Book Review: Cold Hit

Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM

Cold Hit     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Linda Fairstein
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Hard Boiled
Series: Alexandra Cooper # 3
Little, Brown & Company, 1999, £10.00, pp. 410
Classification: Adult fiction (police procedural)
Hardback edition

This is the third excursion of Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper, following 'Final Jeopardy' and 'Likely To Die'. Here, she is again working with NYPD Detectives Chapman and Wallace to track down a killer inhabiting the art world, Fifth Avenue and Chelsea.

'Cold Hit' is a novel that is incredibly authentic. Fairstein, working in real life in the world of District Attorneys, really knows what she is talking about and this novel oozes authenticity and reality in terms of technical and legal stuff. What lets it down is the ending, where we see the main character getting into danger. This, sadly, is predictable and it is a trap into which nearly every author is falling. You just know what is going to happen and it annoys me, as there are better ways in which the novel could be finished. Nevertheless, Fairstein skilfully manages to maintain interest in the novel all the way through and her idea of introducing questions from 'Jeopardy' tries to give some form of levity to the novel. It succeeds.

Her first two novels were very good indeed, but with this one, I found it average overall. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of Coop, you are going to enjoy this book. I look forward to seeing how Alex continues to develop as a character, as I think that Fairstein still has a great deal of potential with her.

Luke Croll - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

Luke Croll - Conference interpreter and translator
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