Helpful Score: 5
So this is how the series starts. It's worth sticking with the stilted dialogue because the storytelling is strong, the characters are clearly drawn and delightful (the cast is quite large), and over the life of the series, Fairstein grows into quite a good writer.
Helpful Score: 4
Very enjoyable -- a cut above the usual police/legal procedural. The first in the Alexandra Cooper series. Recommended!
Helpful Score: 2
This is a great story - not only a mystery, but intrigue, some romance, and lots of character details.
Helpful Score: 2
This is written so well I read it almost straight through. Faristein writes with an insiders view.
Farstein was an assistant DA in the sex crimes unit in New York City and her main character is guess what... Yes, a sn assistant DA in the sex crimes unit in Manhatan. The story she weaves is instantly fascinating. What would it be like to wake up to news of your own murder? Toss in a glamourous movie star(the real victim) and a few other choice bits and you have a great mystery.
I did not figure out whodunit. I wil be looking for more in the Alex Cooper series.
I did not figure out whodunit. I wil be looking for more in the Alex Cooper series.
This was an awesome book.
Well-written, good mystery - loved the twist mid-book just when things were getting a little boring! Not as good as Patricial Cornwall though (she's one of my very faves!).
Alex Cooper is an ADA - head of the sex crimes unit. This series was written by the former head of the NYC sex crimes unit, and the descriptions of how such cases are solved and of the inner workings of the DA's office are really good. This series also has really good in-depth (often with neat trivia facts) descriptions of different parts of NYC (the museum, subway, hospital etc.).
Lots of twists and turns. A sex crimes prosecutor awakens to shocking news... news of her own death. But the actual victim is a hollywood starlet. Fun reading.
Interesting story line.
From Publishers Weekly: "The crusading longtime chief of Manhattan's Sex Crimes Prosecutions Unit brings to her exciting first novel the same passion and insights into the criminal and crime-busting minds that marked her memoir, Sexual Violence (1994). Fairstein also brings herself to the novel-or at least an alter ego of a narrator, Alexandra Cooper, who's also a middle-aged blonde heading the borough's prosecution of sex offenders. Cooper's typical day of counseling victims and working with the NYPD on sex crimes would probably keep readers fascinated, but her latest problem-the shooting murder of glamorous movie star Isabella Lascar at Cooper's getaway home on Martha's Vineyard-pitches the plot at high intensity right away. Though Cooper is warned by the DA not to play cop, she and homicide detective Mike Chapman, who's assigned to bodyguard her, work together unofficially to solve the crime, carrying on a sort of anti-romance all the while. Fairstein isn't a gifted stylist-her dialogue is as wooden as a judge's gavel-and the details of Cooper's professional and personal lives drive the story forward with more vigor than the murder investigation does. Some readers will be disappointed, too, that Cooper, like any victim, has to be rescued in the end by her fiercely protective and ingenious friends on the NYPD. But then this heroine's greatest appeal lies in the warmth of her friendships, the humanness of her mistakes and her unswerving devotion to protecting the next female from harm. As a woman with grave responsibilities who still puts her pantyhose on one leg at a time, she makes a memorable debut." Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --
First Linda Fairstein book I've read, but it won't be the last!
Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecuter wakes up to shocking news in the newspaper headlines: her own murder. - Good book that keeps you thinking.
Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex-crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shocking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. But the actual victim was Isabella Lascar, the Holloywood film star who sought refuge at Alex's Martha Vineyard's retreat. Was Isabella slain by a stalker--or was Alex herself the intended target???
great mystery writer.
Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shocking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. The the actual victim was Isabella Lascar, the Hollywood film star who sought refuge at Alex's Martha's Vineyard retreat. Was Isabella targeted by a stalker, or - mistaken for Alex - was she in the wrong place at the wrong time?
excellent read
After seeing Linda Fairstein at a local author event, I decided that I really needed to read one of her mysteries. I began with the very first book, and I'll be reading more.
Fairstein describes Martha's Vineyard beautifully, and really gives readers a wonderful feel for the daily life of a high-powered assistant district attorney. She also does an excellent job of showing how laws governing sex crimes have changed over the years-- something she should be capable of since she was the head of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit for over two decades.
I really enjoyed the book. It's fast-paced, and the non-cooking Alex Cooper is a strong, fascinating character who has a strong circle of friends. However, Final Jeopardy does have a couple of first-timer hiccups. The dialogue is often a bit stiff and stilted, and when a bad guy is about to be exposed a few pages down the road, Fairstein shines a beacon on the clue she planted. But guess what? I don't care. Those things are easily fixed. The characters, story, and setting are first-rate. I'm looking forward to more Alex Cooper!
Fairstein describes Martha's Vineyard beautifully, and really gives readers a wonderful feel for the daily life of a high-powered assistant district attorney. She also does an excellent job of showing how laws governing sex crimes have changed over the years-- something she should be capable of since she was the head of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit for over two decades.
I really enjoyed the book. It's fast-paced, and the non-cooking Alex Cooper is a strong, fascinating character who has a strong circle of friends. However, Final Jeopardy does have a couple of first-timer hiccups. The dialogue is often a bit stiff and stilted, and when a bad guy is about to be exposed a few pages down the road, Fairstein shines a beacon on the clue she planted. But guess what? I don't care. Those things are easily fixed. The characters, story, and setting are first-rate. I'm looking forward to more Alex Cooper!
This was an interesting book if you like to solve mysteries. It was predictable and entertaining.
