Lethal Legacy [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Sphere
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751540331
• ISBN-13: 978-0751540338
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,959,844 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

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thriller for Bibliophiles, February 10, 2009

By 

M. Jacobsen "I am not young enough to know ev... (Through the Looking Glass) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lethal Legacy (Hardcover)

Lethal Legacy is a fairly tight thriller that ought to appeal to bibliophiles. Set in present-day Manhattan, Assistant District Attorney Alex Cooper is led on an investigation that leads her directly to the New York Public Library.

The history and inner workings of the historic landmark is skillfully woven into the tale making for a fun diversion in this otherwise standard-fare thriller.

If you love rare books, their history and bits of literary trivia, you'll likely enjoy this ride. The thriller portion of the story is pretty tight and the pace clips right along to a marginally-predictable, but nontheless satisfying, ending.

Recommended!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a good mix of mystery and arcane knowledge, December 15, 2009

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lethal Legacy (Hardcover)

There is a genre of detective fiction that blends a thrilling tale with generally unknown information about a subject that fascinates the novel's readers. The book titillates and informs. One of the well-known practitioners of this art is Dan Brown who did so successfully with his The Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately many readers thought that his recent novel The Lost Symbol was not as good. Some thought that the information about the Masons was overmuch and insufficiently interesting.

This is the principle problem with this two-pronged genre: like a well-cooked dish or a superb martini, it requires just the right mixture of the two ingredients; too much of one can destroy the otherwise good meal or superb drink.

Fairstein is an excellent writer and she generally succeeds in providing her readers a tasty blend. However, while I rarely put aside a book unfinished, I did so with this novel. I personally love books and I found the information that she offered on the history of books and maps interesting. However, like a twenty minute church or synagogue sermon that exceeds its time limit, I began to feel as if I was overburdened by the time I reached a quarter of the book.

I pushed myself with the hope that the mystery would revive my interest, but by the middle of the novel, when there were discussions about how maps caused America not to be named after Columbus, how they influenced ancient discoveries. How and why they became collector items, how they were stored, how thieves cut maps from ancient volumes, and other facts, I gave up.

But I did not give up on Fairstein. I feel certain that her next book, like those in the past, will have the right mix and I will enjoy both the mystery and arcane facts about some history of New York.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lethal Legacy, February 17, 2009

By 

TrishNYC (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lethal Legacy (Hardcover)

A man disguised as a fireman sets off an incendiary device in a hall way. As it fills the air with smoke, he knocks on the door of one the inhabitants of the building, Tina Barr, and when she lets him in, he attacks her. After he leaves, she locks herself in her apartment, refusing to let in the police and other law enforcement agencies who come to help. Alexandra(Alex) Cooper, an assistant district attorney, finally convinces her to unlock the door and seek medical help but just as soon as the paramedics take Tina to the hospital, she leaves and disappears. The police cannot officially look for her because she left of her own free will and is therefore not a missing person and she never actually reported a crime was committed. Eventually Alex's boss receives pressure from outside sources and demands that she find Tina. A few days later Tina is found, dead and wrapped in tarp in Bryant Park.

The questions surrounding Tina's death are many. Was her death related to the work she did as a restorer of rare books for the library and for private clients? Did Tina know something or see something that led to her brutal slaying? Was Tina involved in the loss of millions of dollars worth of rare books and maps that were missing from donated collections in the library? Was her death related to that of another woman found murdered in her former apartment?

This book is interesting in the way that it turns the main branch of the New York Public library into a fascinating backdrop for a thriller. Notable facts about history, book binding, legacies to institutions are topics covered in great depth. It is quite fascinating what you learn as you read the book. It gave me an interesting insight into the city I call home and its numerous cultural institutions.

Like many books, Lethal Legacy sometimes fails to capture the ways in which real human beings interact. For example. right after the body of Tina Barr is found, the head of the library is leading the detectives back to the library's interior. As they walk pass the giant sculptures of the lions in front of the building,one of the detectives makes a comment about the lions and the head of the library proceeds to give him a mini lecture on the lions. She tells him that they attained their names, Patience and Fortitude, because the then Mayor of New York felt that these were qualities that New Yorkers would need in order to survive the depression. A woman was just killed, what normal human being would be discussing stone sculptures at such a time? Another weakness of the book was it tendency to sometimes go on and on and on about historical events and incidents in a way that almost detracted from the story. Luckily the author was able to rein herself in before this became an absolute distraction. It is obvious that the author did a lot of research into the literary and artistic world of New York. This hard work pays off as we end up with a tale that keeps you interested from start to finish.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely seek out more by Ms. Fairstein in the future.