A labyrinth of a police procedural punctuated by non-stop action fuels Kathleen Kent’s second gripping novel about Dallas narcotics Detective Betty Rhyzyk. In addition to a detailed look at police work, The Burn is a solid exploration of how a cop who keeps her emotions in check recovers from a near-death experience ... Briskly paced, The Burn barely allows the reader to take a breath as believable twists careen throughout. Caustic and prickly, Betty has a propensity for confrontation and is fearless when cornered. She may not make a good friend — or life partner, just ask Jackie — but her bravery makes her the kind of cop you want on your side ... As The Burn shows, Kent is just beginning to explore Betty’s many layers.
Here, Betty’s struggles with PTSD and challenges to her identity as a cop spark compelling character evolution as she lowers walls to bond with a pair of old souls she meets on the streets. A gripping, powerfully human procedural.
Kent’s Dallas setting is so meticulously drawn that one can practically smell the streets, the sour odor of the street people. All of her characters are memorable, and not a single one, even the minor characters, is less than three dimensional. Kent has a talent for creating real people with a few succinct sentences ... Her plot is complex, and much of the action is violent as one expects from noir novels. Those who may be uncomfortable with Betty’s and Jackie’s lesbian relationship, suspend your discomfort; otherwise, you miss the best kick-ass character to come along in several years.
...a great follow-up to The Dime ... the network of drug dealers and informants can be difficult to follow ... a suspenseful mystery right up until the end—and an effective exploration of trauma and its ongoing repercussions, not only for survivors but also for those who care about, and for, them ... Kent leaves one significant mystery open at the end, which will make readers eager to spend more time with Betty on her hard-fought journey.
Edgar-finalist Kent’s harrowing sequel to 2017’s The Dime finds narcotics detective Betty Rhyzyk still recovering from her violent clash with a cultlike family of meth dealers ... The blunt, volatile, and relentlessly brave Betty leaps off the page, and Kent hits her with a frequently terrifying obstacle course of hair-raising scenarios. Readers will clamor for the irresistible Betty’s next chapter.
In this second outing for Detective Rhyzyk, the action is all a little closer to home, and Kent continues to reinvent and subvert traditional noir expectations with the larger-than-life, damaged, courageous Betty. Like many a noir detective before her, she is constantly running into the wall of her own vulnerability, wounded just as much by her own stubborn code of loyalty as she is by those attacking her ... Action-driven mystery anchored by dynamic, deep characters.
