Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Linda Fairstein (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alexandra Cooper Mysteries | Publication Date: June 1, 1997

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The crusading longtime chief of Manhattan's Sex Crimes Prosecutions Unit brings to her exciting first novel the same passion and insights into the criminal and crime-busting minds that marked her memoir, Sexual Violence (1994). Fairstein also brings herself to the novel-or at least an alter ego of a narrator, Alexandra Cooper, who's also a middle-aged blonde heading the borough's prosecution of sex offenders. Cooper's typical day of counseling victims and working with the NYPD on sex crimes would probably keep readers fascinated, but her latest problem-the shooting murder of glamorous movie star Isabella Lascar at Cooper's getaway home on Martha's Vineyard-pitches the plot at high intensity right away. Though Cooper is warned by the DA not to play cop, she and homicide detective Mike Chapman, who's assigned to bodyguard her, work together unofficially to solve the crime, carrying on a sort of anti-romance all the while. Fairstein isn't a gifted stylist-her dialogue is as wooden as a judge's gavel-and the details of Cooper's professional and personal lives drive the story forward with more vigor than the murder investigation does. Some readers will be disappointed, too, that Cooper, like any victim, has to be rescued in the end by her fiercely protective and ingenious friends on the NYPD. But then this heroine's greatest appeal lies in the warmth of her friendships, the humanness of her mistakes and her unswerving devotion to protecting the next female from harm. As a woman with grave responsibilities who still puts her pantyhose on one leg at a time, she makes a memorable debut. Literary Guild and Mystery Guild main selections; Doubleday Book Club alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Like her creator, Fairstein (Sexual Violence, LJ 9/15/93), Alexandra Cooper is New York City's assistant district attorney for sex crimes prosecution. A Hollywood actress staying at Alex's vacation home on Martha's Vineyard and driving a rental car charged to Alex's credit card is murdered. Was Alex really the intended victim and the murderer someone she had once prosecuted? Is that why she's been receiving anonymous nocturnal telephone calls? Or was the actress done in by her estranged lover? Why is Alex's own current lover, an investment banker and former Senate candidate, trying to cover up his own involvement with the actress? This thriller, which will keep readers asking questions and turning pages, has the potential to be one of the summer's big hits. Recommended for popular collections.
--Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671010123
• ISBN-13: 978-0671010126
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Legal

More About the Author

Linda Fairstein was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives with her husband in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First-Rate First Novel!, January 6, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Linda Fairstein has served for many years as New York's Assistant District Attorney in charge of prosecuting sex crimes. And according to all accounts, she is brilliant at her job. Well, Fairstein can put another notch in her belt, because she is a fine writer as well--right up there with the best of the genre.

"Final Jeopardy," her debut novel, introduces Alexandra Cooper, coincidentally an Assistant District Attorney in charge of prosecuting New York's sex crimes. Along with her very likeable sidekick, wisecracking but brilliant cop Mike Chapman, Alex works diligently to see that "her" victims, dead or alive, get justice. It's a grueling, wrenching task, but Alex thrives on it.

The book is off to a racing start as Alex, more than a little bit startled, reads her own obituary in the morning papers. And it never lets up from there. The confusion about Alex's "death" is solved quickly, but tragically. It seems that a good friend of hers, sexy bombshell actress Isabella Lascar, has been murdered while spending a supposedly incognito weekend at Alex's private Martha's Vineyard retreat. Was the murderer after Isabella? Or was it a case of mistaken identity--was the bullet really meant for Alex herself?

Those questions are only the beginning as Alex finds herself increasingly tangled in an incomprehensible web of intrigue. Who is the murderer? Try and guess. I did--and wasn't even close. There are enough colorful characters in the book, nefarious and otherwise, to make the reader keep turning the pages to find out who the "perp" is--and even more importantly, why the crime was committed in the first place.

From the first page to the breath-stopping last, this book has a ring of authenticity, and why not? Fairstein has lived what she writes, and it shows. Rumor has it that Ms. Fairstein has recently retired from her day job. Good! That means she can devote ALL her time to writing more juicy crime novels for those of us who are hooked!

I'm thrilled to have found her, and have already started the second in her Alexandra Cooper series. If you haven't treated yourself to Ms. Fairstein, give her a try. You will not regret it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, June 12, 2008

By 

Linda W "LW" (Cherry Hill, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

Am I the only one that has a problem with the way the 2 main characters speak to each other? They apparently have known each other for numerous years and are supposedly close friends. Why then, when they are the only 2 people in a room and are speaking only to each other, does the author write the conversations using the character's names in just about every sentence? I don't know about most folks, but when I am speaking to a friend I don't need to say their name at the beginning of each sentence. It just got on my nerves - and I never finished the book. I ordered this for my Kindle - and learned a valuable lesson.....always take advantage of the free samples!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fair story, poor prose, February 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Final Jeopardy (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I would have found this story of mystery and murder more engrossing if Fairstein's prose had been less murky, and the dialog less stilted. Conversations read like narrative, and it was often difficult to figure out who was speaking. The overall tone, even given the hard-boiled prosecutor and seen-it-all detectives, was flat and expressionless. With all the tightly written, literate crime novels out there, I wouldn't be inclined to try Ms. Fairstein's works again.