1996. 398 pages. Hardcover. Scribner.
From: the public library!
Recommendation from: I heard of this series through nomadreader
For the challenge: Thriller & Suspense
In a nutshell:
Alexandra “Alex” Cooper is an Assistant District Attorney for sex crimes in Manhattan. She’s good at what she does, and also has acquired some level of social status thanks to her job and her family money. When a sponging actress “friend” is killed while staying at Alex’s Martha’s Vineyard summer home, Alex’s life gets complicated and even dangerous.
Review:
At the time she wrote this book, Linda Fairstein had been running in the Sex Crimes Unit of Manhattan for more than twenty years. So the day-to-day activities of her fictional counterpart, Alex Cooper, ring very true. I loved reading about how Alex prosecuted the perpetrators of sex crimes. Fairstein is at her best when she offers the reader these informative, fascinating inside peeks at this type of work. However, she has a tendency to slip into an unnatural didactic style at times. At one point, Alex is flying with her detective friend Mike to Martha’s Vineyard and Alex describes all seven towns of the island to him as if she were reading from a travel brochure. It was boring and unnecessary.
I didn’t really warm up to Alex Cooper, to be honest. As a prosecutor she was great, but her personal side was harder to like. I couldn’t identify with her love of fine clothes and perfume and expensive lifestyle. Her failure to pick up on some threats is common in the genre, but still doesn’t reflect well on the protagonist. Still, I appreciated that Fairstein gave her protagonist a good network of friends, and a number of them are not in her line of work. So many leads in mysteries are lone wolves or are only friends with fellow law enforcement officers or lawyers. So the fact that Alex has friends that she keeps up with is refreshing.
The mystery did keep me guessing though others may figure it out sooner than I did. I will continue to read this series as I really did like the description of Alex Cooper’s job and the cases she handled.
Other reviews:
A Good Stopping Point 
i bought bad blood by fairstein while i was at a library book sale and i’ve been debating if i should just read it or read the whole series in order.
after reading this review though, i might just read the book i already have and test the waters to see if i like it enough to continue reading the rest of the series. thanks for the review!
toothy – though this is the only book I’ve read in the series, I don’t think it’s a series that needs to be read in order.