A Twist of the Knife by Becky Masterman

First Line: The first execution I attended wasn't by lethal injection but by Old Sparky. 

When her former partner, Laura Coleman, asks for her help, ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn leaves her home and husband in Tucson, Arizona, and heads for her childhood home of Florida. 

Laura is on leave from the Bureau and has been volunteering for a legal group trying to prove the innocence of a man who is on death row for killing his family. Laura is convinced the man is innocent. Brigid isn't so sure. The date for his execution is coming up fast so they have to work quickly. There's only one thing slowing Brigid down: her father is ill and in a local hospital. 

I have read and enjoyed Becky Masterman's previous two Brigid Quinn books Rage Against the Dying and Fear the Darkness, and I really looked forward to A Twist of the Knife. While still a strong book, I didn't find it quite as enjoyable as the other two.

I think one of my problems was the fact that I missed two things quite a bit: the Tucson setting of the other books, and the absence of Brigid's husband Carlo. Carlo is such a wise, strong, comforting presence that Skyping and phone calls just didn't cut the mustard for me. Perhaps it's because I identify too strongly with Brigid, another woman who found the love of her life after the age of fifty. Watching Brigid become accustomed to sharing her life with another person has been a pleasure for me.

Due to the scheduled execution date of the condemned man, the action of A Twist of the Knife takes place within a very short period of time, and Brigid has to go nonstop in order to take care of both her parents and of her share of the investigation. Masterman made me feel as exhausted as Brigid had to be. 

Family dynamics play a crucial role in this book. After all, the man is on death row for killing his family, and we have the added drama of Brigid's own family web of secrets. Her relationship with her parents has always been troubled, and we learn the reasons why. Her father is gravely ill. Her mother is acting very strangely. She's unhappy with her brother Todd who's ignoring his father's illness and concentrating on the same investigation on which his sister is working. Many times it felt as though Brigid's own family situation was working against the subplot of proving (or disproving) the condemned man's innocence, and this weakened both storylines for me a bit.

A Twist of the Knife is still a good, strong book with a main character I'm addicted to. How can I resist a woman who's seen so much evil, who's experienced so much, and who now believes that "we're all mysteries that can't be solved"? 
 

A Twist of the Knife by Becky Masterman

ISBN: 9781250074515

Minotaur Books © 2017

Hardcover, 320 pages

Thriller, #3 Brigid Quinn

Rating: B+

Source: publicist  


 

Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman

First Line: There is near complete darkness, yes, but it's the least of my problems.

Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn has left the psychos behind her. She enjoys her life in Tucson, Arizona, with her new husband, her friends, and her volunteer work teaching self-defense at a women's shelter. All she wants to do is to concentrate on this sweet new life, but she just can't seem to catch a break. When her sister-in-law dies, Brigid takes in her seventeen-year-old niece, Gemma Kate. 

When Gemma Kate moves in, Brigid's life begins to unravel. There's something unsettling about the young girl, and when Brigid promises a couple to help investigate the death of their son, that isn't as simple as she thought it would be. All of a sudden her house is no longer a haven, and danger-- including murder-- seems to lurk around every corner. 

Once again, Becky Masterman begins a book by putting her main character in a very scary situation. This time, the situation is sometime in the near future. Then she takes readers back to the present so we can wonder how Brigid got herself into that mess. As the story progresses, we see how it happened... and now it's time for us to wonder how she's going to get herself out of danger. It's a formula that works, due almost entirely to the strength of the tough, smart, older woman, Brigid Quinn.

In Fear the Darkness, we're seeing Brigid when she isn't at her best. What's wrong with her? Is she imagining things? Is Gemma Kate a psychopath? Is the death of the couple's young son really suicide, or is it murder? Masterman poses a lot of questions throughout the story, and discovering the answers turns out to be a most enjoyable undertaking. It's always fascinating to me to wonder if a strong, intelligent character has suddenly turned into an unreliable narrator, and if so, to deduce the reason why. 

The only thing that slightly marred the book for me was the fact that I deduced the villain of the piece much too early. I have a nose for certain elements in a mystery. (For example, if someone's dead, I want to "see" the body.) But even though I knew whodunit, Fear the Darkness is still an excellent study of personalities and a thrilling, fast-paced tale to read. Brigid is a marvelous character who is incapable of giving up. Bring on book three!
   

Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman

ISBN: 9780143182689

Penguin Canada © 2015

Paperback, 336 pages

Thriller, #2 Brigid Quinn mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet.   


 

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

First Line: From his idling van atop the Golder Ranch Road bridge, Gerald Peasil examined his next girlfriend.

Brigid Quinn used to hunt sexual predators for the FBI, but she was pushed into early retirement. She tells herself she's settling into the next phase of her life nicely with her new husband and their dogs down in Tucson, Arizona-- and she would have been if Floyd Lynch hadn't confessed to the worst unsolved case of Brigid's career.

Lynch knows things about the disappearance and presumed murder of Brigid's young protégée that were never made public, but the new FBI agent on the case thinks the confession is fake. It doesn't matter that Brigid is retired; she's just realized that she cannot walk away. Not from this one. It's too personal.

Our introduction to Brigid Quinn in the prologue of Rage Against the Dying is a memorable one. When prologue flows into first chapter, we know we are embarking on a journey with an unforgettable character. Brigid Quinn is fierce, uncompromising, and unflinchingly original. She is as far from being a normal "woman of a certain age" as the Earth is from Saturn. She's seen too much, and she's done too much; but what put me firmly in her camp come what may is the fact that this intelligent, strong woman looking sixty straight in the eye is an almost complete novice at relationships with other people. Every hero should have a flaw, and Brigid's carries the potential for a lot of damage.

The man she's fallen in love with is a wonderful character, and although we see him through Brigid's eyes, we're given hints that he isn't quite the man she believes him to be. This fledgling relationship adds so much to the story!

Speaking of the story-- it's completely engrossing. Once I started reading, I didn't come up for air until I'd turned the last page. The hunt for the killer and the killer's final reveal? Fabulous. When I was finished reading, I sat for a few minutes with my eyes closed, simply holding the book and savoring what I'd just experienced. What fuels me as a reader are characters and stories. Becky Masterman has delivered both in superb style. Now I'm an addict and getting my hands on the next Brigid Quinn book has become a necessity!
 

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

ISBN: 9781250038166

Minotaur Books © 2014

Paperback, 320 pages

Thriller, #1 Brigid Quinn

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet