Slow Burn

by Rachel Caine

A sinister plan ignites not-so-spontaneous combustions in an explosive thriller from the New York Times-bestselling author of the Stillhouse Lake novels.

A prostitute's client in Dallas. A jogger in El Paso. A pastor in Louisiana. Across the South and Southwest, middle-aged men are bursting into flames.

In the Office of Environmental Hazards, one man is on the case. His initial observations point to something in the drinking water. But intelligence agents suspect something much more ominous: terrorism.

Someone somewhere has come up with a diabolic weapon that could attract millions of dollars from the most dangerous people in the world, those with no conscience, no loyalty, no morality. And two women in Dallas--a sex worker and a thief--find themselves thrust into the middle of a conflagration that could raze everything in its path . . .

Praise for Rachel Caine

"A first-class storyteller who can deal out amazing plot twists as though she was dealing cards." --Charlaine Harris, New York Times-bestselling author of

Genres: Thriller, Audiobook, Suspense

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Rachel Caine was a pen name of Roxanne Longstreet Conrad.

She has also published as:
Roxanne Longstreet
Roxanne Conrad
Julie Fortune
Ian Hammell

Her Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/rachelcainef...

Her Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/rachelcaine...

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

•3 stars—rest in power RC•

I love Rachel Caine’s work—she was a fabulous writer. This book, however, was not as good as I thought it would be. Slow Burn is billed as a thriller and it felt anything but that. It was just an ongoing chain of events that lacked agency and grit. I couldn’t even get into the characters. And I don’t blame the shifts in POV, that actually kept the story from being a complete bore…

Even though I wasn’t that fond of this book, I’m still giving it three stars because this is an earlier novel of hers that was republished (originally published in 1995). I think the finesse came later in her career. Also, I liked the writing style. I just wish this had more going on~

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of Rachel Caine's early books, writing as Roxanne Longstreet (her real married name, if I remember correctly). This books centers on two hardened women investigating a series of spontaneous combustions with connections to government experimentation.

Quite different from her Weather Warden or Morganville Vampires series, this book doesn't have any particularly likeable characters. The story is written as hard crime/suspense without her usual empathy and exploration of the female psyche.

[Erin King · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a good read

I usually like her books and stories. But this one was hard to read. It did not age well, and the stories and characters were not as well developed. The plot is ok once you figure out what's going on which its really hard to do until about 70% into the book. But the characters Dont really have definite characters other than a prostitute and a thief and what you imagine as a stereotypical one at that.

[Sara Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of her best

This POV style was a bit chaotic at first- but as the characters developed, the story came together, tightening up like wet rawhide on a hot day.
From professional dips to professional whips, professional sports, arms dealers, dry cleaners, white hats, and alphabet spooks, the pieces of this story fall into place smoothly.

[Db2567 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a 1996 book written by under one of Rachel Caine's pseudonyms. This should have been left in the 90s it's really bad. Cannot believe this is the way books were then with so much graphic violence.
Her books now are entertaining, so if you like her books just don't read or listen to this one.

[Ann Gulledge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a real disappointment and definitely not up to Rachel Caine's usually great storytelling. There were many questions left unanswered and so many undeveloped characters. I threatened to put it down several times but perservered hoping it would wrap up well. It didn't.

[Bryngel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of Caine's but decided to give this a chance. It was fairly alright but way too underdeveloped (is that even a word?!) and should probably have been much better if Caine had run through it one or two times more before regarding it as ready to be printed.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Very dark

[Katrina Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like her books. This books was an earlier book written under a pseudonym. Too many characters to keep up with and I didn’t really feel like the whole situation was explained very well.

[Sofia Monteiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first books, not as good as "Stillhouse lake" but even wanting to stop reading at several points in the story, I couldn't...