Burn Out (Sharon McCone #25) by Marcia Muller

Burn Out (Sharon McCone #25) Reviews

• 
  Tory Wagner

  Burn Out by Marcia Muller is part of a series featuring private detective, Sharon McCone. Much of the action takes place on a ranch that Sharon and her husband own in the western part of the U.S. A series of murders that tie back to past events, embroil Sharon in a mystery that she must use all her skills and experience to solve. She is also suffering from burn out, thus the title, but focusing on her work helps her to find peace with her life.
• 
  Pamela Mclaren

  Much like my own "hate her-start to accept her" relationship with Marcia Muller's character Sharon McCone, McCone has her own relationship to work out — with a horse!
  
  The San Francisco-based private investigator has fled work and her own investigation firm and camps herself at her husband's ranch in high desert country. She has been deeply shaken by a series of bombings tied to husband Hy's security firm, some that came close to killing both McCone and her husband. (All related in Muller's previous book,
  The Ever-Running Man.) Now McCone is pretty much vegetating, not sure what she wants to do with her business or her career. The one thing she finds herself doing is trying to make friends with Hy's horse Lear Jet. And the animal is not having it.
  
  Soon, that is not a critical issue: The caretaker of the ranch has suffered a death in his family: the murder of a troubled niece. Slowly and almost unwillingly, McCone gets involved. While she tells herself that is only to help Ramon Perez, McCone finds herself getting more and more involved until the local police ask for her assistance in solving the crime. She may not realize it, but the investigation is just what she needs to get past her depression and her doubts about herself.
  
  This book was a bit of a roller coaster. I liked the previous book and felt that the McCone character had matured enough to enjoy without getting angry at her. At the beginning of the book, I admit, I thought the character was backsliding, but Marcia Muller pulled it all together, a strong story and a character who has her weak moments but gradually gets it all together when it counts.
• 
  SuperWendy

  Well, it's finally happened. Sharon is burnt out and hiding at the ranch house licking her wounds and in a general state of malaise. Then she witnesses a man push a young woman out of a truck and it sets the wheels in motion to solving a mystery she's not getting paid to investigate. It's a personal favor to Ramon Perez who is their ranch foreman. This one started slow for me, picked up considerably in the middle and ended on a bit of a whimper. An entry where I liked a good chunk of the middle portion but it was sandwiched in between a bit of meh.
• 
  Joyce

  In this book Sharon McCone goes to the ranch to work out her depression
  And takes on a case helping the Native American family that work on
  the ranch. The investigation involves murder, betrayal, and hidden identities.
  While working to solve the case Sharon ends up finding herself again and
  Making good decisions to keep her business. I recommend this author,book
  And series.
• 
  Gail Burgess

  Sharon has the opportunity to work through a mid-life crisis and general depression as she falls into a case involving the caretaker at Hy's ranch. She resists because she is uncertain what she should be doing at this point in her life, but as the case moves along and the bodies mount up, she becomes totally sucked in. And that's a good thing. She is reminded how good she is at this, the satisfaction she gets -- and what a good guy she is married to. It's a happy ending with the bad guy having been caught and Sharon amidst her family and friends.
• 
  Barry Martin Vass

  If you like a good mystery but are unaware of Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone series, maybe it's time you gave these a look. Sharon McCone is a young Native American woman (Shoshone) who has been raised surreptitiously by a diverse Scotch-Irish family in Northern California. Her first job is working at a poverty law cooperative in San Francisco; when that goes belly-up she forms her own agency, McCone Investigations, along with two of her coworkers from the co-op. Together, they gradually achieve success. Marcia Muller has plotted this series so carefully, and populated it with such believable characters, that you simply cannot put these books down once you get started. In this one, an older, married Sharon McCone is totally burned out from her efforts and seeks a respite from her sleuthing ways on her husband's ranch in a remote area of Northern California. But of course she quickly gets involved in another case involving Native Americans and injustice in small-town California and Nevada. Solid entertainment for those who like their mysteries edgy!
• 
  Deb

  I haven't read Marcia Muller in a long time, so it was good to get reacquainted with Sharon McCone and Hy Ripinsky. I think I missed the book just previous to this one, so it took me a bit to get re-oriented. (It doesn't help that I've read so many series -- Kinsey Milhone, China Bayles, VI Warsharski,etc. - you have to keep complicated backstories in your memory banks). I liked this one. Sharon is recuperating from a traumatizing near-death experience, and is burned out. She's spending time at Hy's ranch in Lake Tufa. She gets drawn into investigating the disappearance of the ranch manager's niece despite herself. There were enough clues strewn about the story to have some good guesses as to "who-dunnit" but only if you wanted to work at it. I've missed this series.
• 
  Kristen

  In the 25th installment of Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone PI series, Burn Out, Sharon returned to solve another gripping mystery. Traumatized from a life-and-death investigation, Sharon decided to flee to her ranch to ponder her future there. But haunting dreams of a Native American woman shadowed her days and night. She vowed not to investigate during her stay, she became drawn by her and her dysfunctional family. Murder and acts of violence lead her across the border to Nevada and to a ranch, where danger followed her closer and her future laid on the balance.
• 
  Lukasz Pruski

  "No longer visible by day or night were the brownish-white towers of calcified vegetation - tufa - that gave the lake its name. Years ago, the siphoning off of feeder streams for drought-stricken southern California had caused the lake's level gradually to sink and reveal the underwater towers [...] they were saved by conservationists [...] and now the streams flowed freely, the lake teemed with life."
  
  I wish the descriptions of nature featured more prominently in Marcia Muller's Burn Out (2008): Mono Lake - renamed Tufa Lake in the novel, presumably for legal reasons - and its vicinity are some of the most fascinating places in the US and each visit to Mono County makes me even more happy that I became a Californian. Alas the novel is focused on Sharon McCone, the narrator of the story, rather than on the California landscapes. Ms. McCone, a "full-blooded Shoshone" Native American, a private investigator and the owner of a thriving investigative agency in San Francisco, is suffering from severe depression (the title "burn-out") after almost getting killed on the job. When recuperating on her and her husband's ranch she is forced to return to the profession when she finds the body of her ranch foreman's niece. Ms. McCone hesitatingly undertakes a private investigation, which soon significantly widens to involve many characters.
  
  Unfortunately, Ms. McCone, despite being a college graduate, an accomplished pilot, and a skillful detective, is a singularly uninteresting character. It is a pity that the author focuses so much on the protagonist because the later parts of the story (after about page 130 in hardcover edition) are very interesting and keep the reader glued to the text. The plot reminds me of Ross Macdonald's books in that the crimes of today are caused by people's misdeeds in the distant past and also because the truth is uncovered gradually, bit by bit. Ms. Muller's otherwise competent writing suffers from two major flaws: the incessant stream of detailed descriptions of the characters' basic actions, such as cooking, eating, etc. - probably designed to make the characters seem more realistic - is irritating. (Ms. Grafton suffers the same malady in her late novels about Kinsey Millhone - I stopped reading her at "U"). Second, and even worse, why does the author use this pretentious and annoying manner of quoting Ms. McCone's "inner voice" in italics?
  
  To sum up: interesting plot, great locations of the high desert area near Mono Lake, climactic ending that almost avoids being silly, and a reasonably plausible resolution of mystery spoiled by too much of Sharon McCone and way too many words. This is the 26th novel in a series that has over 30 titles, yet while I would gladly return to Mono Lake landscapes I doubt if I will be coming back to Ms. McCone.
  
  Two and a half stars.
  
• 
  Avid Series Reader

  Burn Out by Marcia Muller is the 25th book of the Sharon McCone mystery series set in contemporary California. Sharon McCone, owner of a private investigation agency, is emotionally drained, in full burnout from her last case (The Ever-Running Man). Sharon feels she no longer wants the life of a private investigator, or the bother of running her business. Without a clue what to do with her future, she's been simply drifting through her days at Touchstone, hers and Hy's ranch.
  
  The ranch manager Ramon Perez encourages her to ride Learjet, Hy's horse. Sharon reluctantly agrees. From a very rocky start, she begins to build rapport with the horse. Little does she realize, it's the first step in healing her spirit.
  
  When Ramon's niece Hayley is murdered, his niece Amy and sister Miri are both missing. Ramon and his wife Sara turn to Sharon for help. She's a professional investigator, and a friend. Another subtle tie is their heritage: he's Paiute, she's Shoshone. Sharon's heritage is a strong factor in this case: she employs "The Moccasin Telegraph" (rather than digital technology) to locate a man with a criminal past.
  
  Soon she's caught up in the case, traveling around California and Nevada hunting "persons of interest". She finds links between past and present crimes. When she flies their Cessna to follow up clues, Hy knows "she's back".
  
  Crises at her San Francisco agency demand her attention. She flies in, handles everything with aplomb, and goes back to hunting for Amy and tracking down perps in Northern CA. Trying to provide evidence for the sheriff to get a conviction, she's forced to recall all her pilot training and skill as she crash lands in the desert. She deftly wraps up all loose ends (crimes & business) in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with her long-time friends.
• 
  Shannon Appelcline

  After her near death in the previous book, McCone is sent spiraling into a mid-life crisis. Honestly, the drama feels a little artificial, and by the end of the book you understand why: it's not really about McCone having a mid-life crisis, but instead about Muller realizing that her protagonist's elevation to the head of a large agency over the last several books has left her less able to plausibly have fun investigative adventures.
  
  Nonetheless, the artificiality of this book's foundational drama kept me from having the personal ties to its stories that I'd like (and that have been a signature of Muller's writing). So, while Muller tells an intriguing and intricate mystery story full of strong characters, and while she positions it all at a crucial pivot point point in McCone's life, this story never has a real sense of immediacy.
  
  It's a good mystery, by a strong writer, but not a great one.
• 
  Melanie

  Private investigator Sharon McCone takes a retreat to her and her husband's cabin to get away from the stresses of her job. However, she is soon drawn into a situation she wasn't planning on getting involved in when she tries to assist a young girl who's been abused. Murder and suspense abound in this book. Kept me wanting to read well into the late night when I should have been turning out the light sleep.
• 
  Kathy

  I liked listening as I drove around. Kept me engaged- it's a great mystery!
• 
  Kenneth Flusche

  Strange but Good
• 
  Bob Harris

  Convoluted with several plot lines. Nevertheless, worth the read. I like this author.
• 
  Barb

  The book was OK but I did it audio and I didn't totally like the reader. A few good plot twists but some times you had to suspend thought to get through. Not bad just not great.
• 
  Binye Vincent

  Interesting mind journey to an adventure...
• 
  Nancy

  This book is an easy read. I've enjoyed following the development and aging of protagonist McCone.
• 
  Nancy

  Sharon overcomes Burn Out to solve several murders.
• 
  Maddison

  Should probably start at the beginning of a series instead of jumping into the middle LOL
• 
  Mary

  Another one bites the dust.
• 
  Maddy

  PROTAGONIST: Sharon McCone
  SETTING: California desert
  SERIES: #25 of 25
  RATING: 4.25
  
  The twenty-fifth book in the Sharon McCone series reveals a side to the lead character that we've never seen before. After barely surviving an incident from her last case, she is experiencing a deep depression and is totally burned out. She takes some time off from her very successful PI agency and temporarily relocates to her husband Hy's ranch in the California desert. She is barely functioning, spending inordinate amounts of time sleeping and trying to figure out what she needs to do to restore meaning to her life. Medication and therapy haven't worked – there are no easy answers. Should she leave the agency that she founded? Should she join her husband's new securities firm that is showing signs that it will be very successful? Or should she just give up any kind of professional activity and concentrate on building a fulfilling personal life?
  
  Sharon is at the ranch with two long-time employees, Sara and Ramon Perez. The Perez family has several black sheep, most notably Ramon's sister, Miri, who is an amoral alcoholic. Miri's daughter, Hayley, is murdered; and her other daughter, Amy, disappears. Shortly before that happened, Sharon witnessed Amy in what appeared to be an abusive situation with a local troublemaker. Reluctantly, and only because of the ties to Sara and Ramon, Sharon agrees to see if she can find Amy. Despite herself, she is pulled into all of the Perez's problems. She becomes more and more involved as the death toll mounts. I found parts of the investigation very interesting, particularly the use of the "moccasin telegraph", an informal communication system used by the Native American community which produces answers far more swiftly than any law enforcement agency ever could.
  
  As always, Muller does a great job in depicting the settings. Her writing is rock solid, with very natural dialogue and no gimmicks. Since the book is set away from the San Francisco area, we don't see much of the continuing characters in the series. A highlight was the rich relationship that has developed between Hy Ripinsky and Sharon; at one point in time, the series seemed weakened by his character, but that is no longer the case. And there's a new relationship between Sharon and a horse that is nicely developed!
  
  You can rest assured that Sharon finds answers to the dilemmas in her life, and that we as readers can look forward to many more books in this long-running series. I had been a faithful reader of the series until somewhere around the 20th book, when I lost interest. I plan to go back and read the books I missed, as Muller has certainly shown an ability to keep the series fresh and interesting.
  
• 
  Doris

  The last book I read in this series, Hy and Shar were not yet married. I stopped reading because the actions seemed stilted and scripted, with every action being second-guessed. I like this one, because it has secondary characters (Amos the airport guy) that are rough but in a way likable.
  
  Unfortunately none of the secondary characters, or even the bad guys, get enough air play to understand them or make them likable. For instance, the villain is referred to in the third person, and we only see a glimpse for about 3 pages towards the very end.
  
  Amos the airport guy is one of these also - even though Sharon refers to him several times, the action centers around the horse riding and flying in and out of the airport (which is where Amos comes in).
  
  One thing which helped greatly in reading this was that our heroine is recuperating from a traumatizing near-death experience (bombs and guns), and is burned out emotionally and physically. She spends time reviewing her life, thinking about people she knows and where she wants to go as she moves forward.
  
  Unlike some characters (Stephanie Plum) she isn't stuck at the age she was introduced, but has grown and aged (I get the impression she is around 50). She is competent and stable enough to spend time alone at her husband's ranch, but recognizes her limitations in calling for help.
  
  As a computer geek, I have appreciated Muller's use of the computer in crime finding, but am also glad that in this book she uses that crutch less, seeing perhaps that many times the "facts" portrayed are not true at all. Anything out of context can be misleading or just plain wrong, and use of the computer to speed time only makes that worse.
  
  This was one story where I suspected the identity of the villain, but there were enough vague suggestions about various people to keep me guessing. This is the hallmark of the McCone series, and one of the reasons I keep coming back. Other reasons are the strong characters, many of whom reflect a diversity that makes the series stronger, and others you want to shake into a reality.
  
  A good read.
• 
  LJ

  BURN OUT (PI-Sharon McCone-California-Cont) - VG
  Muller, Marcia – 25th in series
  Grand Central Publishing, 2008 – ISBN: 0446581070
  
  First Sentence: I sat on the bluff’s edge, facing southeast, where a newly risen full moon cast a shimmery path over the waters of Tufa Lake.
  
  After the last couple cases, Sharon McCone is seriously questioning whether she wants to continue with her business and is taking a vacation at her husband Hy's ranch. She sees a young woman who appears to be in trouble but refuses Sharon’s offer of help. When the woman later turns up murdered, Sharon can’t help but get involved in the investigation for her killer.
  
  Once before, with “Wolf in the Shadows,” Muller made a pivotal advancement in both her writing and in the character of McCone. Muller’s ability to have McCone grow and change has made her one of the best female PI characters being written. Even though Hy is rarely on the scene, even their relationship has developed through the series. In this book, it’s nice to see McCone being introspective and questioning her future while being self-deprecating. At the same time, she stays true to her instincts.
  
  The story is tightly plotted with lots of twists along the way, few of which I saw coming. Involving McCone’s Indian heritage and the information on the “moccasin telegraph” added an extra layer to the story. As always, Muller provides a very strong sense of place and believable dialogue.
  
  I’m always afraid I’ll get tired of this series. To her credit, Ms. Muller’s writing brings me back and keeps me involved with each new book.