Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries)
by Linda Fairstein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Linda FairsteinEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-06-01
ISBN: 0671010123
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Pocket Books
Book Reviews of Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries)
Book Review: I gave up...
Summary: 1 Stars
This is one of the few books in my life that I didn't finish. I read two Linda Fairstein books before and even though I find Alexandra Cooper to be one of the most unlikeable fictional main characters ever, the storylines were interesting enough.
In this book however, there were so many bits that spoilt the reading experience for me:
1. The characters
In all three books of the series that I read so far, Alexandra Cooper comes over as snooty and unlikeable. She has a privileged background, which is okay in itself, Elizabeth George managed to create a very likeable main character with a privileged background with Inspector Lynley. But Alexandra Coopers is in-your-face privileged. Constant mentioning of her Wellesley education, her house on Martha's Vinyard (here, it is essential to the story, I understand that, but it is mentioned in every book of the series that I read so far), her designer business clothes, her rich golden hair - it just gets to much. In addition she has a nasty way of bossing people around and telling them how to do their job (not just people working for her, but those in different jobs as well...) and generally carries an air of "I know best". - Her "sidekick" Chapman is one of the more likeable characters, but his "I'm so witty and love to tease others"-act sometimes gets out of hand. When 90 % of everything he says has that "witty-teasing" note, he really gets on my nerves.
Other characters get the stereotype treatment. Everybody who doesn't get along with Alexandra Coopers is bad and incompetent. The Vinyard people are all nice and simple, the secretary is fully dedicated, the press people are one-dimensional etc. etc.
2. The distracting information
Page-long biographies of everybody whose name is mentioned really went on my nerves. I understand that this is the first book of the series and that the main characters need to be introduced. However, I can't understand why a page-long biography of Alexandra Coopers parents is necessary at all. As far as I read, they never appeared in the story at all.
Alexandra Coopers has several cases to handle. That is natural and it's good to get a glimpse of them. However, we get more than a glimpse and as they interrupt the main story, after a while these extra cases are just annoying interruptions. They don't do anything for the story. They pop up, Alexandra Coopers does of course a marvellous job and outshines everyone else, then these cases are never mentioned again.
3. Partly bad prose
Parts of the book are just written badly. When Chapman and Alexandra Cooper fly to Martha's Vinyard, Alexandra tells Chapman a bit about the island - well, a several page bit. These pages sound as if the author copied them straight from a travel guide. There are far more elegant ways of connecting a location to a story. In addition, the "show don't tell" rule does not seem familiar to the author as many things are just written down instead of described.
Another annoying bit is that the characters address each other with different names all the times. First name, then last name, then nickname. For somebody not familiar with the characters, it's confusing. In general, it doesn't make any sense. Do you constantly change the names you address your friends/colleagues with? I don't and I don't know anybody that does (the occasional throwing in of a nickname excepted).
So, I fought my way through the first couple of hundred pages. But after a while, when one distraction after the other spoilt my reading pleasure, I noticed that I couldn't care less about who the murderer was. This book was a big disappointment.
Summary of Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries)
This critically acclaimed, explosive thriller is a book only prosecutor Linda Fairstein could write. Patricia Cornwall knows the morgue; John Grisham knows the courtroom; but no one knows the inner workings of the D.A.'s office like Linda Fairstein, renowned for two decades as head of Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit. Now that world comes vividly to life in a brilliant debut novel of shocking realism, powerful insight, and searing suspense.Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan's top sex crimes prosecutor, awakens one morning to shoking news: a tabloid headline announcing her own brutal murder. But 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? In an investigation that twists from the back alleys of lower Manhattan to the chic salons of the Upper East Side. Alex knows she'sin final jeopardy...and time is running out. She has to get into the killer's head before the killer gets to her.
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