Rage Against the Dying

By: Becky Masterman

Narrated by: Judy Kaye

Audie Award Finalist, Mystery, 2014

You have never met an (ex) FBI agent like Brigid Quinn

“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 59.”

You have never met an (ex) FBI agent like Brigid Quinn Brigid’s career - the disappearance and presumed murder of her young protégée, 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.

©2013 Becky Masterman (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Questionable

This COULD BE a great book but part of it was totally unbelievable. The beginning of the book had me thinking that I was about to listen to a thriller yet I never got that feeling. The main character seems to be brilliant one minute and totally ignorant and making the worse decisions in the next. I know that this is fiction but come on.....at least make most of it believable. There are additional books with this character and I will read the next one with the hopes that the characters have matured.

Couldn't Stop Listening

I loved this book! Great story and great characters! Judy Kaye does a wonderful job narrating, though her accents and tone sometimes slipped, I was too intrigued with the story to be bothered much by that.

I actually have this book both in paperback and audible. I usually spend most of my time listening to books during my 40+ minute commute to work, but this story had me wanting to find out what would happen next so I also picked up the paperback and read some as well.

From the beginning I was drawn into the story of Brigid Quinn. I certainly didn't agree or understand why she did some of the things that she did (or why she didn't do some things she should have!) but as the story progressed and I became to know more about the character, it seemed to make sense. She's a little complicated and think that she fully understands other people, which is why she does some of the things in her own way - but by the end she comes to realize that she doesn't know some of her closest friends as well as she had thought.

I'm trying not to give away the story - I really liked it and hope we get so see more of this character in future books or at least more exciting stories like this one from Becky Masterman.

I'm a big fan of Michael Connelly, Lee Child and James Patterson - Becky Masterman is right up there with these guys in her storytelling.

Older Main Character

I loved Brigid's character; she is tough, smart, and.....59! Who says you can't kick ass and be old enough to carry an AARP card at the same time, LOL! The mystery aspect was good, the characters were well developed, and I thought it was well written. I definitely will read more in this series.

True mystery

Loved the twists and turns. It kept me guessing and how the murders were tied up together was believable. Great performance by the narrator Judy Kaye.

An easy winner

With a debut novel winning mystery genre awards -it is easy to vote this a darn good book. I liked the Arizona setting, retired (really?) FBI agent, her peripherals - spouse, pugs, friends. The reader adds final appeal with her rich deep voice. A lovely slice of life in Tucson with no high tech surprises and little gore.

Great Story

I want loved the characters, and the story,very natural. I hope we hear more from Brigid Quinn, she kicks butt

I look forward to more in this new series!

I really enjoyed this book, even though I didn’t understand Brigid’s decisions some of the times, I really liked her and will definitely read the second book in this series. I was impressed to see this was this author’s first book and think she has a good career in front of her.

From the moment we meet retired FBI Agent Brigid Quinn we know she is no shrinking violet ready to buy a walker and toddle on into retirement, oh no Brigid Quinn is a badass no matter what her age is. There are times though that I was wondering about her decisions, there is actually many of them that make you go hmmm, however, I needed to know what happened next, I also needed to know why she made the decisions she did, there had to be a reason behind it. The more I learned about Brigid and why she does the things she does made me like her more and more as the book went on.

All the secondary characters are fully fleshed out and I really hope that certain people will be back, okay that was ambiguous I know, but there are characters you need to worry about to enjoy this book and I don’t want to spoil it for you.

This book is a thrill ride from beginning to end, it is a hard book to put down I didn’t ever want to stop listening. It starts out with a bang and doesn’t let up to the crazy conclusion. It kept me guessing all the way through I never had an inkling who the serial killer was and the reveal was edge of your seat screaming at Brigid get out of there, get back up, Ahhhh look out!


Judy Kaye’s narration was fabulous all of the characters and accents were very well done. She did a few different accents which felt authentic especially since the main accents were male characters it was very impressive. She brought Brigid to life flawlessly and I hope that she will continue to narrate this series because I will keep listening, I see she narrates Sue Grafton’s series and I have been meaning to re-read those so may have to start them on audio.

If you haven’t already surmised I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to this series continuing. This would be a full 5 stars but there are times you have to suspend a little belief (which stems from Brigid’s decisions) but this is a solid 4 ½ Stars.

More, More!

I love Brigid Quinn! And Judy Kaye does a masterful job of making her real. This is a story of a retired FBI agent, a "woman of a certain age", recently married and trying to keep it all together after a, shall we say, unfortunate mishap. It's also a great who-dunnit. Ms. Masterman gives us action, suspense, and all the other goodies in all the right places. I can't wait for more from this duo.

10 hour book should have been 5 hours

I guess my headline about covers my thoughts. The story was fine, and the reader was not bad, but the bla, bla, bla made one want to scream ...

Great first novel but not for lovers of cozies.

What made the experience of listening to Rage Against the Dying the most enjoyable?

Writing and story were done very well. The reader was well matched to the material.

What does Judy Kaye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Strong perforance reminding me of the late Anna Fields.

Any additional comments?

Would like to see more from this author and this could be the beginning of a good series.