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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein





Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein takes an interesting foray into the depths of the New York Public Library. Assistant D.A., Alex Cooper is called to the apartment of an assault victim, Tina Barr. Barr, who is a conservator of rare books, won’t cooperate with the D.A. or the police. No one thinks this is anything more than a typical home invasion assault, until a dead body shows up in Barr’s apartment shortly after the assault. Tina Barr disappears, and we are taken on an adventure involving the world of rare books and maps.

This is only the second Alex Cooper book I’ve read. I sort of feel like to give the book justice; I should have read the preceding novels. There seems to be quite a history between the characters, and sometimes I felt sort of like the kid on the playground who didn’t get the inside jokes. However, I don’t think the author should have put more background in the book. She added enough background to help this reader see the basics of the relationships, without making it a complete re-read of the previous novels. As a reader of many series, that is a pet peeve of mine. Instead, my interest was piqued, and I’ll probably take the time to read the series someday.

I found the inner workings of the NY Public Library fascinating in this book. The story about the family living within it was especially interesting. I’ve been wondering if that part of the novel is true. Yes, I’ve googled it and No, I can’t find anything. Sigh….disappointment….

I’m not terribly fond of the main character’s love interest, a gentleman named Luc. I didn’t read the novel where this character was introduced, so I’m sure I’m just missing something. To this casual reader, he seemed a bit…. Well…. smarmy. I found him to be a distraction from the novel, not a welcome addition.

If you’re a fan of the Alex Cooper series, you should pick up this novel and give it a read. And if you’re a fan of libraries in general, you should as well.

My rating:

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've only read one Linda Fairstein book, but I enjoyed it, so I'd like to read this one.