Night Watch

May 21, 2012
A too slavish devotion to the details of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case of 2011 undermines Fairstein’s 14th legal thriller featuring her alter ego, Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper (after 2011’s Silent Mercy). While Cooper is vacationing with her lover, restaurateur Luc Rouget, in a village outside Cannes, France, the discovery of a former employee of his, Lisette Honfleur, floating dead in a forest pond threatens to spoil their holiday. Soon after, Alex’s boss demands she return to New York City to deal with a firestorm. Mohammed Gil-Darsin (aka MGD), head of the World Economic Bureau, has been arrested following an accusation of rape leveled at him by a hotel maid. Just as in real-life, the prosecutors’ initial belief in the victim’s account becomes less strong the more they learn about her. The major departure from the actual case arrives late while the subplot centering on deaths that may be linked to Rouget doesn’t quite deliver, but as usual, ultimately, Fairstein does. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

Wouldn't you love to know what was really going on in the Manhattan D.A.'s office during the weeks the case against a certain very prominent French politician, accused of raping a chambermaid in a midtown hotel, was coming apart? Wecome to NIGHT WATCH, Linda Fairstein's most richly plotted novel maybe ever. Barbara Rosenblat gives a riveting performance of special crimes prosecutor Alex Cooper, torn between her French lover, celebrity restaurateur Luc Rouget (who contributes a particularly interesting restaurant business subplot), and the demands of her job while her boss's extremely high-profile rape case blows up in not-very-slow motion. Rosenblat's French voices are convincing; her tough-guy cop Mike Chapman, Alex's best friend, speaks in deliciously tough-tender New Yawkese; and, as always, her pacing is an irresistible force. B.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine