The Burial Society is a page turner that will keep readers hooked with its fast pace story. Readers will enjoy the short chapters but might get lost with all the different points of view that change between chapters.

The characters jump off the page and the concept of having a Witness Protection in London to help those who are in abusive relationship find a way out was interesting. The writing is sharp it balance between a easy spy thriller and a romantic suspense.

The Burial Society is a Well written entertaining suspense story that will have reader dying for more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the advance copy of Burial Society by Nina Sadowsky. The Cover is beautiful.

FLASHCARD..........

This book is presented as just that, a series of flashcard looks at the lives and experiences of multiple characters, most “chapters” being only two or three pages long.

FLASHCARD..........

Catherine is the main character. She runs the Burial Society. She has an unhappy past that we learn little about. She is a master at her craft...according to her. Her initial purpose in this story is to rescue Elena from her abusive Russian husband.

FLASHCARD..........

The Burrows family becomes the center of the story. The mom, Mallory, is missing and presumed dead. The dad, Brian, successful and clueless. The uncle, Frank, who is Brian’s brother, is a complete disaster. The son, Jake, who might have been a great character, but failed this reader in the end. And the daughter, Natalie, who is a total whack job.

FLASHCARD..........

This story is a mess. Unbelievable and improbable. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because the prose is good, the grammar is perfect and the formatting is flawless. One full star for the editors.

FLASHCARD..........

There are a lot of good books in the world, save your money for one of those and...

Skip this one.

2shay

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Ballatine for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Have you ever finished a book and had no idea what you just read?

Yeah, that's what this book it is.

Don't get me wrong, it is a pretty good read. However, it felt like 3 incomplete stories in one. Catherine (her last name unknown) rescues people and helps them disappear. That's pretty cool. That would have been a good plot on its own. However, Nina runs into someone from her past. She has a history with them. That would have been another good story. Then this someone from her past is murdered and she's trying to solve that. Another plot! I felt like the author merely scratched the service on all of these plot lines. The story is too tangled and too complex. Sometimes a more simpler approach is best. Still enjoyed it, however!

The Burial Society is Nina Sadowsky's second novel. It takes awhile to get "into" the story as there is a lot of jumping from person to person and today and the past. Ms Sadowsky has created some haunting unforgettable characters in this story with major surprises. I was given an early copy to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballentine Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

“The Burial Society” is a quick-paced thriller by author Nina Sadowsky. This is the second book by Sadowsky and while her debut novel, “Just Fall”, was an excellent read this book will make you a Sadowsky fan. The book reads very fast (most chapters are no more than 8-10 pages) so it’s the perfect book to pack for a beach vacation or long weekend. Thriller authors can occasionally throw too many details in a book or add character elements that bog down the story but this book did not have any of that. There was the perfect amount of “twists” in this book without getting redundant and even though it seems like you’ve figured this book on fairly early you really have no idea until the last few chapters. I look forward to reading Sadowsky’s next novel and you should definitely put her books on your TBR list.

I loved Nina Sadowsky's debut so much that I had to read her new novel. It doesn't disappoint. It's addictive, suspenseful and full of twists. Catherine (no last name, no past, many aliases) helps people disappear. She doesn't just do it for the hefty paychecks but because she wants to help. She is smart, confident and underestimated (many think that she must be a man). She also lives in Paris, so as an added bonus we get to do sightseeing in this amazing city. Catherine only botched one job - and it seems to have come back to bite her. She will try to find out what happened and help the family (her unwitting victims), while also trying to pull off another job. Will her distraction with the old case cost her everything she's built? The characters are well defined and their backstories built up in a way that they are more than background or suspects. I hope we get to see more of Catherine in the future, this would be an awesome series.

The Buriel Society is a murder mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. There are short chapters that confused me at first but once I got used to the book flow I was able to follow. A very different type of mystery that I think mystery lovers will enjoy.

This story was a bit confusing for me. with short The chapters were short and constantly different POV's. The book was well written but again a bit confusing.
I liked the premise of the book and the author definitely has talent. It's just not something I'm used to.

While siblings (Jack and Natalie) are still reeling after mother (Mallory) disappears, father (Brian) is murdered. Where is their mom? Why was their father killed? And how is The Burial Society involved?!? Read this suspenseful story to find out!

What is The Burial Society you ask? It's an organization that protects women endangered by domestic abuse by giving them a new identity in a new location.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

In Paris with her father and brother, eighteen-year-old Natalie Burrows returns back to their hotel room and finds her father dead. His death triggers an open wound in Natalie, reminding her of when her mother, Mallory, went missing three years earlier and was never found. A man who was her mother's supposed lover claimed responsibility for her disappearance and death. Natalie and her older brother Jake are both still reeling from that incident, as is Brian's brother, Frank, who must come to Paris to help his niece and nephew after his brother's death--much like he did following Mallory's disappearance. Meanwhile, also in Paris is a woman named Catherine who goes by many aliases; she has a vested interest in the Burrows family and is watching them from afar. When Brian is killed, the fate all these characters intertwines in ways no one could quite possibly imagine.

This was a really interesting novel that took me by surprise. It's told in very short bursts of chapters, each one from a different point of view--Catherine, Natalie, Jake, Frank, and so on. Most of the narrative is in the present, but we occasionally go back in time. The format takes a little getting used to but it's also incredibly effective in building up suspense and keeping you guessing, wondering, and frustrated (in a good way) as to what is happening.

The novel gets off to an interesting start and just keeps on rolling. I was completely bewildered from the beginning and fascinated, wondering how all the characters related to each other. The book was perplexing and if I hadn't read it while I was moving, I probably would have whipped through it in a day or two--it has all the makings of a very fast read.

I do want to note that there is a self-harm trigger in the book, so please take note if that's something that affects you.

The characters in the novel are all varied. I was probably drawn more to Catherine and Jake, but each is fascinating in their own right. You are always a little wary of each, contemplating how much we truly know them and can trust them. The book gives us a couple of good "oh wow" moments, which I certainly appreciated. I eventually mostly worked things out near the end, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel. Through it all, we're always puzzling things out, wondering what happened to Mallory and how things will play out.

Overall, this is a different sort of book, and I enjoyed the original plot. It's a bit odd at times and sometimes confusing, but it certainly kept me reading. An enjoyable, twisty read. 4 stars.

Catherine (no last name revealed) runs an organization in Paris called The Burial Society, a secret society that provides new lives for victims of domestic violence. We follow along as Catherine helps Elena, a former Russian model, escape from her marriage to a much older, wealthy, abusive man, Catherine is haunted by what she calls "my greatest failure" as she was unable to save Mallory Burrows. When Mallory's husband is found dead three years later, Catherine begins an investigation that leads to the biggest twist at the end of the story.

I really enjoyed the alternating points of view and alternating time frames (from three years prior to present). I wonder if the concept of The Burial Society, really exists in the darkweb; if not, it probably should!

The sign of a well-written thriller is that the author leads the reader to believe one thing and then delivers a twist that you won't see coming. I did not see the ending coming at all!

I received an Advance Review Copy of this thriller by author Nina Sadowsky; all opinions are my own.

I would highly recommend this story, which releases on January 30, 2018, to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers and unreliable narrators!

IMG_1744My Review of “The Burial Society” by Nina Sadowsky

WOW! WOW! WOW! I have you to blame, Nina Sadowsky Author of “The Burial Society” for keeping me up all night reading. This is a Psychological Thriller, Mystery, and novel of Suspense. WARNING: Once you get into reading, “The Burial Society”, it is difficult to put down.

A reasonable question that you might ask is what exactly is ‘The Burial Society”? The blurb states, “Catherine, no last name, doesn’t bury the dead. She rescues the living–from intolerable, abusive dangerous lives. Her darkness based witness protection program , the Burial Society, is the last hope for people who desperately need to disappear.”

Kudos to Nina Sadowsky for weaving an intriguing, intense and captivating story. This is like a roller coaster, you go up and down, there are twists and turns, and just when you think you have everything figured out, you have to retrace the clues.

In this story, nothing is truly as it seems, there are betrayals, deadly secrets, and hidden agendas. The author describes her characters as complex, and complicated as circumstances possibly dictate. You are not sure who you can trust. Catherine, no last name, gives hints to her own background. Although, she has safely saved other people through the Burial Society, she regrets a mistake that may have compromised a client, Mallory, several years ago. Catherine notices Mallory’s daughter Nina, in Paris, and starts to observe certain things. Nina finds her father dead in their hotel. Nina’s family is extremely dysfunctional and Catherine mysteriously watches. How can Catherine re-write history? Could this mean trouble for “The Burial Society”? Is anyone really who you think they are?

I would recommend this story for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers, mystery and suspense. I received an Advanced Reading Copy for my honest review.

I couldn't get very far in this book- the story was uninteresting, the main character was cold/unlikeable. I would not recommend this book.

The Burial Society is an organization based in Paris run by a woman named Catherine. She provides a service for women that want to escape to safety from domestic abuse. The Society provides them with new identities along with a safe haven from their former lives. Three years earlier, Mallory Burrows reached out to Catherine for assistance after receiving numerous threats. Mallory started receiving these warnings after her ongoing affair in Westport, CT. Catherine wasn't able to help, and with the passage of time, Mallory is presumed dead. Catherine feels very guilty about her failure.

Three years later, Mallory Borrows’ family is living in Paris. Her daughter, Natalie, finds her father, Brian, murdered in their apartment. The police believe the murder is due to a botched robbery. Natalie and her older brother Jake are skeptical and begin their own investigation. Brian Burrows’ death catches the attention of Catherine from The Burial Society. Her curiosity, along with her prior connection to their mother, convinces her to investigate. Perhaps this can help soften her guilt about failing to help Mallory all those years ago.

Each chapter in The Burial Society is told in a different character’s point of view. This is a fun twisty mystery that is hard to put down. This is the Nina Sadowsky’s second novel.

A pretty good story once I got into it. I had trouble getting used to the author's writing style of very short chapters, each told in a single character's point of view - it was somewhat confusing early in the book. I liked the concept of The Burial Society - a secret society that helps women and children disappear from abusive and terrifying situations. Catherine is an intriguing character - quite a chameleon. I couldn't quite warm up to any of the other characters in the book but they did hold my interest. I would read another book by this author.

Thanks to Nina Sadowsky and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through Netgalley for an advance copy.

WOW this book was really good once I got into it! It was a little slow to start because the narrator, Catherine was very mysterious and it was hard to tell if she was a good guy or a bad one. She has a really odd existence in that she changes personas all the time and travels all over kidnapping and blackmailing people. Which actually turns out not to be true. She is part of this secret society where she helps abused women and children disappear from their current life and escape into another life. And that is good. Her means maybe aren't the best but it makes for an enthralling action filled story! She gets involved with a family in which she was supposed to save the mother from a stalker and help her run away but failed because she had personal issues get in the way. The mother was murdered and she always felt guilty about it. She runs into the surviving family accidentally and gets involved in their current lives which is so interesting. I couldn't wait to get to the end. The writing is good, but the chapters are really short /quick and each in a different POV with only the narrator's being in first person. Took a little while to catch on but I loved the flow of the chapters and story once I did. I have never read a book that was set up like this and initially I didn't think I would read the whole thing but the more I read, the more I was intrigued--constant action. And I had no idea what was going to happen in the end until the end, which to me, makes a FABULOUS mystery. I love that the ending also leaves a possibility for a sequel while also pretty much neatly tying up the current plotline. GREAT BOOK! THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

I enjoy the sub-genre in the mystery/thriller category where is it necessary for the victim to disappear, get a new identity, and rebuild his or her life. One of my favorite characters is Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitfield who facilitates these disappearances. So I was very eager to read The Burial Society by a new author in this field.

The novel is told from multiple points of view in very short chapters and jumps around from the present to the near past to the distant past. This format is relatively easy to follow and the reader is not confused because each chapter heading names the character.

Catherine with no last name is the first person narrator and the founder of The Burial Society, a deep net organization that rescues abused women and children from their abusers and gives them new lives. Her employees are often former clients with specific skills like forgery, theft, smuggling etc. Her present case is extracting the wife of a brutal Russian mobster in Paris and giving her a new life in Australia. But while working on the case she sees an American family staying in Paris for the summer and is painfully reminded of a recent failure to help a client. 21 year old Jake and 17 year old Natalie, are haunted by the disappearance of their mother Mallory three years ago, the woman Catherine was supposed to help. Mallory vanished when Catherine missed their rendezvous because she was too drunk to make it.

When their father is murdered in their Paris apartment, Catherine is determined to find his murderer and to solve the mystery of Mallory’s disappearance so that their children can find some closure and get on with their lives. The points of view rotate from Catherine to Jake to Natalie to their Uncle Frank who has flown to Paris to help his niece and nephew. It soon becomes obvious that the Burrows family is falling apart. Jake is dealing with his homosexuality while trying to help his waif of a sister who cuts and burns herself to ease her internal pain.

The story starts with a bang but by the end of the book becomes flat. I liked Catherine and wanted to read more about her organization and the mechanics and suspense of spiriting victims to new lives. Instead, I got Catherine the amateur shrink trying to set things right to salve her conscience for a bungled job. The author tries too hard to flesh out the characters by dwelling on details that slow the plot (Uncle Frank is in the midst of a messy divorce….so what?).

Then there is the cliché of the unreliable narrator. Too many authors now are deliberately using this device and the “Aha, I tricked you,” is getting stale.

This seems to be the beginning of a series and I will certainly read the second book because I like the premise and Catherine herself is fascinating. I just hope the author drops the multiple point of view-very short chapter format which adds nothing to the telling of the story and slows the action.

This was way too confusing for me with short chapters constantly changing from one character to another. This drove my crazy and I couldn't keep all the characters straight! As soon as I started to follow one characters narrative, it switched to another.

I liked the sound of the premise of having a covert witness protection service in London. They rescue people from abusive situations and give them a new identity, but I wasn't able to keep tract of the plot.

I do think the author is talented, but the organization and pacing didn't work for me.

Review to come at end of dec with cross posted link

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this book.
I thought this was a well written thriller with a lot of unexpected twists.
I loved that each chapter had a different characters viewpoint and how the author kept changing from the present day to the past.
I hope there are more books in the series.