A strangely surreal murder-for-hire plan leads to a mysterious murder freighted with academic intrigue, sex, drugs, misappropriated government funds, and a treasure hunt in the ruins of a lunatic asylum on Roosevelt Island in NYC. What ties it all together is the character of Alexandra Cooper, a prosecutor in the DA's Office. Is that a photo of Miss Cooper on the back of the book? No, it isn't. Although the narrating attorney is indeed a tall, vivacious, well-dressed, very pretty blonde girl, the tall, vivacious, well-dressed, very pretty girl in the photograph is actually author Linda Fairstein, a former prosecutor in the DA's Office. Well, you should always write about what you know best, and of course always follow Socrates' advice.A writer presenting a first-person story always plays a balancing act, making a character think and expound and interpret everything going on around her, advancing the story without giving too much away. The narrator has to solve the mystery through her own efforts, sorting out everything in her head, but without giving it all away too soon--she has to think about everything, but be selective about what she releases to the reader. At the same time, she has to remain baffled by events without seeming a dunce. In all of this, Linda Fairstein/Alexandra Cooper does an admirable job. The character is at the top of her game when observing suspects, winnowing the truth from the lies, interpreting clues, and evoking suspense and atmosphere through her own reactions; she's at her worst (at least for me) when she shares the gritty girlishness of her personal life.For me, there are two highlights in the book. The first is her navigating amongst the prickly personalities and hidden peccadilloes of the furtive and mendacious students and teachers of King's College that emerge after the murder of popular (and unpopular) teacher Lola Dakota. For various reasons (many having nothing to do with the murder) everyone lies, some much more convincingly than others. Fairstein's descriptions of collegiate corruption and academic internecine warfare are very convincing and help set up the climax of the novel. The other thing that Fairstein does excellently is making the history of Roosevelt Island (or Blackwell Island) come alive. The urban ruins of the penitentiary, the lunatic asylum, and New York's first pathology laboratory (and attendant deadhouses) make for an appropriately eerie backdrop.What I did not enjoy about the novel was the character of Detective Mike Chapman, Cooper's foil and sidekick. It's not that he's a male chauvinist pig and totally un-PC (fortunately for me, neither of those are prosecutable crimes...yet), but that he's totally repulsive. Were we to take away Cooper's acceptance of the way he acts, no one would like him...well, I don't like him anyway, even with her inexplicable tolerance. He's cartoonish and brutal, shallow and mean-spirited; he's like a distillation of every bestial trait that women assume every man possesses (but which most men don't). His dialogue would have been considered offensive and dated even by the standards of the pulp magazine era, from which Fairstein seems to have time-napped him. For me, he's a definite detraction in this otherwise enjoyable and appealing series, but not enough of one to stop reading them.This book, as well as others in the series, would appeal to both fans of the police procedural and the cozy mystery -- step-by-step investigation and the presentation of a limited set of suspects in a closed environment. Although there is some courtroom action, it occurs only because she has to show up for court from time to time as a practicing attorney, and does not have the same focus as in other books with lawyer protagonists. What also does not have much of a focus in the novel is the reason for the murders and all the intrigue; when revealed to the reader it assumes the character of a McGuffin, but its incongruous nature does nothing to detract from Fairstein's story. Well worth reading, and the readers who look up other books in the series will be rewarded for their efforts.
**Detail/Review** This is Linda Fairstein's fourth novel about her leading lady Alexandra Cooper. Cooper is head of the Sex Crimes Unit of the DA's Office in Manhattan and works with Detective Mike Chapman, sincer Mercer Wallace is out of action after being shot in the last outing. This time, Alex has a serious boyfriend in NBC news correspondent "Jake". The plot this time is about college professor Lola Dakota who has been stalked by an ex-husband so ruthlessly that the NJ DA's office stages a fake murder to entrap the ex, which ostensibly works, only to have Lola turn up really dead just a few hours later under mysterious circumstances. Dakota was a distinguished professor of political science and an acknowledged expert on the history and politics of New York City. Deciphering the clues lead Alex and Mike Chapman, to an abandoned gothic hospital on New York's Roosevelt Island, where smallpox victims went to die a century ago. Because of its history, the Deadhouse held a special attraction for Lola and for several of her university colleagues; and, as it turns out, almost all these deftly drawn minor characters had a reason to want Lola dead. Illuminating their personalities and motives gives Fairstein an opportunity to skewer the academic infighting that goes on at an elite Ivy League school.
What do You think about The Deadhouse (2003)?
Christmas is coming and offices are getting bare…but crimes keep coming. Alexandra has been working with Lola Dakota, a college professor whose husband has abused her and is found dead. In trying to determine if the husband is a suspect, Alex and Mike get drawn in to the world of college research and politics, long-closed isolation hospitals, jails, and other unsavory buildings. The technical details and rather documentary narrative keep the reader clinically detached from the violence while the relationships between Alex and Mike Chapman keep the story human.
—Pr Latta
Went out of order. This is my 3rd Alexandra Cooper book but it is 4th in the series. Average story about a college professor who is killed in her apartment building. There is no shortage of suspects including, her ex-husband, co-workers and students. Learned a lot about the history of Roosevelt Island that is next to Manhattan. I usually really enjoy the repartee between Cooper and her detectives but it was totally lacking this time in fact they almost seemed hostile. The plot was a little convoluted and then ended fairly abruptly. Lastly, for the third time, the book ends with Cooper in the hands of the killer. I know it is common in mysteries but it really doesn't have to happen in EVERY novel. Can anyone name a DA that has been taken by killers multiple times?
—Kaye
Once again I tried to pick a book off the display shelf at the library, and this one turned out to be pretty good. There is a main character who is in more of the author's books, but you don't need to read them in order to understand the story, or the main character. I found this book an attention catching one from the start. The first line really takes you in. I did not solve the crime puzzle until the last couple of chapters, which is always a plus I feel. One drawback for me was that there were different side stories going on, and this usually means they will tie in eventually, and you need to keep track of them to understand the ending. So I was dutifully keeping track of all the side tracks, and it turned out they really did seem to fit. Other than that, it was pretty good overall.
—Mandy
