Amazon.com Review
If the legal details of this exciting, highly literate first thriller ring unusually true, attribute it to the fact that author Michael Fredrickson is general counsel to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, (the lawyers' version of the police's Internal Affairs Division). He says in a preface that the book tracks the events of an actual murder, and the "Cinderella affidavit" in question--a phony document designed to get a search warrant--comes almost word for word from that case. But all these details would make for dull reading if Fredrickson didn't present them with the wit and skill of a veteran novelist.
When a simple drug bust in the Chinatown section of Boston goes wrong and a cop is killed, attorney Matt Boer--appointed by the court to defend one of the Chinese dealers--uncovers the bogus affidavit and begins to look into a police cover-up. Meanwhile, the other cops involved in the drug bust start to come apart at the seams, slipping into alcoholic and even psychotic behavior to hide some other dark secrets. Boer, a corporate lawyer with little criminal experience, screws up his client's case, but he gets a second chance to redeem himself by helping to unravel all the other tangled connections in the case.
Fredrickson might have dropped one too many chunks of meaty legalese into his hearty stew, but that's a lot easier to savor than the thin broth of most first thrillers. --Dick Adler
From Publishers Weekly
Extraordinary quantities of detail, both local and legal, distinguish this ambitious, complex legal thriller set in Boston. After a police officer is killed during a drug bust in Boston's Chinatown, attorney Matt Boer discovers that the police acted on "a phony affidavit signed by a narcotics officer to get a search warrant"Athe Cinderella affidavit of the title. When a client of Boer's reveals connections to the Chinatown gunfight, Boer breaks rules to investigate what looks like a police coverup, not only of the affidavit but also of an empty briefcase that made its way from the crime scene to police inventory. Revelations of further deceptions mount. The dead officer's increasingly alcoholic partner progresses from shaky driving to full-blown hallucinations while trying to keep the affidavit secret; he also starts an affair with a woman whose name he often forgets. And Boer's law firm reveals connections to political wranglings at the DA's office, and to the complex and dangerous dealings of Chinese gangs. First-time author Fredrickson is general counsel to the Massachusetts Board of Bar OverseersAthat is, he's the lawyer for the folks who check out complaints against lawyers. He packs the narrative with details from case law, and with facts from real cases: the opening chapters "track the main events of [an actual] murder," a preface informs us, and the central affidavit "is taken almost verbatim" from that case. Such chunks of nonfiction add texture to the story, though sometimes they are slightly distracting. On the whole, however, Fredrickson's insight into the legal process adds authenticity to a fast-paced. intriguing, multi-faceted tale. 75,000 ad/promo. (May) FYI: Fredrickson was among the authors interviewed in PW's feature on first novelists.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
