Burnt Sienna Book

BURNT SIENNA by David Morrell is a well written, action packed, romantic thriller. I've read a review on here that compared this book to Twilight (which, this novel was published 5 years before that, if I'm correct) and I just don't agree, nor do I see the correlation between the two works. They are completely different in both tone and the quality of the writing (Morrell is better, of course).

Getting back to the story at hand, Chase Malone is a former Marine helicopter pilot who turns to painting landscapes. Living in near seclusion in Mexico, he is approached by a wealthy tycoon's associate to do a painting of the tycoon's wife. Not only is the tycoon, the purely evil Bellasar, in reality a black market arms dealer, but he's also had numerous wives. It is revealed later on in the book that his wives all die of some tragic accident shortly after they are immortalized on canvas. After rejecting the offer, Chase is approached by Jeb, a man whom Chase saved in his military career. Jeb offers Chase the job of infiltrating Bellasar's fortress like home to save his wife, Sienna, and to also bring down Bellasar.

What follows after that is pretty predictable. Chase obviously falls in love with Sienna and the job becomes less about doing the CIA a favor and more just saving the woman of his dreams. The book starts off pretty fast and then slows down during the middle. The middle sections, which are not action packed at all, are necessary to develop the relationship between Chase and Sienna. Once their mutual attraction is out in the open, Morrell throws every obstacle he can at them to prevent them from being together. To be honest, as I was reading, I started to get a little aggravated by this. It was just one thing after another, which was a good thing, because it forced me to keep reading. I mean to say that I was aggravated as a complement towards Morrell's writing rather than a slight.

The final third of the book starts to get a little over the top, though, and there was one very, all too convenient scene which involves Chase, Jeb, and a storm on a beach. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. Also, Chase begins to channel his inner John McClane as he is battered and bloodied but will still stop at nothing as he takes on Bellasar's private army at the end. The final showdown with Bellasar was kind of underwhelming for me, as I was expecting more of a close quarters fight between the two.

Overall, this book isn't perfect, but it is very entertaining and thrilling. I thought that the love story was very well done and, while the ending may have been a bit predictable, I still enjoyed it for being bitter sweet and not the cop out ending a lot of these types of stories have.