12/02/2019
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, and her restless time on medical leave has taken a toll on her longtime girlfriend, Jackie, and their relationship. Her first day back at Dallas PD, Betty is eager to help flush out Alfonso Ruiz Zena (aka the Knife), head of the security force for Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. A brutalized body provides a clue, but Betty’s soon relegated to desk duty and ordered to see a therapist. As the bodies of drug dealers begin to pile up, the word on the street is that the shooter might be a cop, and Betty starts working her network of confidential informants for any leads on a killer who may be hiding in plain sight. 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. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (Feb.)
"Gripping . . . Briskly paced, The Burn barely allows the reader to take a breath as believable twists careen throughout."—Oline Cogdill, Associated Press
"Deeply satisfying . . . [Betty is] an obsessive, borderline unstable, fascinating, Brooklyn-born seeker of truth. . . . With Betty Rhyzyk, Kathleen Kent brings those mean streets to life as excitingly as anybody has in years."—The Washington Post
"Harsh, violent reality is the daily fare for Dallas police detective Betty Rhyzyk, the narrator of Kathleen Kent's satisfying The Burn."— The Wall Street Journal
"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."—NewYork Journal of Books
"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."—BookReporter
"Kent continues to reinvent and subvert traditional noir expectations with the larger-than-life, damaged, courageous Betty. . . . Action-driven mystery anchored by dynamic, deep characters."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"A gripping, powerfully human procedural"—Booklist
PRAISE FOR THE DIME:
"Exciting [and] moving... Grisly but likable."—The Wall Street Journal
"Terrific... Kent's own ability to avoid predictable outcomes and keep the reader on edge bodes well for future installments in this series."—Chicago Tribune
Narcotics Detective Betty Rhyzyk of the Dallas Police Department comes to life in Christie Moreau’s gritty performance. Rhyzyk is on desk duty and grudgingly in therapy while recovering from injuries that occurred during her last adventure. But she still manages to investigate missing heroin, crooked cops, and the underworld of Dallas’s drug cartel. Moreau’s steady narration tamps down on Rhyzyk’s distress as she struggles to untangle clues and questions whom she can trust. Mixing stealth and misdirection, Rhyzyk peels back lie upon lie in scenes depicted by Moreau in a gruff voice and controlled emotional tones. Throughout this complex thriller Moreau expertly conveys the building tension of deeply hidden rage. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Narcotics Detective Betty Rhyzyk of the Dallas Police Department comes to life in Christie Moreau’s gritty performance. Rhyzyk is on desk duty and grudgingly in therapy while recovering from injuries that occurred during her last adventure. But she still manages to investigate missing heroin, crooked cops, and the underworld of Dallas’s drug cartel. Moreau’s steady narration tamps down on Rhyzyk’s distress as she struggles to untangle clues and questions whom she can trust. Mixing stealth and misdirection, Rhyzyk peels back lie upon lie in scenes depicted by Moreau in a gruff voice and controlled emotional tones. Throughout this complex thriller Moreau expertly conveys the building tension of deeply hidden rage. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
★ 2019-11-11
Dallas detective Betty Rhyzyk is back in action and looking to take down a brutal cartel assassin responsible for several murders in Kent's (The Dime, 2019, etc.) modern noir.
Several months after she was rescued from torture and imprisonment at the hands of Evangeline Roy and her ring of meth dealers, Betty has begun healing, though her inability to run off stress because of an injured leg, coupled with her denial of her post-traumatic fears, is driving her girlfriend, Jackie, crazy. She returns to active duty as a narcotics detective, but following some bad decisions, she's quickly relegated to a desk by her sergeant, Marshall Maclin. The narcotics division is busy tracking down a man known as El Cuchillo (The Knife), the leader of the Sinaloa cartel's particularly brutal security force, but when local drug dealers begin turning up dead, Betty becomes concerned by rumors that the true killer might not be El Cuchillo but rather a cop with a score to settle. Though she doesn't want to admit it, her secret suspicions fall on her partner, Seth, who has been keeping company with known dealers, stealing crime scene evidence, and exhibiting signs of addiction. With the help of some unorthodox investigators, including a homeless pregnant girl and Jackie's Vietnam vet uncle, Betty sets out to track down a confidential informant who may be able to identify the cop involved—heading straight back into danger. 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.
