Surrender, New York - Caleb Carr

She read

Publish date: Aug. 23, 2016

Having enjoyed reading Carr's previous novels, I looked forward to this one. What a disappointment.  I felt as though I plodded through it, reading it in short installments near the end just to be able to get through it. I didn't have a problem with the prose, it was the story that seemed to miss the mark.  I got the feeling that Carr fancied his two protagonists as modern day Sherlock Holmes and Watson or perhaps I looked at that as an excuse for what I thought was very unrealistic behavior by professionals.  I am not one who tries to figure out "who did it"  when I read a novel; I just like to let a story unfold.  Unfortunately, the "who did it"  was obvious early on.

Killer Look - Linda Fairstein

She read

The eighteenth in the Alexandra Cooper series, this story picks up soon after the last one.  Alex isn’t her old self as she tries to recover from an abduction that was the the focus of the last book.  You don’t have to have read the prior novels, although if you have it’s like visiting old friends which is why Alex’s PTSD behavior was a bit unsettling.  

An apparent suicide that is not, an interesting overview of the NYC rag trade and world of designer fashion, and family intrigue that Alex cannot resist makes this a quick and absorbing read. 

I always enjoy Fairstein’s use of familiar New York locations, along with some historical perspective and I love the Final Jeopardy questions, a trademark of the Alex Cooper series.

The twist at the end leaves readers hungry for the next in this series.