Customer Reviews

The Killing of Mindi Quintana

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A truly great first effort. This novel is fast paced and defies convention in that you know (from reading the title!) that a murder will occur. It evolves into a complex character study, both of the subjects of the novel and the modern media world in which we all work and live. Would make a terrific book club selection as there are so many facets to the story that are available for interpretation and/or discussion. This is not just a crime novel, it is a commentary on our society and those with the power and courage to make a difference.

I found The Killing of Mindi Quintana to be a fantastic read. I finished it in one marathon sitting despite having to work early the next day. The book seamlessly takes you through the murderer's evolution from a sympathetic, love struck (wannabe) artist, to a conniving, fame seeking murderer. Jeffery Cohen keeps the story flowing by combining humor, romance and murder under the umbrella of a criminal's quest for fame and the public's fascination with rogue celebrities (think OJ).

One of the highlights of the book is the author's creative writing style. It is not often that a new writer combines a great story with great prose, but in this case, Jeff Cohen excels at both. He is clearly a writer to keep an eye on in the future. Anyone interested in a timely, well written and most importantly, highly entertaining book should read The Killing of Mindi Quintana.

Frederick Builder is a gifted China retail display creator, working at Chanet's Department Store in Philadelphia.

But he believes his true calling in life is to be a writer.

After reconnecting with old friend Mindi Quintana, Builder all but begs the magazine publisher to print his stories.

When she politely declines and offers constructive criticism, Builder kills her.

What follows is a true-to-life media love affair with "The China Manager." Everybody wants a piece of Builder, and he's more than willing to Quintana's murder as a step up the celebrity ladder.

But will Freddy get more than he bargained for?

When I first started reading The Killing of Mindi Quintana by first time author Jeffrey A. Cohen, I'll admit I had quite a bit of difficulty getting into the rhythm of the book.

After a while, however, I realized Cohen writes in an unedited, unembellished style. The best way I can describe it is that it's a lot like watching an episode of NBC's The Office, except it's in reading form.

Once I grasped this concept, I found the book's plot to be engrossing; if a bit scary, considering the parallel to many real life "celebrity killers" today.

And I love Cohen's sense of humor. There's a funny side lurking within this guy and his delivery is so subtle, he'll zing ya before you realize it. Next thing you know, you're cracking up.

THE KILLING OF MINDI QUINTANA is a wonderful first book from Jeffrey A. Cohen. I was swept up from the very start by the characters, the setting and the dialogue. Cohen moves with fluidity and precision. From Freddy Builder, the China Manager at Chanet's Department Store in downtown Philadelphia to the beautiful victim, Mindi Quintana to the wonderful confrontation in Judge Gunther W. Willison's chambers, you are in for a rare treat that will leave you wanting more and more from this natural born story teller. This unorthodox thriller is part legal trials and tribulations, part corporate intrigue and unequivocally all original excitement. In an age of sensationalism, voyeurism and 100% exposure of our base desires and needs, Jeff Cohen delivers in a way that is both genuine and honest. It is not about exploiting the victim or debasing the legal system. For Cohen, THE KILLING OF MINDI QUINTANA is a coming of age of a disenfranchised public defender and his assistant district attorney counterpart. Each must make a choice between right and wrong. Some embrace the truth and others self-destruct. Either way, you will not be disappointed by this read and I suspect the same will be true for every other book Cohen gives us. My only complaint is that now I have to wait and I hope not for long for the next Jeff Cohen tale! Please hurry. For sure, this is NOT ANOTHER PHILADELPHIA LAWYER STORY!

This is a strange book that I mostly liked. The eponymous killing takes place about halfway through, and there is no suspense there. The first half gets us inside the mind of both the dweebie murderer and his victim, but the scenes inside the department store where the murderer works are rather absurdist. They reminded me of a Coen Brothers movie, especially the overlooked Hudsucker Proxy. First off, the store seems like something from a wholly different era, although the story is set in the present day. There are managers for each department, unlike my local stores where there aren't even clerks in every department. There are floors with multiple tiers of managers, and most bizarrely, office walls that move. This black comedy is superb, but jarring next to the very realistic lawyer stories (I am a lawyer). The lives of a public defender and an ambitious prosecutor seem quite true to life. The scenes at a black tie affair and a chi chi restaurant are all too real. In fact, I truly wish there had been more of the actual legal wrangling--the ending seems justified and it's a thought-provoking plot, but the justification is more sketched out--as if the book after the murder were written at a much faster pace than the highly detailed parts beforehand.

It is an odd book, and not a gripping thriller, but an enjoyable read anyway.

I found the details provided to develop the characters very realistic and humorous at times. I finished the book in 2 days. The last third of the book was especially quick reading and I wanted to read it faster to find out what happened. It really makes you wonder about what society really values and finds newsworthy. It makes you wonder if the media obsession with ridiculous, immoral and idiotic behavior will ever end. Will it stop rewarding the individuals who engage in such behavior with money, fame, and layouts in magazines? The story made me angry at the characters who allow the cycle of behavior to continue because of their own narcissistic agendas. I enjoyed reading this story.

The Killing of Mindi Quintana is one of the few books in a long time that I read in a single sitting. The author's use of language and symbolism was fascinating to me, drawing me into each character, their actions, and the scenery that surrounded them. I found double and triple interpretations of imagery the more the book haunted my thoughts for days after reading it.

The author's ability to intermingle a violent murder, which you know will happen as soon as you read the title of the book, with a gray dismal postmodern corporate life, while getting you inside the mind of an obsessive madman that no one notices is a delight. On each page I kept wondering what would set Freddy off, where would he go from delusional average employee (with one interesting obsessive skill) to killer. In the beginning, I identified with his own frustration, even identifying with him being caught in an old-style corporate machine. That is until you realize what he is really doing.

Then the act, it surprised me, even thought I was carefully waiting for it. He was suddenly different; all the past chapters suddenly had new interpretation for me. In total contrast to Mindi you can now see a mind scarier than Hannibal Lecter, precisely because he is no genius, nothing special, just a person you might walk past any day of your life. His low corporate position, how he had distained any praise from the job, all made sense. The murder let me see what he was doing all along, taking the easy way, and always making others wrong.

Suddenly we see the transformation where he becomes something society always wants to see, and how he is helped by those around him all too willing to profit from a revision of history using media sound bites, and amoral people from all walks of life. All the while, Freddy is still just taking the easy way.

But then author ventures into unique territory, unlike cold blood we're not seeing the authors view of a horrific act and all the humanity that surrounded it, or a revision of history like the Executioner's Song that glorifies the inexcusable. Cohen takes on through his characters society's desires to spin the truth to what we want it to be, what sells, what shapes good gossip or cocktail stories, rather than see the truth for itself. We see the struggle for how the truth can come out, and how it involves having to confront some of the fundamental and long-standing traditional values that we believe make free societies great.

I love the book and enjoyed the ride as well as the unique subject matter, all in a great story that stands on its own.

I was given this book by my sister, who writes memoir but loves legal thrillers. To be honest, it's not my favorite genre, but my sister has never steered me wrong, so who was I to argue?
Well, big sis was right. From the time I read the first few pages, to the time I was blown away by the plot twist at the end, I was enthralled. Parts of it were scary as hell, other parts were downright funny. Somehow it all just fit together. Freddie, the killer, one of the creepiest and most original characters I've come across.
I'm not one of these people who reviews books, to be honest, this is my first. But I've never heard of this author, and I think he really deserves props for writing a book that kept someone as ADHD as me interested from the beginning to the end.

As a former journalist, practicing litigator, government official and now a Member of Philadelphia's Tourism Marketing Board, I am glad to offer my review of the highly anticipated release of the legal thriller, "The Killing of Mindi Quintana" by Jeffrey A. Cohen. The main character in Mr. Cohen's debut novel is Freddy Builder, the China Manager of a prominent Philadelphia department store who has a miserable existence and realizes that the one honor he achieves as "Manager of the Month" and perhaps" Manager of the Year" will be a lasting testament to his anguished career and pathetic achievements. The one thing he does truly take pride in is his desolate existence are his writings. Cohen nicely develops Builder into a truly pathetic and tormented character and creates a villain that we come to truly despise well before he commits his heinous crime.
Mindi Quintana, is portrayed as a sweet and attractive woman, who finds it difficult to get over the embarrassment as her father had become involved in a scandal that ultimately led to his imprisonment and disgrace in the community. Living in West Philadelphia, Quintana works at a small literary magazine in Philadelphia. She had briefly dated Builder years before and has the fateful misfortune of re-connecting with him when she visits the China Department where he works and he gives her a financial break on a piece she cannot afford but wants to purchase for her parents Anniversary. He then has pipe dreams about being with her romantically and creates a vision and desire that is all in his mind.
In a depressing twist, he tries to impress her with his subpar writings and the last thing Builder wants to hear is a real critique and especially from the person with whom he has an unrealistic romantic fascination. After he commits the brutal crime that Cohen graphically describes, we see an even worse scoundrel emerge as he tries to gain notoriety, fame and fortune from making his non-existent romantic relationship with Mindi into a popular cause with the media to gain the celebrity that he craves. Ultimately, his own public defender tries to have the last say in a stirring plot twist.

What I look for in good fiction is a storyteller who brings to light something that is happening all around us yet at the same time something that we have not yet fully examined or pondered. Jeffrey Cohen has met my requirements and then some! In his uniquely and beautifully written first novel, The Killing of Mindi Quintana, Jeffrey A Cohen examines close up our society's obsession with celebrity and how this obsession has evolved to include just about any kind of celebrity- good or evil. The Killing of Mindi Quintana goes behind so many of our recent headlines to show us how it is that evil can become misrepresented as and confused with genius. Is it the press eager to feed us a perpetrator who is sympathetic? Is it the public, eager to believe that even a killer can be redeemed and redeemable? Cohen's book is set in a Philadelphia that is gritty, moodily atmospheric and genuine. I recommend this book highly both for its outstanding writing and for its page-turning excitement! I didn't want it to finish.