Title: The Third to Die
Author: Allison Brennan
Series: Mobile Response Team #1
A lot going on but not bad
I would like to thank Harlequin MIRA for inviting me to take part in the blog tour, and also thanks to Allison Brennan and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Allison Brennan has been on my radar for years, but I never got around to reading one of her books. So when I was invited on the blog tour, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally give her a try.
And the book was pretty much what I expected—a solid police procedural mystery with a very minor romantic thread. I was a bit disappointed that the plot came down to revenge, but many of the best do, so I don’t hold that against the book.
At first I worried the book was going to lack energy and drag. The characters’ personalities seemed to consist of self-pity and resentment, and we were thrust into this confusing, jargon-laden, heavily bureaucratic situation where the FBI was throwing this team together at the last minute to investigate—and hopefully thwart—a serial killer. The situation within the story was a mess, which wasn’t bad in and of itself, but unfortunately the written execution of it was a tad messy as well, though I’m sure Brennan did her best. That said, once I was able to keep track of who was who (there were so many characters) as well as their purposes and goals, things sorted out in my mind. Eventually, maybe around halfway, I became invested emotionally and didn’t want to stop reading.
I won’t be at all surprised if Kara fails to endear readers. She lacked charm and had little personality aside from arrogance, workaholism, and an air of aggression. Other than the enigma of her, and how handy her skills were, I’m not sure why Matt liked her. Also, some might think her gut instincts are too convenient. And the more she winked, the more it came off as…not exactly creepy, but weird.
However, despite those things, I did sympathize with her. I’m not sure I liked her much, but I did believe she was an honest and trustworthy person trying to do good in the world, and I hated that her life in LA was imploding and causing her great distress. All she wanted out of life was to be a good cop, and some dickface with a grudge went out of his way to fuck that up for her.
Matt, I liked. Matt was a pretty cool dude. Supposedly he has a nasty temper, but I saw no evidence of one beyond irritation. I can’t even imagine him in a rage. He’s also supposed to be self-interested, according to Catherine, but I saw none of that from him, either. So he didn’t engage you in polite small talk when he called you, Catherine. He was super stressed, running against the clock, and needed information from you so he could stop a serial killer. Get over yourself and answer his damn question.
As you can see, I didn’t care for Catherine. She was the self-interested one. My god. She had to be the most self-pitying character I’ve read in a while. I’m not heartless, I get that she experienced major emotional trauma and was feeling guilty about her sister’s death. I can’t imagine what that’s like. But you can’t help someone who won’t help herself—who won’t stop punishing herself, rather—and any sympathy I felt for her wore off real fast. Her subplot should have been cut. If there’s drama there, fine, but save it for when it’s relevant to the plot, maybe give it its own book somehow. It did not belong here. Actually, I think she should have been presented trauma-free here, super into being part of the MRT, then a future book in the series could have involved Beth’s death and Catherine’s resultant downward spiral.
There’s a plethora of secondary characters, but you don’t get to know them well. The other MRT members—Ryder, Michael, and Jim—seemed okay. We didn’t see them much, but I look forward to getting to know them better. Kara’s grandma was endearingly unique, though her habit of burying her head in the sand got a little annoying. It’s one thing to avoid dark reality when it doesn’t directly concern you. I admit, I do that too. But ignoring murders that are happening in your backyard (figuratively) and the very real danger your community is in, that’s just either cowardly or foolish. Take your pick.
There’s a bunch of other cops and bureaucrats. Out of all the secondary characters, the only two I became attached to was Andy and PJ. I was so, so heartbroken for PJ—excuse me, I mean John—and proud of him at the same time. I just wanted to take him and his baby sister in my arms and rock. And Andy. Oh god. I did not see that coming. Nor did I know how much it would hurt. No idea he’d come to mean that much to me. I bawled.
I had fun following along as the team found evidence and slowly unraveled the mystery, but there were times when the characters were rather obtuse. I find it unbelievable that it never occurred to them that the son had just as much motivation as the father—and worse, he was young and impressionable when it all went down. They suspected another boy the same age, but none of them thought the son viable. I was simply shocked that even Catherine didn’t consider it until they were slapped in the faces with the idea. It also took them too long to put two and two together regarding the body in Montana.
I know it sounds like I didn’t like it, but I did. It had flaws, but I think the characters will get developed as the series goes on, and we’ll come to care about them more. It would be better for them to be more endearing in the first book of a series, to get the reader attached, but they were interesting and developed enough to make me care about what happens to them going forward. Brennan is a very talented and skilled writer, and I want to give her research and fact-checking efforts a shout-out. Her acknowledgments page makes it clear she works hard to get police (and FBI) procedure correct, and I am in awe.
Overall, it’s somewhat of a slow burn, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Brennan’s work. I think there’re some audiobooks available at my library…
