Review By Irma Fritz

BRILLIANT INSANITY: A BAD DUDE GETS HIS JUST DESSERTS!

Marion Lewis Reinhart is a bad dude and he’s about to get his just desserts. Reinhart is a lot of things, but he’s never rude. In fact, he rejects that label vehemently, reasoning his mother would not have allowed it. Ever the gentleman, he wined, dined and entertained his victims at restaurants, at his home, or on his yacht--until he killed them. When we meet him after 15 years of imprisonment at Florida’s Raeford Prison, he has exhausted all of his appeals and has just five days left to tell his story.

Reinhart fears not death by lethal injection; he only worries lest he die before the world knows his true reasons for killing eight—no, make that 11--women. He will only tell his story his way and to only one person: Mandy McQuaid, a young reporter at the Fort Pierce Sentinel.

In her novel, BRILLIANT INSANITY, Yvonne Mason spins out the confessions of serial killer Reinhart by using first person POV. When Mandy leaves the prison cell, the author uses omniscient POV when the reporter talks about her reactions to the interviews with Reinhart, or when she interacts with the two cops who chaperone her. At times, this shifting POV caught me by surprise, as I didn’t know who was speaking. While Reinhart takes his place assuredly as the star of this novel, I felt that the Mandy character would have benefitted from being fleshed out a bit more. In addition, the cops, Joe Dobbs and Allen Jones, are faint characters who don’t leave much of an impression.

In describing the murders, Marion Lewis Reinhart, who began life as a female, cleverly uses his “Lewis” or “Louise” voice depending on the mood s/he’s in, or the impression s/he wants to convey to the listener. Reinhart is convinced that the police are bumbling idiots. This is his chance to explain his true motives for the killings and he enjoys every minute of it. The author makes it clear that this is not your average misunderstood guy or gal. In his “brilliant insanity,” Reinhart transgresses into madness. He believes he only righted a wrong done to him years ago. He also believes that his victims’ lives were such that they were better off dead than alive.

The astute reader will get hints early on as to why Reinhart chose Ms. McQuaid in particular to hear his gruesome confessions. When the body count is complete, there’s still another story to be told, one of particular interest to our gal reporter Mandy. Read on, but don’t make any lunch dates with anyone you meet on the Internet!



10/10