Into the Fire

In Cold Blood by Mark Dawson is Book 1 in the Beatrix Rose Thriller Trilogy.

Beatrix Rose is Number One of Group Fifteen just as John Milton is beginning his new career in The Group. Their first mission together with others from The Group is an utter failure. Control is not happy because it was personal. He messed up, not his team. Beatrix figures it all out and that cannot stand. What Control orders done to her is merciless and in cold blood.

What follows years of exile and hiding, disease and addiction, sets her on a course she is determined to accomplish regardless of the strain and inevitable conclusion. With past help from John Milton and now Michael Pope, her mission is deadly but focused.

Reunited with her daughter Isabella, she's training her to take care of herself in every possible way because Beatrix knows her stone-cold relentless pursuit of those who did what they did to her and her family will be equally relentless. And cruel. She keeps nothing from her daughter about what she intends to do. Just before Beatrix leaves on this mission, her daughter turns 13.   

Master of the kukri and knives in general, they prove to be handy weapons when she needs them the most. Like John, she wasn't Number One for nothing. She's somewhat handicapped because of her condition, but her purpose and resolve to rectify what was done to her drive her. 

Somali pirates, a terrorist group, private security which proves not to be secure enough, and SEALs set to rescue a captain and his crew, but if it weren't for Beatrix Rose, there would've been no satisfactory ending. 

Another good thriller from Mark Dawson. 

Profanity present. 

Blood Moon Rising by Mark Dawson is Book 2 in this Beatrix Rose Thriller Trilogy. (There is a collection of other Beatrix Rose thrillers.)

There are three more to go on Beatrix Rose's list to neutralize, each one a step closer to the top target: Control. He's the one who engineered the destruction of Beatrix's family with his five other operatives from Group 15. And he's going to be found, and he's going to pay – if Beatrix can survive long enough to do what's necessary. Her disease is killing her and might finish the job before any of those on her list have the chance.

She continues the training of her daughter in the brief intervals when she's home. She continues to educate and quiz Isabella about the reasons for the training, and Isabella has taken to her training, of course wanting to make her "Mummy" proud. Which she has done. 

The next one on her list is in Iraq guarding an oilfield with others from the sophisticated private security firm where her former victims were employed. The difference this time is that the remaining former Group members know she's coming for them. They just don't know when. 

Michael Pope has agreed to assist her because "they" need her to rescue someone for them. Pope explains the deal, gives her the contacts she needs with a quartermaster for weaponry and equipment and assigns her Number 12 to help her. Number 12 is a good addition, but she knows he's green. He's been told to do what she asks, and he will. 

The deadly designs she has to do on the fly require additional equipment from the quartermaster and unbeknownst to her Pope's on-sight aid. Faulkner (#12) does his part well, but his concern for Beatrix costs him. 

Beatrix needs to get home, but trouble awaits her.

The underlying message in the guardianship of the oilfield is the bad old Americans yada, yada, yada. And yet the bad old Brits want what the Americans have. That part of the story shows a possible bias on the part of Mark Dawson, but it's fairly easily ignored in light of the tribulation of the heroine to accomplish her goals. She's a fierce force to be reckoned with and her determination will not be denied although she may die trying to fulfill her purpose. Her pain, both physically and emotionally, is palpable. A nail-biter. 

Profanity present. 

Blood and Roses by Mark Dawson is Book 3 of the Beatrix Rose Thriller Trilogy.

Readers who've read the first two books of this trilogy know that as Beatrix seeks to wrap up her mission, it's only going to get worse for her. And now her daughter Isabella knows it too. Beatrix faces her regrets and sorrows but relies on her last bits of strength to carry her to the bitter end of a life she wishes didn't have to come to an end now that she's spent this final year with the daughter that was snatched away from her by Control and his five agents of death. He's her final target.

This story brings sadness and tears to mother and daughter as they face the brief time they've had together, knowing it's about to end. 

Mark Dawson does an excellent job of capturing the utter destruction of a body wracked with cancer, and the incredible determination of those elite agents who risk it all to complete missions very, very few of the human race can even attempt to do. Yes, for some, there must be a level of psychopathy in how they achieve their "successes", but in others it's fair to say they have a crisp and tight definition of good and evil which enables them to do their harrowing jobs. And in still other cases, it takes a combination of both to make good on their assignments. Their abilities transcend the average human being by margins few of us can even imagine. Their training uses their innate skills and intelligence and takes it to super-human levels of competence and achievement. 

The development of Isabella is an absolute requirement based on the knowledge of what Control and his minions are capable of, and if Beatrix can do nothing else before she leaves this earth, it will be to keep her daughter free from him and her past life. In the near end, she regrets it all. But Isabella believes in the mission and must sadly see it through to the end. 

The end is tragic, shocking, and revealing.

Three quick thriller reads that will leave you heartbroken but just short of ready to cheer. 

Profanity present.  

Lord, please continue to provide what Mark needs to tell his stories. Remind him: apart from you, we can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.