The Deadhouse

Rating:
Summary: This is what I picture a cheesy romance novel to be like....
Review: ....but under the guise of a murder mystery. What a bore, I was so disappointed. I am not usually one who reads crime fiction, but for some reason the backdrop setting of the novel was what drew me in. Who couldn't be intrigued by abandoned psychiatric hospitals, asylums, prisons, etc.? This 540-odd page book is about 400 pages too long. Too many descriptions of meals, shopping, relationship problems, etc. Too predictable, as well. I was rolling my eyes constantly because it was so easy to figure out what was going to happen next. No jaw-droppers here. The characters were simply stereotypical. Fairstein's writing, I feel, talks down to the reader. Almost to the point of being offensive, like, how dumb does she think we (readers) are? This was the first (and last) novel of this kind I read, especially one by this author. I have the feeling it would make a great movie aired exclusively on Lifetime. I think I'll stick with the women's historical fiction kick I've been on.

Rating:
Summary: This Time, It's Personal for Alex Cooper
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely enjoy Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper series. Her current book, THE DEADHOUSE, is one of the strongest in her series. Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper finds herself involved on a deeply personal level in the homicide investigation into the death of Lola Dakota, an abused wife who was also a brilliant university professor. While Lola refused to cooperate with prosecuting her husband for domestic abuse charges while she was alive, her death changes things. The husband becomes Alex's prime suspect, but he seems to be in the clear because he was arrested a short time before the killing. The chief clue is a paper with the word "deadhouse" and a series of numbers scribbled on it. The deadhouse turns out to be an ancient hospital where smallpox victims once went to die. Ms. Fairstein steams onward from there, and THE DEADHOUSE is a fabulous read. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Endless and Unfocused
Review: hmmmm have just finished it - started out promisingly, got a bit slow in the middle then went on to finish somewhat implausibly! having read all of fairstein's alex cooper series, i think there is something missing - perhaps it's heart. a strong female lead is great but alex just doesn't have enough frailties (that we're privvy to) to make her human and appealing. the strong woman character is (thank goodness) nothing new in this genre but she seems more of an imitation of tempe or kay.

anyway, not a bad holiday read, but once i skimmed the descriptive passages of the island and its history there wasn't too much left to the actual plot.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am a big fan of Linda Fairstein's Alex Cooper series, and I loved the first three books. The Deadhouse was a major disappointment, though. The plot was unbelievable, and it ended in a rather unsatisfying climax. One of my favourite parts of the previous books was the conversations between Alex, Mercer Wallace, and Mike Chapman. Even that was missing from this book, though, as Mercer was still recovering from being shot in the chest and Mike has fallen in love with an architect. That was the most disappointing part for me. I don't know if it was just me, but I always figured Alex would dump her annoying NBC boyfriend and end up with Mike. I'm still going to read The Bone Vault, because I liked the first books so much, but this book was a major disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: silly & boring
Review: I love a good mystery...and when it is immersed with bits of history of New York City, I love it even more. Alex Cooper is now involved in the murder of a King's College professor, Lola Dakota (you gotta love that name!). A bit of paper with numbers on Lola's dead body sends Alex and Mike Chapman on a quest to Roosevelt Island, off the shore of Manhattan. We learn about the history of the island, including hospitals for the insane and small pox victims. Lola's colleagues become suspect for various reasons. Just another "can't put it down" book.

Rating:
Summary: Another compelling novel in the Alex Cooper series
Review: I've liked all of Linda Fairstein's novels so far. FINAL JEOPARDY, LIKELY TO DIE and COLD HIT. THE DEADHOUSE is no exception. I like the main character, Alexandra Cooper, who has the same occupation as Linda--in charge of the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's office in Manhattan. Alex is smart and savvy, a strong but feminine woman with plenty of attitude, which she's not afraid to use when it's needed. I also like NYPD detective Mike Chapman, who assists Alex in her sleuthing, teases her constantly but affectionately, and shares with her a certain amount of chemistry.

The Deadhouse is a contemporary story with fascinating historical details of a part of New York I didn't know existed. It begins with the apparent death by murder of political science professor, Lola Dakota, which later becomes an actual death by murder. (You'll have to read the book to understand what that means.)

Number one suspect is Lola's abusive husband Ivan Kravolic, but Lola had also made enemies at King's College where she taught. Lola was evidently not an easy person to like and there are enough other suspects to keep Alex and the reader guessing. A slip of paper in the pocket of Lola's sweater leads Alex to The Deadhouse on Roosevelt Island where people were confined for various reasons in the nineteenth century. The plot is a complex one that kept me in suspense all the way to the exciting climax.

The movie of Final Jeopardy was a good one, and a successful one. I hope the rest of the books, including The Deadhouse, will be made into movies too. The Deadhouse certainly has enough action and suspense to qualify.

As always, Linda Fairstein's own work experience blesses the story with authenticity, but that would not be enough to make a great novel without her excellent writing, vivid characterization and a plot that sizzles. My attention was held completely all the way through.

Rating:
Summary: Drags
Review: Note that this tome is 500 pages. It's consequently filled with shopping trips, sending out Christmas gifts to family, parties, etc., adding nothing to the plot development. The first-person narrator talks a lot about her lover but we don't even meet him until page 210 or so, and then their banter and gift exchange takes up a few more chapters. The book could easily have been half as long.

Most authors can give us rich character development without dragging us along on a character's inconsequential day-to-day activities. In fact, after learning so much about "Blondie," the main character, and "Mike," the cop, even to the point of including their penchant for watching Jeopardy! every day, I couldn't care less about these very self-absorbed people.

And as for plot development, so little progress is made on the case for so long that I wasn't much interested in the plot either.

Rating:
Summary: Law Mystery
Review: The author and her protagonist, Alexandra Cooper, have some things in common - same job (head of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office), same looks (blond curls) and I wouldn't be surprised if they both bet on a US television game show. And let's not forget that both have property in Martha's Vineyard. See what I'm getting at? I don't think this series is creative - I think it's real life fictionalised, and in this case, I don't like it. (B)

Rating:
Summary: Alex Cooper is a clever but vulnerable heroine
Review: This book wastes no time in setting out some very juicy bait. Shortly after faking her own death as part of a sting operation planned by law enforcement types on the Jersey side of the river, political science professor Lola Dakota is found doing an excellent job of not faking her death --- having been squished by an elevator in her Manhattan apartment building after first having been strangled. By the time you finish the first chapter, the hook is set, and author Fairstein is reeling you in like a trout. Don't fight it.

Cooper and Chapman are equals in intellect, but whenever Cooper gets knocked to the ground, Chapman is there to pick her up and dust her off. It would have been far more satisfying if just once Cooper hauled off and smacked somebody. Given some of the lowlifes Ms. Fairstein has sent up the river, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were occasions when she felt like bypassing the legal system altogether and just opening up a jumbo can o' whoop-ass. I can't think of a better way to relieve the kind of professional stress that must surely be a part of Ms. Fairstein's life than letting her fictional alter ego dish out a little pay-back.

But then that wouldn't really be in character for Cooper. In this team, she supplies the glitz, and Chapman, the grit. In the end it's not that Cooper is a thinly-drawn character, it's that she's a subtle string quartet competing for the reader's attention with a supporting cast that's as hard to ignore as an under-rehearsed marching band --- and just as much fun. So even if she is quiet and cultured, even if she has a weekend place on Martha's Vineyard and a network news dude for a boyfriend, Cooper gets the job done, and in a fine and entertaining fashion.