The Third To Die by Allison Brennan (Quinn & Costa #1)

Hello beautiful people! Welcome back to a new review! For this review, I dive into a new series, the Quinn & Costa series by Allison Brennan. Starting off with book number one The Third To Die we get an introduction to Quinn and Costa’s detective partnership in a very dynamic mystery thriller. I thought it was a strong starter for the first book in a series, and I look forward to checking out the other books in the series.

Main Characters:

• Mathias Costa: Leader of the new FBI Mobile Response Unit which responds to crises in smaller areas that local law enforcement is unable to handle, given that the unit is fairly new really wants to impress when they are sent on their first case the re-emergence of the Triple Killer, lives and breathes his work, takes a liking to visiting officer Quinn
• Kara Quinn: Is visiting her grandmother in Liberty Lake when she stumbles on the body of Anne Banks a local nurse whose body was brutally attacked before being dumped, is an asset to the case as an undercover cop in Los Angeles but is on leave from her job for a reason, lives her life on the edge never really taking care of herself and focusing only on work
• Catherine Howard: An FBI Profiler who works often with Costa on cases but hasn’t since losing her sister Beth in a traumatic way, Costa convinces her to come back to the Triple Killer case considering she wrote the original profile some years ago, is uncertain about going back to the case given how obsessive she is and how much she has thrown her life apart in the last while
• Detective Andy Knolls: A local officer in Liberty Lake who while being a detective is very unable to handle a case like the Triple Killer case, is taught some things by Quinn and Costa

My Review

I kind of randomly stumbled on the Quinn and Costa series, but I have to say getting into the first book The Third to Die I am really glad I did. While the killing of the Triple Killer in itself is a bit theatrical, the book as a whole is filled with methodical and cleanly written police work in which the newly created FBI Mobile Response Unit assists the small town Liberty Lake police in catching a frightening killer that is wreaking havoc in their streets. I was super pulled in though by the enjoyable main characters, and the riveting mystery that I was curious about from start to finish. There is also a touch of romance in this book, very little, but I enjoyed what it added to the story honestly, and it played a role in pulling me into the next book for sure. I didn’t find the romance pieces to be over the top or to take away from the mystery so that’s definitely why it didn’t bother me in the book.

I gave The Third to Die by Allison Brennan an 8.5/10 rating. I was stuck between that and a 9 but ultimately landed at rating it a touch lower because there were a few aspects of the book that I didn’t enjoy as much. I can’t get into one of the things I didn’t enjoy as much in this part because it’s a bit of a spoiler, but it kind of just revolved around a personal grievance with the way a specific aspect played out in the book that I just felt didn’t need to go that way so it doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual book itself. The other aspect I struggled with a bit in the book was the different perspectives we get in the book. We get the perspectives of Costa, Quinn, and the killer. I enjoyed Quinn and Costa’s but the killer not so much. I usually don’t mind a killer perspective in the mystery, and I didn’t dislike this one because it gave anything away, I just didn’t particularly feel like it added anything in the first half at least. A lot of the killer parts were just kind of meh and sometimes a bit much, overall just didn’t enjoy them much. Again though it overall doesn’t take anything away from the book and they aren’t nearly as long as Costa and Quinn’s perspectives.

In The Third to Die Costa’s newly created FBI Mobile Response Unit Team is sent out to Liberty Lake to investigate the suspected re-emergence of the Triple Killer. Having worked on the Triple Killer cases in the past Costa is certain that the Liberty Lake killing is the doing of a well-planned and well-thought-out killer whose MO is very distinctive. Called the Triple Killer because he kills in threes, targeting first a nurse, then a teacher, and lastly a police officer. All in different areas, all seemingly random. On the ground in the field, Costa discovers they may have an ally in the witness to find the body. Kara Quinn long time undercover detective for the LAPD and Liberty Lake native is the one who found the body of nurse Anna Banks. What Costa just doesn’t know yet is Quinn is visiting after being sent on a mandatory two-week leave from the force after getting herself too deep into the case and potentially causing issues for herself and others. Upon receiving the Triple Killer as their first case Costa knows she has to call Catherine Howard onto the case with him given she knows the killer better than he may know himself. The issue? Catherine is still a touch unstable from the extensive trauma she has gone through in the last little while. Hoping that this case may take her out of her funk and give Catherine her groove back Costa convinces her to come back and help them catch him before he hurts another trio of people again. Knowing that they have to get to the core of the pattern and what it means to the killer Costa, Quinn, and Catherine are against the clock to save a teacher and a cop.

I thought the mystery itself while being quite elaborate in how it’s spun and played out, to be really enjoyable and one that really pulls you in. I found the plot to be unique in the way it was able to take something as seemingly simple as a nurse found dead, into this intricate mystery in which the killer is acting on this convoluted pattern that makes sense to no one else but himself and in cracking this pattern you discover who he is. I enjoyed the challenging aspect of the book in which it’s a bit hard going into it to see how they are going to crack this mystery. I mean he kills people in this pattern but they are random, so how do they figure it out? I found the way Allison played that out to be enjoyable.

Originally I was a bit skeptical about what role Quinn was here to play. I mean before getting into the book I saw it was called the Quinn and Costa series so I knew that things would play out longer with the two of them but I didn’t initially see how given that Costa worked for the FBI and Quinn the LAPD. It does all come together and this book is definitely an introduction to their working relationship which was fun to read because you would see Quinn who had a lot of walls up starting to bring them down and trust that other people can have her back. I found the whole cast of characters to be really enjoyable and while some of them had a few asshole tendencies here and there you can see it’s a cover-up for their insecurities. These lessen though as the characters start to trust each other and see that everyone just wants the same thing, to catch this killer.

Overall The Third to Die by Allison Brennan was a super enjoyable read and in my opinion a great opener to the series to pull the reader in. I am definitely looking forward to checking out the other books in the series and seeing how the Mobile Response Team continues and what case they go on next.

Have you checked out The Third to Die or any of the other Quinn and Costa books? What did you think?