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Reader Reviews A tedious disappointment, September 3, 2002 Reviewer: Joachim Smith from Nyk–ping, S–dermanland Sweden After having finished Burn Marks last night, I read the on-line reviews here. Isn't it interesting how the same book can provoke such different opinions? Look out, VI fans - I'm about to commit sacrilege. I found Burn Marks in my bookshelf while hunting for some bedside reading. After the first chapter I got the impression that I'd read the book before, but never finished it. I soon realized why. So long-winded, so verbose, frankly - so BORING! Ms Warshawski is alternately dead tired, sick, throwing up, having headaches, being injured or detailing the condition of every last burn blister in minute detail; her old Chevy is "groaning" on virtually every page, sometimes even in consecutive paragraphs, until it predictably dies; the plot barely gets going only in the last couple of chapters. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit, but not much. Doesn't Ms. Paretsky have an editor who could weed her story down by some 50 percent? By sheer dogged persistence I managed to arrive at the final chapters, where the tension picks up a bit. But unless you're looking for a sleeping pill, stay away.
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