Burning Man

*Book source ~ Purchased on Amazon

Title ~ Burning Man

Series ~ Gideon and Sirius, #1

Author ~ Alan Russell

Publisher ~ Thomas & Mercer

Published ~ 11 December 2012

Genre ~ Mystery | Paranormal

Pages ~ 328

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble

Michael Gideon and his K-9 partner Sirius are everyday LAPD cops. Until the day they became famous for capturing the Santa Ana Strangler while in the middle of an inferno and getting severely burned in the process. All three made it out alive. After a year of skin grafts and physical therapy, Gideon wants to go back to work even though Sirius’s injuries put him in early retirement. Lucky for him & Sirius, the new Chief has just the job for them. Though he wants the golden apple of Robbery-Homicide, Gideon agrees to give the chief’s newly created Special Cases Unit a try since he’d be pretty much autonomous and even better, Sirius can still be his partner. Win-win. When the case of a crucified teenager comes his way, he investigates, but for some reason this case is stirring up his PTSD more than usual. Will he and Sirius solve the case before his PTSD becomes general knowledge? What is Ellis Haines, The Santa Ana Strangler, cooking up behind bars? And finally, will Gideon screw up a possible relationship with a woman dubbed the Saint? Only time will tell and sometimes time is the fire in which we burn.

What a great read! First, you gotta love a good mystery in which one of the detectives solving it is a German Shepherd. Then there’s all the leads to follow where you don’t have a clue who the killer is. In addition, the dialogue is snappy and on point. And finally there’s a bit of the paranormal to it. Though I’m not sure how much is paranormal and how much is Gideon’s subconscious talking. I choose to put a bit of a paranormal spin on it because that’s what I love, but others may see it differently. There’s also some romance and definitely humor. The only reason I didn’t give this an all out 5 is because sometimes the humor was a bit much and sometimes I didn’t get the references being made. Other than that, I loved it and can’t wait to read the next book.