Rating: 
Summary: A well-written legal thriller
Review: In Boston's Chinatown, working on a tip, the police begin a "no-knock" drug raid. Detective Francis X. Dunleavy swings a hammer on the apartment door's lock. Suddenly, two gun shots fired from inside the apartment pierces through the door hitting and killing Dunleavy. The police arrest Michael Chin for murdering Dunleavy. In the Commonwealth Superior Court of Judge Doyle, Chin's attorney Sarah Kerlinsky files a motion to force the police department to disclose the identity of their informant. The police arrested four men who were residing in the dwelling below the floor where the murder took place. Three of the individuals cut a deal with the DA and turn state's evidence against Chin. Suddenly, everyone from perjuring cops to dirty politicians to sleazy lawyers to vengeful mobsters seeks the snitch. Danny Li knows that his minor tip to Officer Dunleavy makes him a target. He turns to corporate lawyer Matthew Boer for legal help before someone decides to make him take the fall. A CINDERELLA AFFIDAVIT is a cleverly designed legal thriller that is loaded with exciting, non-stop twists and turns. The story line is fully entertaining, leading readers to believe that debut author Michael Fredrickson is an experienced writer. The characters appear genuine and their various motives propel the plot to a dynamic climax. Sub-genre fans will breathlessly await Mr. Fredrickson's next tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Excellently written, absorbing mystery!!!
Review: Although I am only 3/4 of the way thru "A Cinderella Affidavit", I felt compelled to respond to the other review posted by Ms. Griffiths. The author clearly went out of his way to indicate that the book is not intended to be a portrayal of any actual person. This is a standard literary device authors have used for years - to take an actual event and use it solely as the jumping off point to write a compelling story. And a compelling story is what "A Cinderella Affidavit" is. The book is tightly plotted (no, I haven't figured out the ending yet), has generally well-defined characters, and a strong sense of story-telling. The author does a better job creating lawyers than policemen (which make sense given his background) and creates a real sense of Boston and being part of a law firm (note the interactions with the partners and the Dead Partners Office). In sone respects, this book is almost too much of a good thing in that the author has so much he wants to tell us. Given that so many mysteries are so much fluff, this is a welcome change. I have no difficulty recommending this book to anyone who likes a good mystery. I plan to stay up late tonite to finish it and hope that there will be another book from Michael Fredrickson in the not-too-distant future.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham, Schmisham....
Review: Don't confuse this book with your average legal thriller. Character development, plot, prose quality, and depth of content all stand out. And in a first novel, to boot! The book zips along, smooth and fast. You experience the many plot twists like a sports car passenger driven flat out over a winding road by a pro. The characters keep on growing, well past the end of the book. You may never eat in a Chinese restaurant the same way again!
Rating:
Summary: Legal Thriller You Won't Finish before Clock Strikes 12
Review: First, let me disclose a conflict: I live and work in Boston. And am a lawyer. With a book like Michael Fredrickson's A Cinderella Affidavit, one must start with a conflicts check. After all, Fredrickson is chief counsel to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, the agency that polices lawyers, and he knows a thing or two about legal ethics and their sometimes-punctilious demands. And so it is that his new novel provides a short course in how not to represent a client. The walking malpractice suit in a tie is one Matthew Boer, so named not because he is dull, but because he in unfortunate enough to have thrust upon him a moral crisis that, by book's end, will require him to probe mysteries that his and our better senses counsel keeping far alee. Matt, a mid-level and middling associate (that is, a drone) in a tony Boston law firm, finds himself drawn inexorably (is there any other way?) into a tale of murder and betrayal -- and then murder and betrayal all over again. It all starts with cop shot to death in a Chinatown drug raid. Fredrickson writes the scene with an are described as black gashes that burst instantaneously out of a killing silence. Like the best of Robert Altman, Fredrickson can draw anguish from the ether faster than most people can gasp. Things turn strange when we learn that the search warrant for the raid appears to have been issued based on the anonymous testimony of a non-existent informant. That is, based on a "Cinderella" affidavit. This is a book of great depth. If you think you're going for Grisham, keep going. Even though he's from Mississippi, Grisham doesn't really know how to write. Fredrickson does. He can illuminate character in a few sentences, entertain you with wordplay, describe the worlds of cops and lawyers with equal felicity, infuse the moment with a sudden eroticism, and craft a plot that is the literary equivalent of a Swiss watch -- except that it may cause you to lose all sense of time. This is, as they say, a book "you can't put down." So don't pick it up if you have a brief to write. Otherwise, you may find yourself facing bar discipline. - Rusty Russel
Rating:
Summary: Fresh, frank and funny--an experience you'll treasure.
Review: Fresh, frank and funny, "A Cinderella Affidavit" is an intelligent journey into the diverse and colliding worlds that constitute MA Law. The richly woven tale takes you on a ride that is as challanging as it is entertaining--just when you think your going to stop, you're propelled around a corner that you could have sworn wasn't there before. The author's flair for description, legal acumen and bottomless vocabulary combine to entice you, involve you, and untimately reward you with a reading experience you'll treasure. I did.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cinderella Affidavit
Review: I just thought someone should point out that the author serves as an attorney for the agency that regulates lawyers and applies legal ethics (a porous phrase, if not an oxymoron)to lawyers in Massachusetts. Moreover, he agreed to a sanction in the $10,000 neighborhood for his use of state time and state employees and state equipment to write this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Review
Review: I read "The Cinderella Affidavit" because the murdered police officer in the book, is based off of my father. Detective Sherman Griffiths was my father and was killed by Albert Lewin in 1988. His death left my mother bereft with two children. My sister was five and I was four. I did not hear about this book which detracts from my father¹s memory by making him appear to be an imbecile and involved with illicit activity¹s, until it was portrayed in "Lawyer's Monthly". If I had not seen it then, I would not have known until I saw it on bookshelves. I am writing to tell you that I am disgusted by this book and it's author. I read the book and although it is written well, it's author¹s disgusting display of cruel manners has made me feel nauseous. I am writing this not so that you feel pity, but so you know how this book has adversely affected those who lived through that tragedy. Thank you. Melanie Griffiths
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Fredrickson's book. The plot, though based on a fairly recent real-life incident, is highly fictionalized and is just the jumping-off point for Mr. Fredrickson's book. Indeed, the very fact that, in the novel, the Massachusetts Bar Counsel even considers investigating and, perhaps, recommending discipline against the book's principal character, a lawyer in a large Boston firm, is the clearest indication of the book's fictional nature. Mr. Fredrickson returns closer to real life at the end of the novel when the firm's "bad" partner is allowed to simply retire early. As a novel, however, the book is a terrific read and I am eagerly looking forward to Mr. Fredrickson's next work. Although I am a Massachusetts lawyer, you do not have to have any background in the law to appreciate this book and enjoy the plot or the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: What A Disappointment!
Review: I was really psyched to read this book after all the glowing reviews. Boy, was I in for a letdown. With an absence of any likeable protagonists and a group of antagonists who kind of dabble half-heartedly in crime, it's a wonder I was able to make it through to the end. Much of the praise for this book comes from its verisimilitude to the way criminal law works in the real world. Well, I'm not a lawyer and I'm used to compelling storytelling to propel the plot of a book, not accurate procedural portrayals.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT PLOT, INTERESTING CHARACTERS.CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT BOOK!
Review: INCREDIBLE FOR A FIRST NOVEL!!! PERHAPS M. FREDRICKSON WILL BE THE NEXT GRISHAM.
| 
