Killer Heat [Hardcover]

Linda Fairstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 2008

It’s August in New York, and the only thing that’s hotter than the pavement is Manhattan D.A. Alex Cooper’s professional and personal life. Just as she’s claiming an especially gratifying victory in a rape case, she gets the call: the body of a young woman has been found in an abandoned building. The brutality of the murder is disturbing enough, but when a second body, beaten and disposed of in exactly same manner, is found off the Belt Parkway, the city’s top brass want the killer found fast, before the tabloids can start churning out ghoulish serial killer headlines.

Between dodging the bullets of the gang members who are infuriated by Alex’s most recent courtroom victory and keeping a rendezvous with a charming restaurateur, a serial killer on the loose is the last thing she needs on her plate right now. Then a third victim is found, and it becomes clear to Alex and her team that time is not on their side.

Through Alex’s peerless interrogation skills—and one big break—the search becomes focused on someone who has a twisted obsession with the military, and things grow increasingly dangerous when the chase leads to a chain of small, abandoned islands around New York harbor.

Once again Linda Fairstein brilliantly orchestrates a page-turning mix of cutting-edge legal issues and forensics, New York City history, and spine-tingling suspense. And at the center of it all is Alex Cooper—stunning, single-minded, accomplished, and not to be trifled with whether she’s in or out of a courtroom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Fairstein's nail-biting 10th legal thriller to feature alter ego Alex Cooper (after 2006's Bad Blood), the Manhattan ADA takes a hit from a cigar at the urging of her longtime police ally, Mike Chapman—to cover the stench of a badly decomposed female body at a crime scene in an abandoned building near the Staten Island ferry. The victim later proves to be the first of a number of women in uniform targeted by the murderer, who may have military ties in his past. The trail leads to a notorious bar catering to underage drinkers, before a chance observation by a civilian shifts the inquiry dramatically. Meanwhile, Cooper is preparing to try Floyd Warren, a rapist whose first trial three decades earlier ended in a hung jury. Fairstein, whose professional résumé includes groundbreaking work in the field of sex crimes prosecution, manages to both entertain and educate, as Cooper struggles with the evidentiary challenges of the Warren rape case and with tracking a vicious serial killer. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

PRAISE FOR KILLER HEAT:
“Fairstein delivers a scorcher of a crime novel —her hottest yet.” -Library Jounal
“Fairstein’s nail-biting 10th legal thriller… manages to both entertain and educate.” -Publisher’s Weekly
“Intriguing… fans will love the result.” -Kirkus
“Fairstein proves what a fantastic legal mind she has.” -The Mirror

PRAISE FOR LINDA FAIRSTEIN:

"One of the best crime fiction writers in America today." -Nelson Demille
“Fairstein . . . makes the legal issues more exciting than any high-speed chase."
-New York Times
"Alexandra Cooper, like her creator Linda Fairstein, is a force to contend with; smart, tough, and literate to boot!" -Sue Grafton
"The romantic tension, the fast-paced plotting, and the New York setting will keep fans of Fairstein's series engrossed." -Booklist
"No-holds-barred adventure." -Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385523971
• ISBN-13: 978-0385523974
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ONE MORE STERLING NARRATION FROM BLAIR BROWN, April 19, 2008

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killer Heat (Alex Cooper) (Audio CD)

Those who want their heroines tough, strong, and super intelligent know they've found her in Alex Cooper. She's a D.A. in Manhattan and as we meet her again in the tenth offering by Linda Fairstein, she's enjoying victory. It was a tough rape case but Alex won it (and incurred the animus of Latin Princes gang members along the way).

Nonetheless, her winning feeling is soon lost as she is notified that the body of a young woman has been found in an abandoned building. Now, author Fairstein knows this territory well as she once headed the Sex Crimes Unit of the District Attorney's Office, and she minces no words.

After viewing the victim, Alex is offered a cigar by Mike, a detective with the Manhattan North Homicide Squad. Despite the oppressive August heat he puffs on a stogie and encourages her to take one with this advice, ""The stench from that corpse is going to stay in your brain for weeks unless you infuse it right away with something more powerful. Why do you think I've always got a couple of these in my pocket?"

As stated, Alex is tough and while she may be able to get over the sickening smell of death, what she cannot get over is another beaten woman's body found and then a third.

Being directed to catch the killer before the city is deadened by fear is one thing, trying to stay alive when those gang members want revenge is quite another.

Since the introduction of Alex Cooper in 1996 Ms. Fairstein has turned out nine additional thrillers, each more exciting than the last. Tony Award winner Blair Brown gives another sterling performance in her narration of this spine-tingling novel.

- Gail Cooke

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Ten, March 12, 2008

By 

Jake Demartini (New York City) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Killer Heat (Hardcover)

Killer Heat, prosecutor-turned-author Fairstein's 10th book, is by far her best. All of her mysteries feature little-known NYC locales (Poe's house, underground water tunnels) or a behind-the-scenes look at famous institutions (Natural History Museum, Metropolitan Opera House). This one doesn't disappoint, taking the reader from an abandoned ferry terminal downtown to a thrilling conclusion on Governor's Island. Fairstein deftly weaves courtroom drama, real-life cases and thrilling action into a seamless tapestry. Fabulous!! A perfect "10".

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars lifeless, March 23, 2008

By 

M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Killer Heat (Hardcover)

I was surprised to see all of the 5-star reviews. I have been a big fan of Ms. Fairstein since the first book, but this one felt like a paint-by-numbers. For the first time with one of her books, instead of reading straight through, I put it down a few times and had to make myself keep going.

For me, none of the victims ever came alive, making it difficult to care for them. Similarly, the perpetrator never felt real. I felt as though Ms. Fairstein has completely lost interest.

The connection among the murders, while coherent, was supreficial enough that when Alex figured it out, the reader didn't have the sensation that lots was now explained.

Some of the other commentors said they enjoyed having less character development and conversation, fewer digressions into personal lives, and therefore more straightforward plot movement. To me, those are the sections that matter most, and without them, the story didn't pull me in.

Although the New York lore existed, it was a lot less integral to the story (although it was connected) and had a lot less depth.

In sum, a huge disappointment.