Some cases haunt an agent forever. For retired FBI agent, Brigid Quinn, it is the disappearance of her protΓ©gΓ©e Jessica Robertson who went undercover to help catch the Route 66 serial killer. Jessica was never seen again and the Route 66 killer was never caught. When a man named Floyd Lynch confesses to Jessica's murder, and reveals the location of the body to prove it, Brigid is pulled back into the nightmare of the case she couldn't solve. Except there's one nagging question Brigid can't shake; Is Lynch really the Route 66 killer?
RAGE AGAINST THE DYING is gritty, tense, and pushes the limits of human endurance. Becky Masterman creates a uniquely vulnerable and strong character in Brigid Quinn. I love Brigid's mindset. She's fifty-nine and while she acknowledges her age and injuries, she hasn't lost any of her intelligence or sharpness. In a society that often sees aging as a curse and a decline in usefulness, it's refreshing to see a mature woman as not only retaining her intelligence but still capable of learning and experiencing life to the fullest. Hooray, Ms. Masterman, for portraying strong, capable, realistic women!
The humor that lurks in RAGE AGAINST THE DYING is deliciously dark and well placed. Brigid uses humor as a coping mechanism, but Ms. Masterman's writing as a whole is tinged with a gallows humor I appreciate. The writing is gritty and harsh as well as witty and intelligent. The landscapes are gorgeously rendered, the characters are complex and round, and the mystery is tensely paced troughout.
While the mystery itself is superbly written, I absolutely threw myself into Brigid and her new husband Carlo's relationship. Oh, man do I love this couple. The twists and turns in their marriage nearly brought me to tears, and I still have my fingers crossed that there will be another Brigid Quinn book.
I highly recommend RAGE AGAINST THE DYING by Becky Masterman. It's deliciously dark, gritty, and fantastic.
"Keeping secrets, telling lies, they require the same skill. Both become a habit, almost an addiction, that's hard to break even with the people closest to you, out of the business. For example, they say never trust a woman who tells you her age; if she can't keep that secret, she can't keep yours. I'm fifty-nine." Brigid Quinn's experiences in hunting sexual predators for the FBI have left her with memories she wishes she didn't have and lethal skills she hopes never to need again. Having been pushed into early retirement by events she thinks she's put firmly behind her, Brigid keeps telling herself she is settling down nicely in Tucson with a wonderful new husband, Carlo, and their dogs. But the past intervenes when a man named Floyd Lynch confesses to the worst unsolved case of Brigid's career--the disappearance and presumed murder of her young protgee, Jessica. Floyd knows things about that terrible night that were never made public, and offers to lead the cops to Jessica's body in return for a plea bargain. It should finally be the end of a dark chapter in Brigid's life. Except...the new FBI agent on the case, Laura Coleman, thinks the confession is fake, and Brigid finds she cannot walk away from violence and retribution after all, no matter what the cost. With a fiercely original and compelling voice, Becky Masterman's Rage Against the Dying marks the heart-stopping debut of a brilliant new thriller writer"--
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