SKYBIRD SEVEN-TWO-THREE-WHISKEY-TANGO
As an investigative journalist, whenever Morgan Fay wrote about people who risked everything for a just cause, she often wondered if she could do the same. In Diane Mason’s excellent thriller, SKYBIRD SEVEN-TWO-THREE-WHISKEY-TANGO, Morgan is given the chance to find out. Will she choose to do nothing, or put her life and those she loves at risk to right a wrong?
From the sunny Florida morning that Morgan learns that her son has been beaten and his girlfriend abducted in California, to the book’s dramatic conclusion, Diane Mason’s prose rings true, whether she’s revealing Morgan’s thoughts, explaining the mysteries of avionics, or summing up a marriage as in this poignant passage: “After twenty-one years of marriage,” Linnie said, “Hal didn’t need to verbalize. He didn’t even need to use body language. His disapproval just registered, as quiet as a thought, and hung there in the threadbare psychic space we shared.”
Although Morgan Fay becomes a woman of action, she is not Lara Croft. Instead, she chooses to solve her problems without violence, and even convinces men with nicknames like Crater, The Bear, and Buck, to join in her risk it all adventure. Morgan is not trying to save the world, or make a point. She simply wants justice for one person.
Mason deftly casts Morgan as conflicted, but not submissive, especially as regards her strained relations with her former husband, Dowd. Mason writes: “Dowd’s put-downs came in many forms, but the most maddening ones were like this, when he lowered his voice and spoke like a minister delivering the final profound salvo of a sermon on lovingkindness.”
Morgan’s decision to risk it all to right a wrong unexpectedly thrusts her into a tenuous, but lusty romance with a man she both despises and is drawn to. In a way, her ambivalence toward Stan Grady personifies Morgan’s own doubts about herself, and her real motivations for pursuing a dangerous mission that could end in disaster.
Mason triumphs in her depictions of Morgan’s friendship with her college pals, Linnie and Kate. As undergrads, they formed Mujeres Con Cojones and pledged lifelong allegiance. The sometimes humorous interactions among the three women provide well-timed comic relief in this tense thriller.
Morgan is an insightfully drawn character. She is a loving, supportive mother, a seasoned journalist, a divorcée, and someone who wants another chance at love. Mason protrays every nuance of her protagonist’s personality with compassion and understanding.
Thanks to Mason’s fine research, and effortless writing, SKYBIRD SEVEN-TWO-THREE-WHISKEY-TANGO provides what every thriller promises, an escape to a vicarious world populated by lovable adventure-seekers readers can’t help but cheer on—every page of the way.
—Stephen Newton
About the Author
Diane Mason is an award-winning journalist, publisher, independent filmmaker, and former investigative reporter. Her documentary film, Condemned exposed housing corruption and led to a HUD investigation. SKYBIRD SEVEN-TWO-THREE-WHISKEY-TANGO is her first mystery-thriller novel.