Customer Reviews

Burnt Sienna

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Morrell has long been a favorite author of mine, and although he slipped a little with his last book, he has delivered another winner in Burnt Sienna. Interesting characters, tons of suspense, and fast paced action make for a great read that you will finish before you know it. Some of the events are predictable, but the with the intrigue and intense action you won't care. Morrell's writing is much better than most other books in the genre. If you are a Morrell fan or just a thriller fan in general, pick this one up.

Now I know why David Morrell is one of my favorite writer.Burnt Sienna starts with a bang and does not stop until the explosive ending.This book will make you read it in two days.Mr. Morrell,please do not wait so long to write another.If you liked the fast pace action of "Extreme Denial" and the love story of "Double Image" than this book is for you.David Morrell's books keep getting better and better.

I have read a number of books by Morrell in the past because he has the ability to write extremely exciting action sequences. Unfortunately, in "Burnt Sienna," even the action sequences are not particularly exciting. In fact, this book is weak in a number of ways. The lead character, Chase Malone, a Marine who becomes a world-famous painter, is a macho man with a sensitive soul. Sienna Bellasar, the beautiful heroine, is a somewhat clueless beauty who seems to be oblivious to the fact that she is married to a psychopath. Do beautiful women have to be so dumb? Sienna's husband, Derek, is a "by the numbers" character. He's filthy rich from selling armaments to rogue regimes, and he will do anything for money. Bellasar also discards women who pass the age of thirty, because their beauty starts to fade. When I say "discards," I mean it literally--he has them killed. Our hero, Chase, is sent by the CIA to save Sienna and to stop Derek from his nefarious activities. None of these characters ever comes to life. The action sequences are not particularly exciting. The only part of the book that moved me was the last page, which was somewhat poignant. Overall, I had the feeling that Morrell wrote this book mechanically; "Burnt Sienna" is not his best work.

David Morrell is one of my favorite authors. He writes with honesty and depth. Chase Malone is a great character who has created the life he always wanted. His independence matters more to him than just about anything because in the days before he claimed his independence, he nearly lost his life for what other people felt was important.

With Sienna, Morrell has created a beautiful woman who for the last several years has lived a very sheltered life. She owes everything to her husband. Problem: Her husband is an international arms merchant who kills his wives when they begin to show signs of aging--a plot point that makes perfect sense when you find out why. He hires one of the world's greatest artists to paint a portrait to capture his wife's beauty the way no photograph could ever do. Bellasar makes a great villain. He's got power and money and an insatiable desire to crush those who oppose him. When he and Malone clash, the conflict will knock your socks off.

Morrell has crafted a fine-tuned thriller that starts fast and never slows down. The book is a lot of fun, but I'll also tell you that the last page makes the book. Powerful stuff!

Do yourself a favor and read this one!

Once again David delivers on all fronts. Great characters, fast past, tight suspense, and extreme actaion. I find the review at the bottom interesting when they say that it took long to get through, simply because my only complaint is that the book is too short, it only took me two relatively short sittings to finish. But they were very enjoyable sittings!

It took me longer to get through Burnt Sienna than any other Morrell book. The begining was slow but toward the middle the storyline picked up. Burnt Sienna does not have the intruige and suspence you have come to expect from Morrell. A majority of the begining of the book was character set-up. I would of course recommend this book to anyone, but don't expect alot of action in this one.

This is the third Morrell novel I have read and like The Protector this is a non stop thrill ride masterpiece. Burnt Sienna has you turning pages until the early hours of the morning as you can't put it down.

Malone an ex marine now full time painter has no choice other than to accept a demand by wealthy arms dealer Derek Bellasar to paint two portraits of his beautiful wife Sienna. His CIA buddy informs Malone that Bellasar has had his previous wives painted too before murdering them and wants him to convince Sienna to escape with him and inform the CIA of everything she knows about her husband. Upon arrival at Bellasar's French Riveria mansion compound Malone comes to quickly realise how little time Sienna has left and probably himself as well. He also realises just how hard it will be to escape if he can convince Sienna to believe him and how hard it will be to hide on the outside world with Bellasar's resources if they do.

A bit unrealistic at times but a non stop entertaining can't put down thriller non the less. As well as The Protector also check out Morrell's novel Long Lost.

Not one of David Morrell's better work. The ever tiring theme of a helpless, beaten, beautiful model whose goal in life is as shallow as a dish is rescued by a former special forces man who's physical ability has made him a legend among his former military comrades, but also an artist. The story was predicatable, and annoying. To make it worse, the narrator, Gabrielle completely took away any small points of entertainment through her monotonous whispery voice, and POOR accents and character variations.

I've read several of Mr. Morrell's books over the past few years. By far the best has been First Blood. Like First Blood, I found Burnt Sienna to be direct in it's prose and fairly easy to read. I sped through it in a couple of days. It's not as good as First Blood, what could be? It is however miles ahead of much of his work over the last decade, which tends to get a bit rambling. The movie should be good.

I am a big Morrell fan and this book, although a good read, was somewhat disappointing. If you too like his books and have little else to read then give it a go.