- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday (Sep 1 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385469330
- ISBN-13: 978-0385469333
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
All superficial characterization and sadism, this thriller about a serial killer, its plot founded entirely on coincidence, is charmless in the extreme. When a man and a woman show up at NYPD headquarters to file a missing persons report on their college-age daughter, detective April Woo does the paperwork. Woo eventually learns that California cops have found the daughter's apparently fire-branded body near San Diego. Shortly thereafter, a New York psychiatrist approaches Woo with several disturbing letters sent to his porno-star wife. The letters have a San Diego postmark, prompting Woo to connect them with the murderer (3000 miles away, but not for long.) Horrific, if predictable, descriptions of the pyromaniac killer and his methods of torture are interspersed with updates on Woo's investigation. Glass ( To Do No Harm ) attempts a multicultural angle by casting Woo as a Chinese-American in conflict with her old-fashioned immigrant mother, but the tension between them is hackneyed at best. From its farfetched premise to its suspenseless action-drama climax, the novel is a chore to wade through.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
With the same intensity as Silence of the Lambs, Glass' thriller thrusts the reader into the terrifying world of the psychopathic killer. A young college girl is brutally burned, tortured, and left to die in the California desert. Thousands of miles away, beautiful actress Emma Chapman stars in a steamy art movie and suddenly begins receiving fan mail from someone who has an unnerving knowledge of her past. NYPD detective April Woo is assigned the case when Emma's husband decides the letters have taken on a menacing tone. Woo doesn't think Emma's in danger until she inadvertently finds a tenuous connection with the California murder. Then Woo realizes she's dealing with a sicko pyromaniac who's targeted Emma as his next victim. There's a heart-stopping, eye-popping race to see if Woo can outwit the killer before he ends Emma's life, and for just a few seconds, Glass stuns her white-knuckled readers into almost believing the good guys may not win. Glass is a masterly storyteller who combines a high-intensity plot with an engaging, attractive heroine whose personal predicaments lend a bit of welcome relief to the relentlessness of the hunt for the psycho. Emily Melton
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The good novel that could have been great,
By
This review is from: Burning Time (Paperback)
Glass does a great job in getting the reader into the story and creates an interesting plot and intricate characters. Nevertheless, towards the end the action is to rushed and events unfold without a clear connection. It seems to me as if the author had to comply with a deadline and could not finish the book in the way it deserved. This series will get another chance from me, and hopefully the experience will be better next time!
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too grisly to be enjoyable,
This review is from: Burning Time (Paperback)
I've read many of Leslie Glass's April Woo mysteries and have enjoyed them immensely--real page-turners. However, I was not able to get through "The Burning Time" because of its gruesomeness. I find that her other novels are quite graphic enough. This one is too grisly. There are some authors I won't read because of the gore. I will lookward to more Leslie Glass novels like "The Silent Bride" or "Hanging Time." If the author decides to take a more gruesome bent in her books, I'll bow out.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gory but good,
By
This review is from: Burning Time (Paperback)
I was made aware of Leslie Glass' novel by a Japanese friend of mine, who had read her translated books and thought that the Asianness of the book was great. We're both big mystery fans, so I quickly went out and bought whatever Glass novels I could find. Being half Asian, it is great to not only see a leading Asian character, but also see someone capture the Asian culture and essence so well. April's mother is somewhat like my mother (and definitely like many of my friend's Chinese mothers!), she always makes me laugh - especially her dialog, which is just so true to form. I would be very interested to find out how Glass learned so much about Chinese culture??Compared to her other books (I'm afraid I haven't read then in chronological order), this one came across as a bit more gruesome and gory. However, I enjoyed it nevertheless. It's a good murder mystery, with solid characters, what else can one ask for?
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