A friend of mine recommended Rage Against the Dying to me. I picked up a copy from the library and read it. Brigid Quinn tracked down sexual predators for the FBI. But one case–the Route 66 murders–frustrated Brigid and eventually led to her retirement from the FBI. Brigid tries to move on. She marries a nice guy, Carlo. She acquires some dogs. She works out. But the events of the Route 66 murders haunt Brigid and she just can’t let the case go. So she gets involved in the investigation. As you might suspect, the Real Killer targets Brigid. There’s some suspense in Rage Against the Dying but not enough of it for me. I figured things out early on and then read on to see things work out pretty much as I imagined. This is Becky Masterman’s first novel. I’m sure the next one will be better. GRADE: C+
Sounds like an episode of a television crime show. Maybe she should try Hollywood.
Jeff, you’re right about RAGE AGAINST THE DYING being cinematic. I’m just burnt-out reading about serial killers. After Thomas Harris’ RED DRAGON, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and HANNIBAL I had reached my limit on the whole serial killer genre.
I agree. I don’t get how people watch shows like CRIMINAL MINDS which has serial killers every week.
Jeff, that’s the major reason I don’t watch CRIMINAL MINDS.
For people who read serial killer books, it’s the puzzles and the catching that’s the draw. Barbara reads some, Deaver, Connelly, Billingham, others. Funny, the Chan novel I just did FFB on had a plot with an ex-cop who just couldn’t give up a case, too. Written in the Nineteen Twenties.
Rick, I like cops and FBI agents who are obsessed with a particular crime they didn’t solve. But serial killers, like vampires and zombies, have been over-done.