Terminal City

April 28, 2014
The area of Midtown Manhattan around Grand Central Terminal, with its host of landmark buildings, serves as the backdrop for bestseller Fairstein’s gripping 16th novel featuring ADA Alexandra “Coop” Cooper (after 2013’s Death Angel). An unidentified young woman lies dead in a luxury suite on a high floor of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, with “lines that appeared to have been sliced by a sharp instrument into her upper thighs.” With the U.S. president scheduled to arrive at the Waldorf in just a few days, Coop teams with Special Victim Unit detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, the highest-ranking African-American in the squad, in a race against the clock to track down the deranged individual responsible for this and subsequent brutal murders with the same m.o. Meanwhile, a complicated and evolving romance between Mike and Coop muddles the pursuit, as the detective’s shady recent past puts Coop on edge. The tour of Midtown, both above and below ground, is alone worth the price of admission. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

Narrator Barbara Rosenblat and writer Linda Fairstein have at least one thing in common--they're both top-notch at what they do. In the latest Alexandra Cooper mystery, bodies start turning up near New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The victims all have slashed throats and cuts on their lower extremities that resemble train tracks. Like all of Fairstein's efforts, this one is fast paced and gripping. She also gives you a vivid picture of the majestic station. Rosenblat's narration flows smoothly, and she's best at delivering the repartee between the three investigators, Alex and her colleagues, Mike and Mercer. This listener's only complaint--Alex's lover sounds a bit more like a beat cop rather than the sophisticate he's supposed to be. Still, Rosenblat is one of the few female narrators who can make a male character absolutely believable. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine