Customer Reviews

Burn Factor

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Ambitious FBI agent, Quinn Barry, is stuck in a dead end job. Working in a basement office in Quantico, her day consists of updating antiquated computer systems, and dealing with a stuffy boss.

With her bright, and original ideas, Quinn, gets a chance to test her database program, in doing this she will uncover a mysterious DNA link to five gruesome, unsolved murders. Obviously her discovery is one that should have been left alone, because before she long, Quinn, is demoted, and a series of strange accidents happen, almost costing her life.

Teaming with her boyfriend, Quinn runs for her life, while trying to uncover the dark secrets hidden within the high levels of goverment. As the suspense mounts, and more deceptions are discovered, Quinn will come face to face with the madman behind it all.

There are many secrets, and plot twists to discover in "Burn Factor", so I will not go further into the plot.

"Burn Factor" is a compulsively readable thriller, that blasts off the first page and never lets up. With twist after twist the reader is held spellbound for 350 EXCITING pages.

In a short amount of time Kyle Mills has made it to my must read author list, and you should do yourself a favor-add him to yours.

Nick Gonnella

Quinn Barry works as a computer programmer with the FBI and is given the task of rewriting the code that matches DNA evidence from around the country. In the course of her testing she is returned some results that are incompatible with what she expects. In fact, it looks like she has uncovered the work of a serial killer. When she notifies her superior of the strange results, she is immediately removed from her position and a frightening chain of events begin which places her in extreme danger.

Meanwhile, we cut to a murder scene where a woman has been brutally tortured and raped before being allowed to bleed to death. It appears to us that a team of investigators are gathering forensic evidence in preparation to investigate the murder. However, while the team is actually gathering the evidence, they are not law enforcement officers and they won't be investigating anything. They are actually covering up the work of the murderer, but why?

The killer is revealed to us fairly early on, so the mystery isn't so much who the killer is as, why is he being protected. This knowledge of the killer's identity gives a new dimension to the serial killer storyline compared to other books which invariably reveal the identity of the killer in the last few pages, yet he is no less a monster to us because of this.

Burn Factor is an edge-of-the seat thriller that is somehow fascinating yet repulsive at the same time. It's fascinating to find out how this sick, sadistic madman is going to be beaten, as I'm sure you understand, he must. Repulsive both in his method of murder and due to the fact that people are aware of his crimes, yet allow him to carry on.

The faint of heart and easily disgusted should probably steer clear, however if you're a fan of the psychological thriller complete with bloody descriptions, you shouldn't miss this.

I was looking forward to a Pelican Brief type of adventure. Instead, I got a lot of victimizations of women. Not my type of entertainment--it's been done. Also, some of his writing is confusing--occasionally, I wouldn't know where the characters were or the timeframe they were in.

I don't find the psychopath storyline very creative. It was repetitive in this book, and I found it implausible that the government would "feed" someone other humans to keep them working on some weapons project. Weak premise, gratuitous violence.

Kyle Mills has been writing FBI procedural novels for about five years now. He got a boost up because his dad knows Tom Clancy, and Tom wrote a blurb for the first novel as a result, and has kept up the practice with each subsequent book. They're pretty good suspense novels, not entirely to my taste, but pretty good, nonetheless.

This latest book is a departure from the previous three. In those, the main character is a maverick FBI agent who keeps on getting crosswise of bureaucratic superiors. In this instance we have Quinn Barry, a computer programmer who works for the FBI in the hope of one day becoming an agent. She's working on a search engine for the Bureau, a program which will search all crimescene DNA that's been collected and compare it, allowing different police departments to track multi-jurisdictional criminals. She notices a glitch, which she first thinks is a bug, but which turns out to be a deliberate subroutine that makes the program ignore one string of DNA. When she looks into it, it turns out that the string is connected to a series of unsolved deaths, dissappearances, and murders involving beautiful young women. When she tells her supervisor about the (she then thinks) bug, she gets transferred to another department in another city, and soon is being watched and then attacked.

The book kind of goes from there. The bad guy is suitably evil, though the brilliant serial killer who likes good wine and is incredibly sophisticated is getting a bit much, don't you think? Generally, these guys have trouble writing a complete sentence. Anyway, the characters are more or less fun (some more believable than others) and the plot hums along, mostly predictably. The solution leading to a government conspiracy seems inevitable given the beginning of the plot, and the solution at the end of the trail is as predictable as the beginning.

I didn't dislike this book as much as it sounds. I did enjoy parts of it, a great deal. The prose is reasonably well done, and there are parts where there is suspense. I just wish it had been a bit more creative.

It was a very quick read, the plot kept you going, plus the author really got you into the main characters. Occasionally it seems a little unbelievable, but then again look at the stuff we see in the news.
The story is written around Quinn Barry, a new FBI hire, she is in a safe programming job and finds a problem. Trying to work through the channels she gets put down and transfered by her boss, she endeavors to solve the problem, first on her own then with help from a suspect. The case is extremely difficult because the real culprit is extremely bad, very talented and has help from government higher ups. The book ocassionally gets pretty brutal (torture and rape) but it is essential for the story and did not bother me. I would definitely recommend this book. However, I noted in some reviews that it did bother a few people - therefore, if you are easily offended - skip this book and find tamer material by always checking the reviews before reading a book.

This is a true page-turner. After reading the editorial reviews, I was prepared to not like this book. Thank God I didn't listen. This was a good book. Some of the things happening may have been implausible, but who cares when you are being entertained the way Mr Mills did in this novel. Quinn and Eric were great. Mr Mills pulls you in and has you caring about them. Marin was as sadistic as they come. You just beg for him to have a horrible demise. Him and all the other supporting disgusting characters. I am a big Mark Beamon fan, so I would have loved his presence to be more prominent. Hopefully the next novel WILL feature him. I wouldn't mine reading more on Quinn and Eric though. I highly recommend this book. Take the editorial reviews light and decide for youself. I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

Mills seems to have a pseudo gift, that of being able to run the protagonists along through the unfolding story in a manner that is friendly towards the reader. His characters are as developed and deep as what you might expect from a Grisham novel. In fact the entire story concept could be interchanged with a thousand other uninspired novelists writing for what might sell in today's market. Plot and character here as flat as a cardboard sandwich. What does set this novel apart from the rest of the pack is unending sexual and gratuitous violence. This is one of the most horrific, blood thirsty, and grisly novels that I have ever come across. The victims number in the hundreds as a psycho killer rampages across the eastern corridor and it seems as though every single one of them was massacred in the same tedious fashion. The worst part is the predictable happy ending that ties the story neatly together. Something so outrageous as Mills' sick ideas deserves a more unique ending than this Dean Koontz rip off. (Can you believe that someone actually stated that Dean Koontz was being taken advantage of intellectually?) It would be nice if Mills manages to emulate authors who take risks. I think that he has it in himself to someday produce a book worthy of a human being and not focus groups might suggest. After all, I was able to make it through to the end of this drivel, and that was an accomplishment worthy of some note to the author's credit.

I just closed this book, and am so disappointed that I hope to save other readers from the same. I was ready and willing to like the characters, I was almost able to buy into the plot line that took over half the book to understand, but all of this was smothered by overwhelming sickness of the "bad guy". Shades of Patterson and Sandford, who enjoy killing nearly everyone off in the most gruesome and graphic ways possible, this book is only a bloodfest that turns the reader's stomach, and makes one grab anything handy to read, just to get the bad taste from one's mouth. What a sad departure from Mills' other terrific books.

Quinn Barry will do anything to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming an FBI Special Agent. Unfortunately, she is stuck in a dead-end job as a computer analyst in the basement of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. So close yet so far. She finds she cannot meet her boss' impossible deadline due to a glitch she has discovered in the computer system she is revamping, and is consequently demoted, her reputation ruined. Her dreams of being a Special Agent has been diminished significantly, due to no fault of her own. She prepares to start a new position that is sure to place her out of contention for any future FBI Special Agent training class, but not without conducting her own informal research into the matter. Her goal is to prove to the powers that be that she was not responsible for the missed deadline or the unexplainable errors. What she finds is that the FBI computer had been intentionally pre-programmed to exclude a particular DNA signature, and that this unveils a carefully guarded Bureau secret. When Quinn begins to unravel the mystery behind the biggest cover up the Bureau has every seen, she has to retreat into hiding, and places her life in danger every step of the way.

Kyle Mills has crafted a stunning thriller teaming sassy dialogue and vivid characters. His multi-layered subplots converge together to create an unforgettable story that leads to a riveting, unforgettable conclusion. BURN FACTOR should leave many loyal Kyle Mills fans salivating for more.

Burn Factor could have been a good read, but it perturbed me that this talented writer felt he needed to be so graphic. I managed to get though the book by skipping past the explicitly violent portions. While I do not recommend this title, Kyle Mill's Free Fall, Rising Phoenix, and Storming Heaven are quite good.