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    Fear the Darkness: A Novel
    Fear the Darkness: A Novel
    Fear the Darkness: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Fear the Darkness: A Novel

    Written by Becky Masterman

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    It's hard to recognize the devil when his hand is on your shoulder. That's because a psychopath is just a person before he becomes a headline….Psychopaths have preferences for Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts coffee, denim or linen, Dickens or…well, you get the point.


    Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn has seen more than her share of psychopaths. She is ready to put all that behind her, building a new life in Tucson with a husband, friends, and some nice quiet work as a private investigator. Sure, she could still kill a man half her age, but she now gets her martial arts practice by teaching self-defense at a women's shelter.

    But sometimes it isn't that simple. When her sister-in-law dies, Brigid take in her seventeen-year-old niece, Gemma Kate. There has always been something unsettling about Gemma-Kate, but family is family. Which is fine, until Gemma-Kate starts taking an unhealthy interest in dissecting the local wildlife.
    Meanwhile, Brigid agrees to help a local couple by investigating the death of their son—which also turns out not to be that simple. Her house isn't the sanctuary it used to be, and new dangers—including murder—seem to lurk everywhere. Brigid starts to wonder if there is anyone she can trust, or if the devil has simply moved closer to home.

    Becky Masterman's Fear the Darkness is the masterful follow-up to the Edgar Award and CWA Gold Dagger finalist Rage Against the Dying.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJan 20, 2015
    ISBN9781427239570
    Fear the Darkness: A Novel
    Author

    Becky Masterman

    Becky Masterman has worked as an actor, playwright, and an editor for a forensic science and law enforcement press. Her debut thriller was a finalist for the Edgar and the Anthony Awards for Best First Novel and for the CWA Gold Dagger, and her books have been translated into twenty languages. As well as four books featuring retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn, she is the author of standalone thriller Maternal Instinct. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, with her husband.

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    Reviews for Fear the Darkness

    3.5/5

    61 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman is a 2014 Minotaur publication. Becky Masterson takes full advantage of the momentum and foundation she established with Brigid Quinn in the first book in this series. When Brigid’s sister-in-law dies after a lengthy illness, she reluctantly takes in her niece for a while, before she begins college.Unfortunately, things get off to a very rocky start when her niece participates in some ghoulish behavior, then one of Brigid’s dogs becomes ill, quite suddenly, and then Brigid, herself, begins experiencing the hallmark symptoms of a serious illness. Meanwhile, a local couple asks Brigid to investigate the alleged accidental drowning death of their son, who was not popular amongst his classmates. If you read the first book in this series, you will have noticed that Brigid seems almost mellow in this installment, by comparison. But don’t let that fool you- Brigid still has her edge- it’s just taking a small sabbatical while Brigid is wading through the heaviness of her symptoms, and facing the possibility of her own mortality in a way she never has before. There is a lot going on in this novel- but many of the key shifts are quiet and may even go unnoticed at first. I wouldn’t let my guard down, if I were you, as the last quarter of the book hypnotically weaves all the threads together to reveal a huge surprise and a riveting conclusion. I am definitely all in with this series and am eagerly anticipating Brigid’s next adventure!! 4 stars
    • 4/5
      This is the second book about retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn, I will definitely have to go back and read the first one.

      Brigid is happily married to ex-priest Carlo. They are living in Tucson after a recent move. When Brigid’s sister-in-law passes away after a long illness, she honours her promise to allow Gemma-Kate, her niece, to come and live with them so she can go to College in Arizona. She also meets a woman at church, Mallory, and finally has a friend to talk with, lunch with and drink wine. Shortly after Gemma-Kate comes to live with them, things began to go wrong.

      When Brigid meets Jacqui, the mother who's son had died, she is asked to investigate his death. Jacqui thinks there was more to it than an accident. As she begins to put her past skills to use once again, her gut instinct and intuition tell her that there is evil close by? Her suspicions are going haywire. Why is she herself suddenly feeling ill? What was happening? Why is she hallucinating?

      As danger came closer, Brigid wondered if she was going crazy, what was wrong with her?

      Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman is a wonderful thriller! Gripping, intense and with a scarily real plot plus twists and turns to blow you away. An excellent read if you like thrillers and suspense. I have no hesitation in recommending Fear the Darkness.
    • 3/5
      For me the story started very slow and it didn't really pick up to the point where you just have to keep reading to see what will happen next until about half-way through the book. If you can stick it out that long then you will find some good twists and a very satisfactory conclusion. I thought from the start that there was something not quite right about Gemma-Kate. She seemed just too good to be true. If you like mysteries that take awhile to solve then you will like this one.
    • 2/5
      I just loved the first book in this series. Unfortunately this book is not nearly as good.
      I love that Becky writes about an older female retired FBI agent. I was so excited to read the new Brigid Quinn mystery. There are not many mystery/thrillers that focus on older adults, which is why I was double disappointed with this story.

      I was hoping for a riveting mystery where Brigid is perhaps a consultant on a case. Instead, the story centers on her homelife. Her niece comes to live with her and her husband, upsetting their cozy household. Her niece behaves oddly and strange things begin to happen to Brigid. An interesting premise but one that lost my interest half way through the story.
      Brigid has too many demons, major problems with relationships, it just gets tiring after awhile.
      The next book can only be an improvement. But after reading this story, I'm not sure if I'll bother to read it.
    • 5/5
      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!
    • 2/5
      In book two of this series, retired FBI Brigid, continues doing some private eye investigations while enjoying the desert environs of Tucson. At a social function, she meets a couple who recently lost their teen son in a swimming pool mishap. Brigid agrees to the wife's pleas to look into it. Further complicating her golden years with her new husband, easy-going Carlo, ex-priest, Brigid agrees to take-in her niece, 18(?) year old Gemma-Kate who has just lost her Mom, Brigid's sister, to a lengthy disease. And then there are the two dogs, nameless, one of which is poisoned soon after the girl's arrival. You can read very similar synopses in the publisher's and Amazon's blurb, and many other reader reviews, and probably conclude -as I should have - hmmm, doesn't sound like there's much going on here.....And you'd be right! Actually, it got so slow that I put it down at the half way point, and labeled it "did not finish". And then for some dumb reason (re-read some enthusiastic reader reviews), I picked it up and finished it. I am doubly kicking myself, because I wasn't all that crazy about the first book in the series.Three basic reasons for the two stars - even after all the groundwork was laid out, there was very little tension even in the second half of the book. The climax fizzled, even though Brigid does seem to have a penchant for the first alternative in the old West "bring 'em in dead or alive" thing. Secondly, something happens to Brigid midway in the story, and she doesn't deal with it like a person with her aggressive behaviors typically would - she wimps out, and that seemed totally out of character. Finally, let me tell you something about Brigid. If I do the arithmetic correctly she's somewhere in her mid to late 50's. A senior. Nothing wrong with that, I 'm a senior. But she's rather cranky, like almost always. She reminds the reader, for a second book in a row now, that she doesn't like music (weird, but so what?) and she doesn't like forensic focused TV shows because they don't get it right, and after all, she knows better. And she has no humor and apparently never smiles.(at least genuinely). Brigid reminds me of Paretzky's Vic, who also does not appeal to me. But I do recognize that there is a market out there for this kind of character, given the loyal readership that both authors have. It just doesn't include me.(The e-book quality is excellent - numbered pages, good formatting, few typos)
    • 5/5
      I love a good thriller and Fear the Darkness is one of the better ones I have read in awhile. Brigid Quinn is retired FBI and now she teaches self defense at a woman's shelter. Married to an ex-priest they have a happy life in Tucson Arizona. Brigid's sister in law dies from a long illness, requesting that her daughter Gemma-Kate come live with them until she starts college.Brigid is asked by a family to investigate the death of their son, he drowned in their pool and the mother does not believe it was suicide. Things start getting strange with Gemma-Kate, Brigid's dog is poisoned and the investigation starts taking a turn for the worse. To maintain her sanity, she spends a lot of time with a long time friend Mallory. People at a church gathering start feeling ill and Brigid also starts feeling ill, hallucinations and weakness. She starts suspecting Gemma-Kate of poisoning her. Brigid's quiet life is not as tranquil as it had been, before Gemma-Kate. Is someone trying to kill her? and why? Are things happening because of her investigation? Fear the Darkness is the followup to Rage Against Dying, which I need to read, I always seem to read books in the wrong order but it did not take away from the story at all. The author tells a terrific story and I loved the main character Brigid, a strong woman, I never expected the ending, totally surprised me. I totally enjoyed this story and highly recommend it.I received this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
    • 4/5
      Second in the Brigid Quinn series [following “Rage Against the Dying”], “Fear the Darkness” finds Brigid more settled in her marriage and taking on family responsibilities as she keeps a promise made to her late sister-in-law. But turmoil and conflict always seems to find Brigid and soon after Gemma-Kate’s arrival in Arizona, things take a decidedly downward turn. After Gemma-Kate accidentally poisons one of Brigid’s pugs, anti-freeze somehow contaminates the coffee at the church social, poisoning nearly everyone except Gemma Kate. Brigid’s own health is suddenly complicated by Parkinson’s-like symptoms, leaving the tenacious investigator to wonder if she, too, is somehow being poisoned. Is Gemma-Kate involved? Is she simply a moody teenager mourning the loss of her mother or does the young woman harbor a darker, more sinister secret?There is much to admire in the delightfully complex character of the growing-older-but-definitely-capable retired FBI agent with the wicked sense of humor. Readers will find her intriguing and interesting and this twisty page-turner of a mystery will keep them guessing until the end.
    • 4/5
      Even though tough as nails Brigid Quinn is retirement age now and starting to have a few health issues, she still remembers enough of her FBI martial arts training to take down a much bigger, younger, stronger man in a hand to hand scuffle so this is no cozy mystery. Brigid did a lot of undercover work when she was an FBI agent which isn’t conducive to forming close personal relationships, but she’s slowly getting the knack for human connection and in this second book of the series she’s added a best female friend and a teenage niece to the husband and dogs she acquired late in her life. Then as soon as Brigid is asked to investigate the drowning death of a boy from her church one of her dogs gets poisoned and her health problems start to escalate, filling her with suspicions and making her doubt everything about the new life she’s built for herself. The story gives interesting insights into Brigid’s relationship with her family, and while the plot is slightly more disturbing than I prefer because I lean towards the cozy side of the genre, I love having an older main character who’s sharp, tenacious and capable.