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Alexandra Cooper is back, along with her pals Chapman and Wallace, in this novel that mixes legal and police procedural elements to maximum effect. Paige Vallis, a young investment banker, accuses ex-CIA operative Andrew Tripping of rape. As her story unfolds, the circumstances of the rape seem more and more bizarre and difficult to prosecute because Paige apparently consented to have sex with Tripping in an attempt to shield his ten-year-old son from Tripping's cruelty. During the trial, a man enters the courtroom and his mere presence sends Paige into hysterics. Over the weekend recess, before Alex can find out who the man is or why he upset Paige so much, Paige is murdered in what seems to be a routine mugging. At the same time, Tripping's son vanishes and a prisoner who was Tripping's cell mate and who is about to offer details of an incriminating conversation which might bolster the prosecution's rickety case mysteriously escapes while he's being transported from prison to the court. Meanwhile, Chapman investigates the rape and murder of Queenie Ransom, an octogenarian who was once a very beautiful woman and a famous exotic dancer during the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the clues seem to tie the two cases together, and Alex begins to look for links between the two women. During her investigation, Alex suffers several attempts on her life, including a kidnapping aboard a yacht in the channels of southern Manhattan that will make you think twice before boarding your next ship. There is also a scene set during a raging storm at her weekend home in Connecticut that is one of the scariest I've read in a long time. Fairstein writes appealing legal thrillers, and in my opinion she's one of the best of the genre. Her writing does flag a little in places, though, particularly when it comes to her relationships with other people. The characterization of the boyfriend is so flat and the relationship between them so arid that I couldn't help but think he was only a device to assure the reader that Alex isn't gay. Similarly, her relationships with Mike and Mercer have been reduced to trivia games and are appallingly lacking in any depth given the history that the three of them share. Fairstein apparently became a little obsessed with the Double Eagle dollar while she was writing this book and, like all authors who do too much research, she tells us more than most of us really want to know about the history of the coin. The plot strains more than a little in its attempt to assure the coin's centrality, but overall THE KILLS is a satisfying read. It's good to see that Alex is still at the top of her game.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, April 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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