Mind Bleach

Normally I write a review, post the picture of the book, and move on to the new book. But, this is not a normal situation. I don't think I have ever been so thoroughly repulsed by a book as I have with this one.

This afternoon I finished Burn which is the latest from author Nevada Barr. One of the things that always made her books great was the fact that Anna Pigeon was a National Park Service Ranger and the tales were set in the parks. While Nevada Barr frequently paid fast and loose with where things were located in the park of the novel as opposed to real life (the preceding novel in the series set in Big Bend serving as the most recent example), it was always clear that she loved the parks and the outdoors.

This latest effort splits time between Seattle through another storyline featuring a mother searching for her children after a horrific incident, and New Orleans where Anna is hiding out with a friend and trying to get herself back together. Eventually the two storylines merge though it takes far too long to get everything together.

But, what is really horrible about this book is the theme of child abuse that permeates the thing from start to finish. I am not one to read book reviews before I read a book because I don't want those reviews to shape my thinking. In this case, I wish I had read at least one of the many very negative reviews out there on this book that expressed the darkness, the often borderline graphic sexual abuse aspects, and the unmitigated psychological dreck that readers are forced to wade through page after page.

I am not one to swear off an author after one book. In this case, I may make an exception. I need mind bleach to get the crap out of my head.

Do NOT read this book. It is not worth it.

Kevin