Mark Dawson: In Cold Blood

In the first book in his new series Mark Dawson has a retired assassin who has her own kill list:

Beatrix Rose was one of the most deadly assassins for an off the books government kill agency, that was until the agency attempted to let her go, permanently. Her husband was killed and her daughter stolen from her, Beatrix had no choice but to lay low until she was able to find and retrieve her daughter. She has her daughter back and with that came the name of six people on her kill list. Those that she needs to take care of so that she and her daughter can be safe. Beatrix knows that she has a limited time in order to execute her plan; this is name number 1 on her list.

This book has a Kill Bill feel to the revenge state of things but with a more final twist thrown in. Even looking at the cover there is a Kill Bill play there as well and I am pretty sure that Beatrix did not use a sword at all throughout the book. However, she is very deadly with guns and knives so maybe she is also good with a sword as well.

This is the first book in the series Right? (…goes to check Goodreads again…Yes it states that it is...okay). There is a whole back story to this book that I feel like I have missed out on. Dawson does refer back to it from time to time, but not enough that I truly know what the back story was. I have so many questions about Beatrix that are left open and maybe Dawson addresses these in the next book in the series. I'm actually not even sure if this is a spin off series or not, part of me thinks that it is but I'm going to have to do some research in order to find out.

I am a big fan of Beatrix and her skill set as well as her motivation of wanting to protect her daughter from those who would use her against her. Beatrix seems to be deadly with any weapon that she finds in her hands but she also has the qualities that you expect of an expert assassin, ability to plan, wait and adapt when it is needed. I really wish i had more of the back story on her and the fight for her life (literally) that she is in, but even without knowing these things I still enjoyed her as a character.

This is a quick read but that does not mean that it lacked action scenes and I did find myself devouring this book even though there were times where I felt like I was missing some key aspects of the plot. As I also enjoyed the Kill Bill movies I liked this book and if people can get around the similarities between the two I think they will enjoy this book as well. I would read the next book in this series and hope that Dawson is able to fill in some of the gaps.

Enjoy!!!!

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