Final Copy

Rating:
Summary: A terrific read!
Review: Final Copy is a mystery with realistic characters, a plot that rings true, a terrific flawed lead character Addie McNeil who stumbles through life doing her best like the rest of us. I love the Boston setting, and that Brogan doesn't tie everything up at the end with a feel-good ending. A surprising, satisfying book.

Rating:
Summary: A terrific read!
Review: Final Copy is a mystery with realistic characters, a plot that rings true, a terrific flawed lead character Addie McNeil who stumbles through life doing her best like the rest of us. I love the Boston setting, and that Brogan doesn't tie everything up at the end with a feel-good ending. A surprising, satisfying book.

Rating:
Summary: Much more than a great mystery book
Review: I like reading mysteries as an occasional break from the more serious fiction and non-fiction I usually prefer to read. FINAL COPY is much more satisfying than the typical mystery novel -- it's got great characters, a compelling plot, and an unpredictable ending. The main character, Addy McNeil, a newspaper reporter down on her luck and trying to get her career back on track, is not your typical crackerjack detective. But her journalistic instincts and dogged determination enable her to get to the bottom of the central murder mystery: Did Kit Korbanics (an old college boyfriend) push his business partner over a hotel balcony to his death, or was it suicide? The real mystery, though, is what Addy will do with the information she learns, since the truth, her ambition, and her feelings toward Kit are all at odds. The writing is crisp, and the story is fast-paced and engaging. I highly recommend this book for mystery fans and for people who just love a good story well told.

Rating:
Summary: Great Mystery
Review: I'm not a typical mystery reader, but I was very pleased with this story! Well worth the read, it gives a good insight into journalism, business, and even a little romantic relationship.

Rating:
Summary: Great Mystery
Review: I'm not a typical mystery reader, but I was very pleased with this story! Well worth the read, it gives a good insight into journalism, business, and even a little romantic relationship.

Rating:
Summary: A Flesh-and-Blood, Believable Heroine
Review: I'm not usually a mystery fan, but "Final Copy" hooked me. It's one of those rare books that is a fun read but still seriously thought-provoking. Its murder-mystery plot twists around a newsroom drama, pulling multiple story threads (passion, betrayal,loss, fear, ambition, redemption) tighter and tighter -- until you're snagged. I didn't want it to end!

Rating:
Summary: An Edge of your Seat Mystery
Review: Jan Brogan has a great feel for creating a suspensful mystery. And she has a knack for putting you into the shoes of the main character - perhaps because she bases the protaganist on her own experience as an investigative reporter.

Hard Copy has a great pace to it. It's dark, but not without humor. It's an 'edge of your seat' thriller, where you can't put it down until the last page. And it's an amazing debut by a promising author who was cut out to pen mysteries.

I can't wait for her next book, A Confidential Source.

Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Mystery
Review: Jan Brogan is such a promising new mystery novelist.

Final Copy is such a great read. I would reccomend it to anyone seeking to pick up a fresh new writer. This is not a Sherlock Holmes sort of read. Instead, its about a modern day journalist caught in a compromising position, trying to untangle a potentially public scandal.

I hope we see more from this outstanding new author.



Rating:
Summary: Brogan piques interest and satisfies
Review: Looking for some engaging and satiating weekend reading I grabbed Brogan's book and found myself fully drawn into the plot and believable characterizations. Not usually a mystery reader, I found it a great read - well-written and provocative. I look forward to her second book.

Rating:
Summary: A Revealing Look at Newspaper Journalism
Review: The news stories you read in the daily paper (and the way they are presented) are the result of a political struggle among competing egos, ethics, and financial interests at that paper. By telling the story of a washed-up reporter's fight to complete a profile of a man accused of murder, FINAL COPY makes this struggle real in a way that will forever change the way you read your local newspaper. This novel reveals journalism in very much the way Scott Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT revealed criminal law. It is engrossing as a mystery and moving as a human experience. You have to decide for yourself about the morality of Addy McNeil's decision, and it is testimony to the power of the story and the writing that it won't be an easy decision for you.