The Dead House

I definitely don’t like this main character and I’m already tired of her love life issues. I find her extremely self-centered but it seems be validated because all the supporting characters jump to every need. I would like to learn more about Alexandra’s family to include her dad and brothers.

Now onto the story, I really liked this story and the weaving of some New York history into the plot was fantastic. The suspect pool was huge and the author did a great job of intermingling some great subplots into the story. Another item I enjoyed was that the victim was not necessarily likeable but the author still had you caring about who murdered her.

As usual I really enjoy Mike and Mercer but the few interactions of all three were show more sorely missed in this book. This audiobook does have some of the worst transition music ever though. I know this is short but there really isn’t much else that stuck out to me in this story. show less

We get a lot of NYC history in The Deadhouse. Plus a huge helping of abandoned places. I LOVE abandoned anything. Houses. Hospitals. Schools. Mansions. Whatever. I this one we get an abandoned and demolished prison, a smallpox hospital and creepy laboratory; all in NYC on Roosevelt Island which is in the East River. The pacing is a bit better on this one; battling rival District Attorneys and academics to solve the mystery of a murdered professor whom Alex couldn’t convince to prosecute her abusing husband. I guess that’s why Alex is involved in this one. It still irks me when she gets involved in a straight up murder that has little or nothing to do with a sex crime.

So why do I keep reading them? They’re cozy. Comforting. I show more appreciate and am interested in the NY history in them. The world of Alexandra Cooper is one to be envied. She loves her job and is very good at it. She has the most excellent friends who would do anything for her (although in these early novels Mike’s constant teasing and harping is grating in the extreme. She has plenty of money from her parents and can afford to maintain a high end lifestyle on two islands. Not only is she rail thin, but she doesn’t seem to need to do anything except take one ballet class to stay that way. Men fairly drop at her feet, but she has control. The only sore spot seems to be just between Wellesley and the prosecutor’s office when her fiancé died the day before their Vineyard wedding. But she’s basically over it and the pain is a wistful reminder more than anything else. Despite the inevitable physical danger she gets into (the villain always captures her and M&M come to her rescue) and the other paint-by-numbers plot devices Fairstein uses every time, I like this series. Alexandra is a grown-up Nancy Drew and I can’t help but be drawn into her world and enviously watch her fight crime and win the day. show less

I know I read this a couple years ago not sure exactly when but I did enjoy it. It's a good thriller but with a slow pace.

Liked this one, though it was a little tough to get into at first. That of course all ended at 3AM when I wanted to go to sleep. Was up 'til after 5 reading and only put it down because the sun came up before returning to it this morning. I liked the ending,liked the change that it wasn't Coop's own lack of forethought that got her in trouble and I liked the air of mystery that surrounded Roosevelt.

May need to be a field trip when I get back home, I could do with some diamonds ;)

I just couldn't get into this book at all. The characters were flat, and frankly, I found the protagonist boring as all get out. Blonde, 5'10", and 115 lbs. Gag me. It would be different if she had a bit more of a personality.

Boring boring boring.

And this is where I leave this character. This whole book made about zero sense, but seemed to just be there to push things to a head with Alex and Mike. They both suck in this one and Alex does a woe is me thing when she finally realizes that Mike is seeing someone and shockingly enough seems to be happy. It's also gross when Alex throws out that the woman that Mike is seeing is similar to her so that means he has feelings for her. Yeah I don't know I just rolled my eyes a million times while reading this. This series should just be called the Alexandra Cooper and Mike Chapman series at this point.

There is zero development of anyone in this series. We have Mercer still getting over being shot almost to death after the events in the show more last book. He is moving on with his life, but you barely see it being a blip on Alex's life. She gets mad at her boyfriend about something that really isn't her business and runs out into the night to make Mike do something about it. Bah.

Mercer seems to just be that magical negro that has barely anything to do in this series and he really deserves better.

I think I finally had enough when Alex gets judgmental about a potential rape victim (the young woman drank a lot and made out and had initial consensual contact with someone) and then we find out that she was lying. And the last book had another potential rape victim that lied too. Considering that I have read the stats about rapes and the small number of women and men who lie about being sexually assaulted I side-eyed the crap out of this whole book/series at this point. I will say that Fairstein at least acknowledges that most rapes are between two people who know each other.

The actual murder case makes zero sense that Alex is even involved. A woman whose husband tried to have her killed, who shows up murdered later was not raped. We hear that Alex is involved cause it was domestic, but that felt like a stretch.

Fairstein spends too much time on the history of every little thing and I didn't care.

Alex finds herself in danger a freaking gain and weeps because Mike must not be coming cause he's too busy with his new girlfriend. show less

Catching up with some of Alexandra Cooper's earlier cases. This one is mostly Alex and her Jeopardy playing detective working together because their partaner, Mercer is recovering from a bullet wound. A college professor is murder and no one at the college really seemed interested except in finding her research work. A lot of the action takes place on an island off of Manhatan that used to house convicts and believed to have buried treasure.