Rating: 
Summary: Overall, not as good as the other two Morrell books I read
Review: "Burnt Sienna", Morrell's 2000 novel, has been the third one of David's books that I read so far. The other two I read--"Extreme Denial" (1996) and "Desperate Measures" (1994)--were really good and kept me entertained. However, I was a bit disappointed with "Burnt Sienna". The novel didn't hold my attention as well as the other novels did; I found that I kind of had to force myself to finish this one. I thought the premise/plot was rather strange. The only character of any interest, worth caring about, I thought, was Sienna, the "perfect" wife of the antagonist, Derek Bellasar. I didn't care for the main character, Chase Malone. On the whole, this wasn't the greatest book I had ever read (perhaps the story would've read better if it had been written in first-person POV). I do, though, like Morrell's style of writing (the two other novels I zipped through were in third-person POV as well); still, I find that David's writing style is a little too simplistic--not enough detail, description, character development (to name just three aspects of novel-writing). Still, I think if Morrell had put a bit more creative energy into "Burnt Sienna", the novel could've been better.
And, oh yes, for the First Edition hardcover copy I have I paid $2.25, as opposed to the fifty cents I paid for "Desperate Measures".
If I ever come across any more First Edition hardcover David Morrell books, I will buy them and read them, but "Burnt Sienna" just didn't do it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Overall, not as good as the other two Morrell books I read
Review: "Burnt Sienna", Morrell's 2000 novel, has been the third one of David's books that I read so far. The other two I read--"Extreme Denial" (1996) and "Desperate Measures" (1994)--were really good and kept me entertained. However, I was a bit disappointed with "Burnt Sienna". The novel didn't hold my attention as well as the other novels did; I found that I kind of had to force myself to finish this one. I thought the premise/plot was rather strange. The only character of any interest, worth caring about, I thought, was Sienna, the "perfect" wife of the antagonist, Derek Bellasar. I didn't care for the main character, Chase Malone. On the whole, this wasn't the greatest book I had ever read (perhaps the story would've read better if it had been written in first-person POV). I do, though, like Morrell's style of writing (the two other novels I zipped through were in third-person POV as well); still, I find that David's writing style is a little too simplistic--not enough detail, description, character development (to name just three aspects of novel-writing). Still, I think if Morrell had put a bit more creative energy into "Burnt Sienna", the novel could've been better.
And, oh yes, for the First Edition hardcover copy I have I paid $2.25, as opposed to the fifty cents I paid for "Desperate Measures".
If I ever come across any more First Edition hardcover David Morrell books, I will buy them and read them, but "Burnt Sienna" just didn't do it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting...but missing something
Review: Although I enjoyed the book, I couldn't help feeling that much was missing that would have made the story more complete or at least more plausible. The main character, Chase Malone, is described as an ex-Marine helicopter pilot turned successful artist living in his own personal paradise in Cozumel. Like many of the author's heros, Malone is a complex combination of seemingly contradictory qualities: a trained killer with artistic ability; gentle yet lethal; tender but prone to intense anger. His perfect life is ruined when he turns down a commission to paint the portrait of Sienna, the beautiful wife of international arms dealer, Derek Bellasar. Suddenly, his home is destroyed - literally; the businesses in the surrounding town close; and his agent's gallery in New York is bought out. In short, his perfect life is quickly and efficiently brought to an end by his newly acquired enemy, Mr. Bellasar, who doesn't like to take "no" for an answer. Naturally, Chase vows revenge, and I was looking forward to read how he would deal with this villain and get his life back. Toward the end of the book, after twists and turns and interesting new characters that arrive only to never be seen again, a sort of "pay back" is finally achieved, but it is somewhat bittersweet and hence disappointing.While deciding how to carry out his revenge, Chase is persuaded to help an old friend, Jeb, whose life he saved in Panama years before. Jeb now works for the CIA and wants to get an "agent" in close to Bellasar to learn more about his nefarious activities. He explains that the way to do this is for Chase to accept the commission and rescue Sienna, who Jeb explains Bellasar is about to murder. It seems Bellasar has a number of odd habits one of which is to kill his wives (3 to date) once they turn 30 and begin to show signs of aging. The magic age of 30 is explained later in the book, but by that time the reader will have figured out the reason so it's not much of a revelation. Besides, I couldn't help wonder - with all of his wealth and power, and a good pre-nup, did Bellasar really have to resort to such extreme measures? Anyway...Chase takes the job, finds the beautiful Sienna captivating, falls in love with her and after much shooting and blowing up of things rescues her from her vile husband. Then the pursuit begins. The book kept me interested, but like many of the other reviewers I just couldn't see the attraction that Chase had to Sienna or for that matter her response to him. Morrell depicts her as so incredibly beautiful that people are somewhat awed in her presence, and he does a very good job of describing Sienna's extreme discomfort at being regarded only for her beauty as well as being treated like a "thing". Her personality, however, doesn't grow beyond this aspect in the book, so much so that it made Chase's sudden intense love for her difficult to understand. At times she seems naive; at other times she displays a surprising intelligence only to lapse back into a sort of blandness. The interaction between Sienna and Chase that must have led to their developing affection and ultimate devotion is only implied or hinted at. I think that if the author had explored this aspect of the story a little more and minimized the shoot-em up scenes (so extreme at times that they were almost comical), the unusual ending of the book might have been more acceptable. Without giving away the conclusion, after reading the Epilogue, I had the feeling that Morrell wrote this part of the story first and then developed the rest of the book to go around it. Either way, it just didn't make sense. At the end, the main focus of the story still seemed to be Sienna's external beauty and not much more. There was no resolution, just a lingering feeling of sadness.
Rating: 
Summary: Dead Wives and Spies Equal One Heck of a Thriller
Review: Chase Malone used to fly military choppers, now he paints, because his last mission nearly got him killed, so he retired. Life's better now, nobody tells him what to do, he paints what he wants. Then arms dealer Derek Bellasar wants Chase to do a portrait of his wife and Chase learns that Bellasar's former wives have all died under mysterious circumstances. It seems Bellasar doesn't want them around once their beauty starts to fade. The CIA wants Chase to paint the portrait and to spy on Bellasar and along the way Chase decides to prevent the murder of the current Mrs. Bellasar. Lots of action, chase scenes and even some romance in this book by Morrell that I couldn't put down. Review submitted by Captain Osborne
Rating:
Summary: Zang book
Review: i am currently reading this book it is excellent or "zang" in Cantoniese. A man who just wants peace is asked to paint a portrait of a black market weapons dealers wife. He is soon in an action packed story trying to save Sienna the most beautiyful woman he has ever seen but married to a weapons dealer who is trying to kill her.
Rating:
Summary: Zang book
Review: i am currently reading this book it is excellent or "zang" in Cantoniese. A man who just wants peace is asked to paint a portrait of a black market weapons dealers wife. He is soon in an action packed story trying to save Sienna the most beautiyful woman he has ever seen but married to a weapons dealer who is trying to kill her.
Rating: 
Summary: A heavy-handed and predictable novel.
Review: I have read a number of books by Morrell in the past because he has the ability to write extremely exciting action sequences. Unfortunately, in "Burnt Sienna," even the action sequences are not particularly exciting. In fact, this book is weak in a number of ways. The lead character, Chase Malone, a Marine who becomes a world-famous painter, is a macho man with a sensitive soul. Sienna Bellasar, the beautiful heroine, is a somewhat clueless beauty who seems to be oblivious to the fact that she is married to a psychopath. Do beautiful women have to be so dumb? Sienna's husband, Derek, is a "by the numbers" character. He's filthy rich from selling armaments to rogue regimes, and he will do anything for money. Bellasar also discards women who pass the age of thirty, because their beauty starts to fade. When I say "discards," I mean it literally--he has them killed. Our hero, Chase, is sent by the CIA to save Sienna and to stop Derek from his nefarious activities. None of these characters ever comes to life. The action sequences are not particularly exciting. The only part of the book that moved me was the last page, which was somewhat poignant. Overall, I had the feeling that Morrell wrote this book mechanically; "Burnt Sienna" is not his best work.
Rating:
Summary: Burnt Sienna
Review: My Gawd!...Morrel apparently has lost his touch, that must be why he hasn't written much in the last 15 years compared to the Ludlums or Follets. The story itself was FANTASTIC, incredible, fast at a break neck speed. I read it in 2 days and I have never read a book that fast. But two things turned me off and they are, in order, as follows:
1. The hero (Chase Malone) in every face to face confrontation withg the Bad Guy(s), gets his ass whipped, repeatedly. Yet on each oppurtunity he is able to dispatch the good guys (C.I.A.) with one smack each.
2. The ENDING STUNK! All the reviews I've read mention something about a 'surprize ending'. The only thing surprising about it , was that IT STUNK.
I guess I'll just go in the closet and dust off the old paperback copies of Brotherhood of the Rose, League of Night and Fog and Fraterity of the Stone...or are they in the basement?...Wait, no...I better check the garage....
Rating: 
Summary: Lame
Review: Not one of David Morrell's better work. The ever tiring theme of a helpless, beaten, beautiful model whose goal in life is as shallow as a dish is rescued by a former special forces man who's physical ability has made him a legend among his former military comrades, but also an artist. The story was predicatable, and annoying. To make it worse, the narrator, Gabrielle completely took away any small points of entertainment through her monotonous whispery voice, and POOR accents and character variations.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining action thriller
Review: This is eminently enjoyable.Exciting.Snappy writing.Neatly and economically punched across with good characterization and bags of action.
The protagonist is ex US marine now successful artist "Chase Malone".Malone lives a somewhat reclusive life in Mexico where he is approached by a man named "Parker"acting on behalf of an un named client who offers him a substantial sum to produce two portraits of his wife.Being a man of independent spirit he refuses only to find his would be patron ,an arms dealer named Bellasar, will not accept his refusal.He buys out Malones house and land and takes steps to prevent any of his work from appearing on the market
Malone is then contacted by a former marine colleague,turned CIA agent,Jeb,who reveals that Bellasar's previous 2 wives have perished in "accidents"shortly after having their portraits painted.He pleads with Malone to take the commission,rescue the wife"Sienna"and at the same time feed information to the CIA on Bellasar , a man the agency is anxious to bring down.He reluctantly agrees and travels to Bellasar's French Riviera retreat where he and Sienna promptly fall in love and it becomes clear that Bellasar is dabbling in chemical weapons They eventually escape from Bellasar's estate only to be pursued by the man and his minions before a powerful climax back on the Riviera
Its an exciting chase thriller with lots of action and pace.The villain gets most of the good lines .Bellasar is a thug but with a veneer of pretension and culture and justifies his noxious trade with references to Matlthusian economics and social Darwinism.While Sienna is a bit too much the victim all other characters are well drawn and Morrell is better at describing physical action than most current writersThe set pieces-the escape from Bellasar's mansion,the safe house shootout and final assault-all all splendidly done
The bitter sweet ending will not please everyone but I recommend the book to lovers of pacy adventure yarns
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