Review: Final Jeopardy

Final Jeopardy Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Linda Fairstein
Class/Genre: Mystery Police Procedural Hard Boiled
Series: Alexandra Cooper # 1

While reading the John Douglas book, he made mention of Linda Fairstein, who runs the Sex Crimes Unit which is part of the New York City District Attorney’s Office. He does not mention that she was also a novelist. I remembered the name and sure enough, I had her books and she is the one and the same. Final Jeopardy, her first, was put on the list (you see, diverting one’s self from mysteries sometimes is a good thing). And it was a good read. In this, her debut novel, Alexandra Cooper, Chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the Manhattan DA’s Office, is initially mistaken for the woman killed. Actually, her friend, Isabel Lascar, a movie star, was being incognito and enjoying Alex’s retreat at Martha’s Vineyard. Iz was killed with a rifle shot to head while she drove a convertible rented under Alex’s name. Until it’s ruled out that the attack wasn’t meant for Alex, she is under close guard. Alexandra’s visibly shaken by events and longs for her boyfriend to return from business in Paris to comfort her. Fairstein’s day job in real life gives this aspect of the novel a feeling of authenticity. However, I couldn’t help wonder if a woman so adept at handling the workload and angst associated with her grueling job, she would so easily succumb as she does with revelations of this crime and problems with her boyfriend. But, it’s fiction, so I go with it. I’d like to read more of them.

Shortly after I posted this, I discovered that Final Jeopardy was made into to TV movie and aired April 9, 2001. I posted another message saying that I thought, all in all, that it was good adaptation. Specifically:

Just a quick note to add my observations on the film adaptation of Linda Fairstein's Final Jeopardy. Though books to film don't usually do well in the transformation, it certainly isn't uncommon that they do. It seems, though, less common for a Made For TV film to do the original work justice.

I had no sooner finished the book (I finished it the last week of March) when I found out it was going to be a TV film. So it was good to see the film so close after reading the book. I believe that if you liked the film, you'll love the book. The two stories were essentially the same, but there were some contrasts.

The setting of the ending was a bit different. There was a sub-plot removed in the film involving one character, which it then turned into a suspense element. I don't remember the relationship between the Chapman character (Burke) and Cooper (Delany) being so laced with sexual tension in the book. I liked both the Chapman and Cooper characters better in the film than the book. The Chapman character, I liked much better and more quickly. I had a small problem with Cooper in the book, which I mentioned last week. For a woman who is in such a stressful position as assistant DA/prosecutor in charge of sex crimes, which she handles quite well, I found her occasional "wimping out" when her boyfriend couldn't get back from Paris and at some other times, a bit of a stretch. Thankfully, the TV character didn't exhibit the same flaw.

All in all, I thought it was an uncommonly well done adaptation. Though the stories are very close, reading the book after seeing the film will still allow the reader to flesh out the characters and other aspects of the story which were glossed over in the film. I'd recommend reading the book, especially, if you plan to gone on to her other novels.

Then, could have blown me over with a feather, I got the following in an e-mail from Linda Fairstein, herself:

I was catching up on my DL's and read your note, which interested me a lot. Two things (easy one first)....the ending was so very different in part due to the weather! The movie was filmed in Toronto, in December....in between two blizzards. The outside park scene didn't work....so they moved it to the rail yards, and inside the train.

On the Alex-falling-apart-over Jed business.....all I can say is that some of my colleagues at the office hold up fine under enormous stress, working on cases and being a rock for victims/survivors/families, etc....and then, occasionally falter a bit when their own personal support system isn't there to shore them up. I can understand why you may not think it works....but it's frequently the fact.

Very hard to give up one's book to be made into a screenplay....and it's the choice I made. They take a 400+ page plot, and reduce it to a 90 page screenplay, so - as you identified -- lots of subplots (some of them my favorites!) get sacrificed. All in all, once I made that decision to sell the project, I decided to live with it. The movie has been great fun for me, and I appreciate your comments.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jeff Kreider - RAM

Book Review: Final Jeopardy