Fear the Darkness

November 17, 2014
For someone who still conducts threat assessments at functions as seemingly innocuous as a Tucson, Ariz., humane society fundraiser, retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn has gone dangerously soft in other respects—as she discovers when it’s almost too late in Edgar-finalist Masterman’s disappointingly wan follow-up to her electrifying 2013 debut, Rage Against the Dying. Then again, it’s tough for Brigid to be at the top of her game once she begins to experience increasingly alarming symptoms, including chronic nausea, anxiety, and hallucinations, after her teenage niece, Gemma-Kate, whose mother has recently died of MS, moves in with her and husband Carlo to establish in-state residency for the University of Arizona. Given the timing, as well as the girl’s glaring lack of empathy but keen interest in toxicology, Brigid starts wondering whether she’s let a psychopath into her little slice of long-overdue domestic bliss. Overly talky with too many heavy-handed efforts at misdirection, this novel lets down both Masterman’s kick-ass heroine and her many fans. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency.

December 1, 2014

Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn, who was introduced to mystery readers in the Edgar Award-nominated Rage Against the Dying is back. This is good news for those who were captivated by the tough-but-vulnerable 59-year-old protagonist, whose strategy for adapting to both retirement and married life was to follow up on old cases while trying to shield her new husband from the realities of her former career. The Brigid we encounter now is more comfortable in her marriage and further removed from the daily intrigues of law enforcement. And the case that confronts her this time arises from her own friends and family. Unfortunately, Brigid is one of the victims, and the drugs she unknowingly ingests not only hamper her abilities to track down the culprit, but they affect her personality and thus deprive the reader of the uniquely authoritative and comical voice that led us through the first tale. Instead, the reader is saddled with an unreliable and unsure narrator who gropes her way through a confusion of events, and, in the end, must rely on a teenage niece to help her solve the case. VERDICT We can only hope the old Brigid will be revived in time for the next episode. [Library marketing.]--Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
Former FBI undercover agent Brigid Quinn, introduced to critical acclaim in Rage against the Dying (2013), returns in a gripping psychological duel that threatens to destroy her hard-won Tucson sanctuary. Brigid dreads the family togetherness when she agrees to take in her niece, Gemma-Kate, for the few months she needs to gain in-state tuition. But shortly after Gemma-Kate's arrival, Brigid finds herself in familiar, dangerous territory when her dog is poisoned, and she's battling her own symptoms of nausea and hallucinations. This doesn't stop her, however, from ignoring good advice and delving into the suspicious drowning of a young boy whose (possibly insane) mother is convinced her son was murdered. Believing she's let a killer into her inner circle, Brigid slips back undercover to find her foe. Tough, cunning Brigid Quinn will certainly appeal to thriller readers who favor a female perspective, but her unwavering determination to fight for even the ugliest forms of justice will also draw in fans of Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)