour and the occasional mention of the police or bitter Ursula, the foreshadowing heightens intrigue. Likewise, the character development of Sara is hard to find fault with however if you spot the direction Disturbance is going in fairly early on then the denouement may whimper out as opposed to knocking your socks off and that was the problem for me. Still, I wouldn’t have missed this engaging domestic drama/thriller for anything and was thoroughly entertained with Sara, Katie and village life!

[Elite Group]

Disturbance by Marianne Kavanagh

4 stars

Unusual family thriller

When Sara’s husband Mike damages his back she knows that her life will become more of a hell than it is already. She is forced to leave her job to look after him and he is a very impatient patient. Everything Sara does is wrong, and he constantly tells her how useless she is. Her only ally is her elder son James, who at 18 is well aware of what is going on.

As well as nursing Mike she has her younger son Edward to look after. Edward is autistic and doesn’t cope well with noise and strange people. Then there is the dog which she has to walk and so Sara is overwhelmed by her situation.

Then she is thrown a lifeline in the form of Katie, a young student who runs her own dog-walking business. Soon Katie becomes part of the family and she sees for herself what Sara is living with and the atmosphere created by Mike’s tempers. Then to add insult to injury he decides he wants to have a big party for his fiftieth birthday and Sara must organise that.

Meanwhile, Sara has managed to make a few friends in the village and they are anxious to talk about the happenings at The Old Rectory. Katie fans the flames by being rather indiscreet, and the gossip mill works overtime.

When tragedy strikes the village come together to support Sara, but there are strange things happening with people’s valuables going missing and an atmosphere of suspicion takes hold, from which no one is safe.

What was an interesting family saga becomes a thriller with a surprise around every corner? The truth becomes blurred as Sara starts to unravel.

This is an intriguing novel with a sting in the tail. I really enjoyed it.

Pashtpaws

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

[Jennifer Jowsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read the entire Irene Kelly series from the time it debuted over 15 years ago. Bones, the precursor to this book (though there were two other Kelly books in between), had been one of my favorites in the series. This book, however, felt like just a trace of Bones, missing the suspense, the action, the fight in Irene. She seems to have become a shadow of herself (but not in a complex or interesting way), jumpy and frightened by every little thing. Having been so long between the books too, I had to try to remember who each of the characters were and how they fit into Irene's life (on the plus side, if you're a regular reader of the series, she doesn't go through a long rehash of who everyone is in each novel; on the negative, if you just pick up a book here and there or haven't read one in awhile, there's a little bit missing, not getting to know the characters). I enjoy her writing, but I didn't find this book particularly exciting or memorable.

[Melet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the ONLY Jan Burke book I have ever rated less than 4.5 stars. She is a great writer, and I have found her work in the past to be original, believable, and thought-provoking. But I didn't get the same vibe from Disturbance. It seemed hurried, like she may have been distracted or rushed when she wrote it. It was sloppy in places, and the major plot concepts in the book were well-worn and tired (sons of a serial killer). I will still read every single book Ms. Burke writes- this one just wasn't her best.

[Kim Ebner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this one cold. I had obviously read the blurb when I first got the book, but that was some months ago now, and when I picked this one up to read it a few days ago, I didn’t read the blurb again. And to be honest, I really think that that’s the best way to read this book. Not knowing what was supposed to happen in the story meant that I was sitting on the edge of my seat as I read it, the reason being that for the majority of this book it seemed that nothing much was happening, but yet I was filled with a sense of unease, like something wasn’t quite right. And boy, was I right about that.

It’s definitely a slow burn of a story, and as mentioned, I spent most of this read wondering where things were going. I really couldn’t tell. There was definitely a slowly increasing tension which was brought about by the slow plodding of the plot. But don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel like giving up and I wasn’t bored, but I just couldn’t work out why things were feeling a little bit off when the story seemed pretty straight forward.

The story line is very cleverly handled by the author. It’s a book where not everything is what is seems. I must say that as I progressed with this read, I started to get a very slight inkling of what was going to happen and it turned out that I was correct which meant that I wasn’t quite as blown away as some others might be. But having said that, I loved this book and the last 50 pages or so were amazing. It’s does take a little bit of patience to read, but if you’re the type of reader that can handle that, you’re going to be rewarded at the end. It’s a gem of a novel and I really enjoyed it.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed previous Irene Kelly books but this one left me cold and I abandoned it a third of the way through. This book is styled as a sequel to the last Kelly installment (Bones), and features the serial killer Nick Parrish who figured so largely in the suspenseful, violent plot of that book. "Bones" ended with Parrish in prison and a paraplegic; at the beginning of this novel, Burke has Parrish undergo a miracle medical recovery and begin walking again, only to coordinate a devious prison breakout. By letting Parrish out and making him mobile again, Burke then styles the rest of the novel around his attempts to get revenge on Irene Kelly with the help of his illegitimate sons (who apparently abound on nearly every street corner of poor Las Piernas).

The unbelievable nature of the plot devices aside (one day a paraplegic, the next walking around as good as new?), I just don't care for books where the plot revolves around an identified villain targeting a specific protagonist -- for me, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. I bailed when continuing felt more like a chore than a pleasure.

[Elaine Mayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Jan Burke for a long time, but this book just didn't do anything for me. The story was contrived with too many almost unbelievable plot devices. If this were the first book of hers that I had read, I would have given up at about page 75 - as it was I slogged my way through it. The last 75 pages or so had the tempo and pace to keep me going to the end. Jan Burke is a very good writer usually, so try 'Bloodlines' if you haven't read it.

[Darlene Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jan Burke is a talented writer, and while this book is well written and I wanted to be engaged, I could not. I found that I was not looking forward to me nightly read, but forced myself to keep going more than half way, but with some many books I'd like to read, I gave up before coming to the end. That was not because it was poorly written, I just wasn't interested in the story. In my opinion, this was not a typical Jan Burke novel.

[Michael Dawson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lost interest, also having no chapters in this story made it difficult to know where I was up to, no character development either.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not her best,drags a lot.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

With thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

Sara worked in a solicitors office and was married to entrepreneur Mike. They lived in The Old Rectory, which the biggest and most secluded house in the village. Along with their sons James and younger brother Edward who was autistic.

The story started when Sara was called to collect Mike from work after injuring his back. Mike was seriously injured and Sara had to go on leave to look after him. Mike tried to carry on working from home but the pain he was in made him angry and emotionally abusive to Sara.

Depressed Sara met Katie a student who had her own dog walking business. Sara employed her to walk her dog Bundle, Sara liked Katie and they quickly became friends. When Katie came to collect Bundle she would hear Mike shouting and belittling Sara. Katie explained that her boyfriend Danny had left her and she was seeing a therapist.

Sara was a private person who kept herself to herself, Katie walked over dogs in the village and introduced Sara to her neighbours. Sara was surprised to learn that her neighbours had always been curious who lived in the big house.

Months later Mike was more mobile and attended a business meeting. He was supposed to spend the night away but came back early because he was in a severe pain. The next day Mike had passed away in his sleep. Sara knew Mike had been depressed and thought he taken his own life. However Ursula his sister came back to the UK from Australia convinced Sara had killed Mike.I

The book wasn't split into chapters, so it was difficult to check how much I had read that day. The plot started as a family drama which turned into a psychological thriller In the second half of the book. The story was a slow burner and the story didn't really pick up for me until the 40% mark.

For me the story didn't get going until Mike died. I enjoyed reading about the villagers and how gossip can quickly spread. I liked Sara and understood what it was like living with someone abusive. As the story progressed I enjoyed reading about how Mike and Sara met and the reasons for Cynthia`s animosity. The ending left a chill down my spine, but it was spoiled by the last paragraph.

I think Disturbance showed promise but I have read better books.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been about a week since I finished the book and I have thought about it every day. A very long book hangover indeed. It is a wonderfully engaging read. I find myself missing the characters and wondering what is happening. I often get a little of this after a book but not to this extent.

In Disturbance we meet Sara a loving mother to two boys who is introverted and shy. Her husband is suffering from back pain and at times in his agony, he can be rather loud and grumpy. Often bringing an air to the house. Sara hasn’t thrown herself into the village life. With social anxiety and a nervous disposition holding her back. Then Katie knocks on her door and Sara’s life changes.

At first, the book reminded me a little of Desperate Housewives but less cheesy and certainly better writing. The idea of how gossip is spread and the impact it has on the people involved. The book is consistently engaging, there is always something new happening and it keeps you turning the pages.

In the 1990’s I remember reading a series of book by an author called Rebecca Shaw. As I started to read Disturbance it reminded slightly of the same vibe. Obviously, because both are set in a village and you get to know the local characters etc, that is where the comparison ends. The Rebecca Shaw books were cosy, upbeat and heartwarming. Disturbance is memorable, nerve-wracking and honest.

The only things I didn’t like about the book are the cover and the title. I am worried it will put would be book lovers off. This book would certainly appeal to contemporary fiction readers just as much as crime fiction ones. I feel the cover and title is just not good enough for the quality of the book.

Marianna Kavanagh is a born storyteller, extremely creative and clever with her narrative. I love how she brings to life everyday events and captures them so effortlessly.

I highly recommend this thrilling mystery, suspenseful read. If you want something different to read that really can’t be put in one box of a genre. Then snap this up, I guarantee you will close the last page and go, “WOW”.

Kavanagh creates a cosy safe atmosphere and then punches you hard with a plot that leaves you breathless.

A massive five stars from me.

[Joanne Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh now this was an unexpected gem of a book! It wasn’t at all what I was expecting but I became completely and utterly involved in the story within a very short space of time. There was a wonderfully subtle underlying tension to the narrative that drew me in very quickly, unsure as to where the storyline was going or why I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the supposedly normal day to day lives of our characters.

Living in a village myself, I’m well aware of the fact that it’s almost impossible to keep secrets within such a close knit community. And there’s always that one person who seems to know gossip before anyone else (and you know exactly where to find them as well!!) so I thought that the villagers were perfectly captured here by some stunning writing and characterisation. Sara herself was a total enigma to me due to the fact she had keep herself to herself within the village to such an extreme, that she hadn’t ever been in the village shop! She spoke to no one, when she wasn’t at work, apart from her angry, workaholic husband and her two teenage sons. So when opportunity knocks in the form of dog walker Katie looking for extra work, Sara is drawn towards her.

An unlikely friendship follows and Sara is gradually folded into the village life that has been bubbling along outside her door since she moved into her beautiful house. But it takes a shocking event to expose secrets and lies that refuse to go away until they have been completely unraveled. And it’s this final part of Disturbance that I found the most, well…disturbing!! It was the perfect ending to this devilishly dark book that played on the small village mentality with a razor sharp perception. It’s definitely a book that will leave you thinking about the issues raised long after you’ve finished it.

Clever, involving and rather disturbing!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Marianne Kavanagh's Disturbance nothing is quite what it seems. Violence lurks beneath the apparently tranquil surface of English village life, friendship shades into possessiveness, and the past gets rearranged to fit the demands of the present

It's a carefully crafted story. The reader suspects that someone is not telling the truth, but it takes a while before it becomes clear who is fooling whom. The picture only emerges bit by bit, like the slow dripping of a wound. The result is a chilling study of an obsessive and manipulative individual.

But its the voices that makes this novel so effective – floating above the brittle normality of middle class life, passing on rumours, testing assumptions, drawing conclusions, but never quite understanding the full horror of the destructive force that has buried itself like a parasite within the community.

[Viccy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irene Kelly is recovering from her PTSD caused by being kidnapped by Nick Parrish. He is is jail, paralyzed as a result of actions happening in Bones, so she feels safer. Then she gets the news, Parrish is walking again. The Las Piernas News Express closes and Irene is out of a job, too. When Parrish escapes from prison, aided and abetted by The Moths, his online fan club, Irene knows he is coming for her. Another well-written, suspenseful book from Jan Burke. I love Frank and Irene's relationship; they love each other, but give each other space and each understands the other well. The ending seemed a little pat, but satisfying, with lots of ends tied up. I got the feeling this may be the end of Irene and Frank's adventures which would be too bad.

[Luanne Turnage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan Burke has a strong voice. She really works wonders in first person point of view (I'd say that's her strongest POV).
My favorite line: "Some People claim to be able to feel trouble coming, the way they might feel a storm approaching from a long way off."
~Jan Burke -Disturbance

I really enjoyed the plot. I would have given this book five stars, but I felt that the ending was hurried and that there lacked some depth to some of the characters. This book is action-driven, rather than a character-driven book.
If you like that sort of style, you'll love Jan Burke. Definitely worth a go... I recommend this author.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First time I've read one of her books. Think you needed to have read the previous novel to understand the characters and context of the story. Bit of a grind to get through it. Protagonist Irene Kelly could be an interesting character, but didn't love the story here.

[Claire lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of the book which was setting the scene for the twists and turns. I seen what was coming it wasn't a action pack book but the story was good and it made a chance from a different point of view. I would recommend this book it was a good weekend read.

[Sandy Kell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of her Irene Kelly series, but this newest book one was disappointing.

[Keira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am forever indebted to my Mum for recommending me this series

I am very satisfied with how this series ended and I don’t think Jan Burke could of done it in any better way.

I’ll start crying soon but for now I’m at peace.

[Gloria Feit · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are disturbances of the atmospheric kind, and then there are the other kind: Mental disturbances, the reverberations of their manifestations can last for years in their victims. In Jan Burke’s long-awaited new book in the Irene Kelly series opens, that journalist’s only real concern is about her employment status: she is “fully occupied by the distinct possibility that I would be out of a job within a few months. That didn’t make me different from ninety-nine out of a hundred of the country’s newspaper reporters.” But those worries, real as they are, pale in significance when she learns that the vicious serial killer from whom she had barely escaped with her life in an earlier book in the series, “Bones,” Nick Parrish, now in his fifties, has escaped from a maximum security prison. Known to have had as many as fifty victims, including a number of members of the Las Peirnas Police Department - - colleagues and friends of Irene’s husband, detective Frank Harriman - - and as awful as is the prospect of him being at large in general, Irene is the one against whom he has sworn vengeance, holding her responsible for his suffering and his incarceration. Irene is an investigative journalist at the Las Piernas, California News Express.

Irene has finally recovered from the PTSD which her kidnapping and torture at Parrish’s hands - - well, except for the nightmares she still experiences. Which only return again after his escape and threats from his online fan club, the Moths, serial killer groupies whose members include an unknown number of his born-out-of-wedlock sons, and who all appear to be nearly as deranged as the man they idolize.

After the threats, three things happen in rapid succession: A young woman named Marilyn Foster is reported missing; her car is discovered parked on Irene’s street; and the body of another woman whose identity cannot be determined is found in the trunk of that car. When Irene insists there is a connection to Parrish and the police fail to believe that’s possible, Irene sets out on a personal mission: to find out who the woman is and who is responsible for her murder. To that end, Irene enlists the aid of her colleague Ethan Shire and Ben Sheridan, the forensic anthropologist who had also been one of Parrish’s victims.

The ensuing investigation results in a book in which the suspense is constant, to which is added the very real possibility of the sadistic violence and sexual assault for which the killer is known. The novel is fast-faced and tightly plotted. Plus I came away from reading it with an appreciation of a known truth in astrophysics: The universe is expanding. [Read the book.]

Recommended.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbance: An Irene Kelly Novel (Irene Kelly Mysteries)



4.0 out of 5 stars A story & series worthy of attention, November 27, 2013

This review is from: Disturbance: An Irene Kelly Novel (Irene Kelly Mysteries)
"Disturbance" by Jan Burke.
I came across this book on CD while looking through the James Lee Burke CD's. It looked interesting and it was a new series for me so I thought why no give it a try.
This story revolves around Nick Parrish, a serial killer. Nick has defied the odds by escaping from prison, fleeing recapture (which paralyzed him temporarily) and the list goes on. Nick Parrish has his own fan club calling themselves the moths.

Irene Kelly just recovering from PTSD with the help of her husband, Frank, feels the walls closing in on her again. The walls of her life and her unending race to avoid Nick Parrish at all costs. Then a woman's body is found naked, frozen and decorated with moths. That body was found near Irene's home. Now she is clearly being stalked by Nick.

I found myself riveted to the story and listening to every word. There were some overdone, in my opinion, issues in the book but that never kept me from continuing.

A good story and a series that I will be continuing.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read a couple in the Irene Kelly series in the mid/late 1990s and enjoyed them ... then forgot about the series for some reason.

I read about this one in the newspaper last month and it reminded me about the series so I checked it out.

Though it has been a while since I've read the first couple and more have been added since then, I didn't feel lost. If you haven't read any of them, you can pick this one up and go with it. There are enough references so you know what's going on and who is who.

I liked the style of the writing. It's fast paced and gritty. The characters are likeable (at least those who are supposed to be likable) and believable. I bought the ending.

It has inspired me to start at the beginning and reread the books and keep going with the ones I've missed.

Blog review: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2012/01...

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I'm thrilled to have another entry in the Irene Kelly series. I liked the book for that reason alone, and the narrative was well-done, as always, but I didn't love-love-love it. For one thing, I'm finding serial killer stories to be rather tedious anymore, and for another, there just wasn't enough Frank Harriman on the page. Also, the prequel to this scenario, Bones, was outstanding and the villain incredibly frightening. Bringing him back may have been a mistake because his effectiveness as a true horror of a creature was quite diluted. Still, I got to see many of my old friends among the characters and meet a few new ones. I have to say I'll still be first in line for the next Irene Kelly mystery.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are tough times for a journalist, and Irene Kelly doesn't have it any easier than countless other reporters. Add in a serial killer or so and her life is more interesting than it need be.

Disturbance kept my interest and the pages turning, at least once I started to recall an earlier Irene book, Bones. This book builds on what happens there with many of the same characters (including the search and rescue dogs.) Ms Burke does leave hints through the narrative to clue you in on the prior book's important details, but honestly, I'd read Bones first.

When I read Bones, I little idea what the Mojave and the southern Sierra were like. Now that I do, parts of the story were even more vivid for me.