Notorious and the novella,
Maximum Exposure, explores how Revere decides to
dedicate her life to investigating cold cases and bring closure
to the victims’ family and friends. Brennan skillfully
takes the reader on a journey by exposing lies, highlighting
evil, and holding people accountable for their actions. With
both plots the reader will feel invested in all of the characters.
The novella’s plot has Max finding the truth behind
a college students’ murder in Colorado, centering on
the manipulation of bullies.
After reading this people will want to jump right into the
plot of Notorious where nationally renowned author,
reporter, and TV host Maxine Revere decides to investigate
a case from her own past. As a high school senior, one of
her best friends was strangled and another, Kevin O’Neal,
accused of the crime. To the disgrace of her wealthy family,
Max stood by her friend, until she found out he lied about
his alibi. Though his guilt was never proven, their relationship
crumbled from the strain of too many secrets. Fast-forward
to the current day where Max has come home to attend Kevin’s
funeral (who committed suicide). She’s finally prepared
to come to terms with the loss of his friendship, but she’s
not prepared for Kevin’s sister to stubbornly insist
he didn’t kill himself. Intertwined with this case is
a different cold case where another murder occurred at Max’s
alma mater. Max is more interested in the cold case at her
alma mater than in digging around Kevin’s troubled life,
but she agrees to do both. Brennan does a great job in showing
how the two cases are related.
The main character, Max, is seen as headstrong, tough, blunt,
smart, and independent. For her, the truth is the most important
aspect in solving a crime and she will stop at nothing to
get answers. Because of her past demons Max is determined
to find closure and peace for the victims’ loved ones.
Brennan skillfully shows what makes Max tick, the open ended
questions in her own life: what happened to her mother, who
is her father, and where is the killer of her college best
friend? These have fueled her to make sure the cold cases
she investigates have a resolution, especially since so much
of her life has no answers. This makes for a remarkable and
riveting read.
Brennan commented, “I have a kinship with Max. I also
grew up without a dad. I tracked down my father when I was
eighteen and found out sometimes fantasy is better than reality.
My dad told me he wished my mom had an abortion. He was definitely
not the white knight I pictured, but was instead a jerk. The
prep school was modeled on my alma mater. It is essentially
my school. I knew people like Max and some of the other characters
in the book. I used the Silicon Valley setting to have Max
rich so that she would be financially independent. I was more
like Kevin, not very financially rich. Whether writing about
Max or my other character Lucy I put an emphasis on the bad
have to be punished. The books I like to read and write seek
justice and will have happy endings.”
The other series character, Lucy Kincaid, is not at all like
Max. While Max is a loner Lucy is part of a team in San Antonio's
Violent Crime unit. She is a survivor of a rape and at times
that forces her to think of herself as a victim. The quote
in Dead Heat best shows how Lucy views herself, which is a
much different personality than Max, “She’d grown
to depend on him, not just for comfort and sex and companionship,
but to complete her. She was happier when he was around, more
relaxed, safe.”
In Dead Heat the male characters, Sean and Kane
Rogan are front and center in solving the crime. The plot
has the brothers working closely with Lucy to find and capture
the head of a vicious drug cartel who are also involved in
child abduction and trafficking. With this series the male
characters do the heavy lifting both intellectually and physically.
While in Notorious the male leads, FBI agent Marco Lopez and
police detective Nick Santini, are more of a supporting cast
to Max.
Interestingly Nick, Sean, and Kane are all former US military
personnel. Because Brennan feels the military is a training
ground for a law enforcement career she has dedicated her
characters to those people. Her respect for them can be seen
by her willingness to participate in the Military Book Fair
(www.militarybookfair.org) on November 8thin San Diego, California.
She noted, “I am very excited about raising money to
help our veterans. Many of my male characters are military
background based. I have my characters going into law enforcement
since about 1/3 are former military. I think it is a natural
progression. I am very close to someone who I met while she
was stationed in Iraq. She emailed me that after lending one
of my books to someone they were transferred. While she was
over there, over a period of eighteen months, I sent her a
bunch of books. Her husband, who also served in the military,
also became a fan of mine. We all became pen pals with books
unifying everyone. I admire those serving and who have served
for making the sacrifices to support our country.”
Whether the military related characters or her female heroines
these two novels and the novella have brilliant characters
with enthralling storylines. Throughout the plots the reader
understands how each character must make a moral decision,
in the end deciding justice should be served. All of these
stories are a perfect balance of action, suspense, and character
relationships.
Max
Revere Series
Notorious
#1
Compulsion #2
Shattered
#4
Lucy
Kincaid Series
Kiss
Me, Kill Me #2
Dead
Heat #8
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