Cold Hit

Cold Hit centered around a victim named Denise Caxton, third wife to a wealthy art collector. That both previous wives are dead doesn’t seem to worry her. But it worries Mike, Alex & Mercer plenty. And his completely cavalier attitude doesn’t help. Because the victim is basically unattractive, it was hard to get swept up in the need for justice in this one. She’s scheming and manipulative and clearly hiding something. Her killer hadn’t planned for the discovery of her body in such a short time and bit by bit, the crime unravels. Another reason I didn’t get into this one as much as I usually do is the lack of a historical perspective. That’s one of the great things about Fairstein’s novels; the history of New York that she show more brings and obviously loves. Cold Hit focused on the seamy side of the high-end art world; theft, forgery and auction fixing. Interesting, but the NY history angle is better.

So why do I keep reading them? They’re cozy. Comforting. I 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

Ehh. This was just okay. I think that trying to tie together a kidnapping/rape to the art world in New York just didn't work though. There were way too many plot holes. It didn't help either that this is the third book in the row when Alex finds herself in danger. She works for the DA. How the hell is anyone targeting her all of the freaking time? It makes zero sense. Very little character development of Alex, Mercer, of Mike. I liked Mike slightly more in this one just because you get to see how much he loves and cares about Mercer. Other than that, this whole book was a bit of a snooze.

"Cold Hit" has Alex and friends going after the murderer of a wealthy woman with a lot of enemies. The "cold hit" portion comes from the DNA results show more from a rape kit after it is revealed the dead woman was raped before she died. The DNA comes back to someone that leads us back to the New York City art world. Alex starts to worry when it seems like someone is after her, and then someone close to her gets hurt as well.

I do like the insights that Fairstein brings to sexual assault cases. I just don't like Alex. After book #4 which I also finished recently, I decided to hang up this series for good. I won't get into that for this review though. Alex in this book is dithering back and forth because she is seeing someone new (a tv news announcer) after things didn't work out between her and the last guy that was mentioned in book #2. Alex is alone because it's easier it seems, but is resentful of being alone. I don't know. She seems to want Mike and Mercer to always be there by her side, but doesn't seem to make a lot of room for the supposed men in her life.

The bickering between Alex and her supervisor is also getting old. He's technically her boss and she readily implies in this one that he is sleeping with a subordinate while the woman was sitting right there. Who knows if it's true or not, but the whole thing read as very unprofessional. I was embarrassed for her.

Alex and Mike are toxic as hell and I really want them to leave each other alone. Seriously. He talks down to her to her face and when other people are there. It's not cute or romantic.

The book takes place in New York. Fairstein adds in a lot of history in this one about Hell's Kitchen that didn't really fit in my mind while reading. The events in this one also take place a year after the events in book #2 since there is mention of Alex's age, and she was just having a birthday in the last book that put her at 34.

The ending was a joke and a half. At this point, Alex should have bodyguards with her at all times. She's always being abducted and threatened. show less

(Review based on reread)

My love of Linda Fairstein's mystery novels is well documented, and Cold Hit has a special place in my heart because it's about art. In recent years, Linda Fairstein has become well known for using the city of New York almost as a character itself. In her most recent novels, she transforms historic institutions in New York beautifully. In many ways, Cold Hit begins this tradition.

Despite having read this book several years ago, I still learned a lot about New York and art, and the mystery itself is fascinating. I'm so glad I took the time to reread it and remember all the things I love about this novel.

I started this mystery on a business trip back in March, and even though I read most of it, I didn't finish it until I had some vacation time to read for pleasure. I thought I would have to go back and reread the story, but I found the characters memorable enough that I recalled the details and just got back to it.

Ms. Fairstein's ability to follow the legal trail and to focus on the finer points of investigations and law enforcement went a long way towards providing credibility to her tale in a concise and focused way.

The weaving of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist into Ms. Fairstein's storyline worked well, given that this case is still unsolved and was recently in the news. When DA Alexandra Cooper gets tossed into the murky show more art world, rubbing elbows with people who are more than happy to pay a small fortune for a stolen painting, she opens the door to some very unsavory characters and some criminal wheeling and dealing.

The ending was well-crafted, logical, and thrilling. Her pacing during the Big Chase took her character to the very edge of danger and left her dangling in mid-air, forcing Alex to think fast. It was a satisfying read. show less

"To them it was pure American moxie"

When Assistant D.A. Alex Cooper is called to a police scene by the Hudson river, she knows that it’s not going to be pretty. The body of an obviously affluent young woman, graphically and grotesquely arranged after death, is pulled from the water. Cooper and her sidekicks Mercer and Chapman must figure out who killed Deni Caxton, and even more – why?

This fits the description of a police procedural to the T. We follow Alex Cooper through her daily life for a few weeks while the murder of a society hostess and art collecting prodigy is investigated. It did not surprise me to discover that Fairstein had worked (it turns out, during quite a high-powered career) as an assistant D.A. herself, given the show more familiarity with the daily life of such a law enforcer that she portrays.

Cooper manages a pretty tight cast through this thriller; Cooper, Chapman and Mercer make a great investigative triumvirate and I was pleased to see a female police investigator with her head screwed on properly (unlike the one in James Patterson’s The Quickie, which I nearly threw across the room…). There’s a reasonable rotation of bad guys (and I didn’t guess the true one) and an excellent sense of setting in the slightly seedy art world of New York.

I have a few complains about the writing: Mike Chapman and Sgt Mercer both work on this case – but Fairstein alternately refers to Mike Chapman as “Mike” and “Chapman”, but to Mercer only as “Mercer”. It was quite confusing at the start of the book when the reader is still trying to get the characters straight in their head. Additionally, at the climax, Cooper has an armed guard. Of course it is when the armed guard lets her go in somewhere unguarded because they have an administrative phone call to take, that it all goes wrong (not a spoiler because there’s not much of the book left by then).

Reasonable writing, decent plot, characterisation of subsidiary characters was a bit lacking although I liked Cooper. I think this could have been better. show less

I suppose I shouldn't complain about a book that I couldn't put down for most of the day, should I? I liked it and found myself itching to get to the end to see the final twist and find out how Coop would get herself nearly killed this time, but I'm finding the series too predictable. You know there's going to be a twist and that she'll be nearly killed but knowing there are more to come that she's in means she's not going to die.

I think I liked Jake the most of all her love interests so far--let's see where it goes. At least like Patterson's Alex, all of Coop's loves don't die on the job.

In Linda Fairstein's latest, Alex Cooper is involved in a high-stakes art caper that leads to a woman's dead body washing up at the end of Manhattan.

Fairstein knows her subject, and the grittiness of the police detail and dialogue reflect it. But she also falls all over herself to give Fairstein a wonderfully glamorous lifestyle which has her casually dining in the finest Manhattan restaurants and whisking off for a weekend at "the Cape" with her globetrotting TV News boyfriend. I'm not certain if this is the way that Fairstein really lives, but if it is, she shouldn't have traded it in for the typewriter.

Still, Cooper's relationship with her cop friends, especially wisecracking Mike Chapman and standup guy Mercer Wallace is show more interesting, especially when Jeopardy is on the tube. show less