Night Watch (An Alexandra Cooper Novel) Paperback – April 2, 2013

This is one of my recent purchases by an author I had never tried before. I am making these purchases because I am trying to find good large print mysteries for a friend of my sister-in-law. The friend has health issues and my sister-in-law asked me to help with finding used books for her to read.The book started out as a solid three star book. The heroine (Alex Cooper) is in the DA's office in NYC. She has a boyfriend who is French (Luc Rouget) and owns and operates a Michelin Guide 3 star restaurant in the countryside near Cannes. The heroine seemed whiny and clingy at first. She also is fairly quick to get angry. But she knows her law, although where her boyfriend is concerned, she does some stupid things in the first half of the book that one would not expect from a top notch prosecutor, when her boyfriend becomes a suspect in a murder in France and another in NYC. She has two long term friends in the NYPD, Mercer Wallace in SVU and Mike Chapman in Homicide. I really liked the characters of both Mercer and Mike. Like the heroine, I was not sure if Luc could be trusted.About halfway through, the book started to move up from a 3 star mystery to a 4 star mystery. There are two plot lines in the book. Both plots became more interesting at the midway point. It started to twist and turn. By the end of the book, I decided I would definitely read another Linda Fairstein and I could confidently pass this book along to my sister-in-law's friend.

The book wasn’t noted as new or used. Under formats it was listed as new. It took a week and I had to pay shipping which was as much as the book. And it was clearly used.

I have read every book Linda has written since she is my favorite author. With eack book, she goes into much detail about a landmark or area in New York which is like a geography lesson within each novel. All of her characters are real to the point where I can now anticipate how they are going to react in a given situation or what they are going to say next, in particular, Mike Chapman, Mercer Wallace, Paul Battaglia and specifically Alex Cooper. Of course, being an avid Jeopardy fan makes the books all the more enjoyable and interesting. I was kept in suspense throughout this book by Luc's questionable involvement in nefarious doings until the very end. Once again, I pre-purchase her books ( now on my Kindle ) through Amazon and finish them within 3-5 days of receipt and am saddened when each book is finished. Thanks Linda, you never disappoint me and I look forward to the next one.

This won't be a thorough review of this book, because I think that many of the other positive reviews have already said what I might.Good story, although different than the earlier ones, with more cracks and flaws visible in Alex. Getting a bit tired of the 'will they or won't they, should they or shouldn't they' game with Mike. Starting to seriously dislike Luc, and wishing he would disappear. Love Mercer and his wife. Loved the 'inside looks' at the legal system in NY. Etc, etc, etc.But I felt that I should slip this into my file of reviews, because I seem to be mostly reviewing books I've disliked, lately, and I want to say that there are many books that I've enjoyed and been caught up in (even if I didn't think they were the writer's best effort).So, not my favorite Alex Cooper novel but I do like the series and will look forward to the next one whenever it shows up. To date, they've always been a welcome and entertaining escape for me, with nothing that stands out as implausible (which can always take me right out of a story).

Fairstein brings back Alex Cooper, a New York sex crimes prosecutor and her good friends - Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace. The three have an intense, complicated friendship that underscores the long running series.Alexandra travels to the south of France to visit her French boyfriend, Luc Rouget. He is a restauranteur, following in his father's footsteps. He has a three star Michelan resturant in a small village. But her visit is immediately sidetracked by the discovery of a body in the village pond the night after a party given by Luc.At the same time an African diplomat and French national is arrested in New York for assaulting a maid in his hotel. (Ripped from current events?) Cooper is called home to handle the high profile crime investigation and represent the prosecutor's office.The two crimes - the sexual assault and the murder in France come front and center for the three friends. Complications, connections and misdirection are everywhere. Luc's character has never been one of my favorites and this installment does not help his likeability.Fairstein always adds history and New York style to her work - and she doesn't disappoint here. It just isn't enough to lift the book out of ordinary status.Long running fans of the series will not want to miss this installment - but it is not Fairstein's best effort. Just okay.

I have been a fan of Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper novels since I read the first one years ago and have also turned a number of reading friends on to her wonderful storytelling. This is different in that the characters actually travel outside of New York and Alex's fairly long term (for her, anyway) relationship with Luc Rouget comes under fire as their differences manifest themselves under the onslaught of Alex's career intrusions and Luc's preoccupation with opening his new restaurant. But Fairstein's attention to detail and obvious research into the surrounding settings of her novel are, as always, impeccable and her continuing portrayals of her main characters are still fresh and involving even after so many years. This series shows no signs of running out of steam anytime soon--thank God!

I have always enjoyed Linda Fairstein’s “Alexandra Cooper” novels as they are so well written and always both interesting and exciting. This one was no exception and it held my attention throughout. It’s always good to be reunited with her team of police and legal personnel as they are dragged into the frightening world of sexual crimes and the victims and abusers as she tries to right wrongs and get the most serious offenders convicted. As always, this merges somewhat clumsily with Alex’s private life, her relationship with her French lover Luc and her everlasting friendships with Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace who support her solidly through everything life can throw at her and manage to extricate her from many life threatening adventures.Sadly we didn’t visit her home on Martha’s Vineyard – a place that always fascinates me and brings a true sense of calm and relaxation to her otherwise hectic life. But a short trip to Mougins in France provides a little pleasure to what turned into one of the more dramatic cases so far.

Night Watch involves all Ms Fairstein's usual characters in 2 plot lines. The first involves the discovery of a dead body in Mougins where "Coop" is holidaying with her boyfriend, Luc. The second involves a Dominique Strauss Kahn scenario where a top world economist is accused of rape by a housekeeper in a New York hotel. The first plot gets very complicated as it involves Luc's business dealings in New York where he and his backers are opening a restaurant and the second plot didn't work for me - I can't believe they would charge a man based on the rather flimsy evidence and shaky testimony they have.This is not a bad book as the characters are pleasant and have a good camaraderie, there is plenty of interesting trivia about New York and the writing style is good enough to keep you reading but the plotting is a bit underdone as if it's writing by numbers rather than with passion and depth. This is a shame as I've read this series from the beginning and have spent many pleasant hours with Coop and crew.

I used to enjoy Linda's Farsteins books. But this one I could not even finish. There are two plots, one is a rehash with own take of the Straus Khan incident - i find it absolutely abhorrent that a writer cannot even makes their own plot. The other is set in France and shows such disregard of French laws and culture that it made me angry.I doubt I will be buying another of her books.

This book, the latest in the Alexandra Cooper series, is up with Linda Fairstein usual standard. She writes with the authority that comes from a person who Knows the laws and procedures in dealing with the detection and prosecution in the world of crime, which was her career before becoming an author.

Disappointing. Waited along time to get this on kindle and was very disappointed by the content. Shame - all the characters in this series deserved a lot more from the author!