Disturbance: An Irene Kelly Novel

Psychopath Nicholas Parrish, who almost cost Irene Kelly her life in the Edgar-winning Bones, returns in Burke's overwrought 11th thriller featuring the California newspaper reporter (after 2006's Kidnapped). When bodies start popping up bearing Parrish's elaborate moth designs and his online devotees%E2%80%94the Moths%E2%80%94become more active, Kelly fears the imprisoned Parrish is planning a comeback, having made a miraculous recovery from a spinal cord injury. Life at work is far from pleasant, as her paper, Las Piernas News Express, struggles to survive in a world that relies less on print media, forcing Kelly to make a radical career choice. Much of the suspense dissipates as Burke intercuts Kelly's chapters with those focusing on Parrish and three men the reader soon learns are half-brothers and sons of the serial killer. The stage is inevitably set for Parrish's escape and rematch with Kelly, familiar territory from Bones that does little to flex Kelly's formidable investigative skills or Burke's narrative ones. (June)