Burn by Nick Brownlee

Burn by Nick Brownlee
Buy Burn by Nick Brownlee at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A fast-paced thriller which brings the real Kenya to life. Recommended - but we suspect that you might be better reading the first book in the series before this one.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 416	Date: June 2009
Publisher: Piatkus
ISBN: 978-0749929060
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Inspector Daniel Jouma was hoping that calm had returned to Mombasa the problems start mounting up again. A nun has gone missing in mysterious circumstances and the local priest doesn't seem all that worried. After a meal with his friend Jake Moore a respected member of the local community falls to his death almost at their feet – but how he had got into the fort ion the first place? Jake hasn't got it any easier either. Kenya's most ruthless and dangerous developer wants to sweep away the local village and build a five-star hotel in its place. To top it all a paid assassin has accepted some local contracts and the FBI are in pursuit.

If you've picked this book up with the thought that there might be some of the tourist glitz, take it back and ask for a refund. This is the dark underbelly – from the seedy alleyways where even policemen are reluctant to wander after dark to the villages which are struggling to survive and which could be wiped out by a faceless and corrupt corporation. Even the game reserves have their dark secrets and it's an area where life is cheap – even if you think you're on the right side.

Inspector Jouma and Moore, the fishing boat skipper, first came together in Bait and whilst I haven't read that book I suspect that there might be a few plot spoilers in this sequel. That's not a suggestion that you shouldn't read this book, but a hint that you'll get more out of them if you read them in the right order. I thought this was going to be a police procedural – and there is an element of that – but essentially it's a very fast-paced thriller, with plenty of plot lines all neatly interwoven, and a real twist in the tail that I wasn't expecting.

Jouma and Moore come off the page well, but happily they don't dominate the plot – that's down to the people who are involved in the story, but front stage must go to Kenya itself. I caught the smell of the cities and the open majesty of the plains. Superb.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

For more about Kenya we can cautiously recommend A Durable Fire by Barbara and Stephanie Keating. We think you'll enjoy A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson.

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