Book Review: Killer Look
Book: Killer Look
Author: Linda Fairstein
Genre: Mystery/Police Serial/Drama
Summary: New York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world, well known for its glamour and style. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the runway, where American haute couture continually astounds with its creativity, daring, and innovation in the name of beauty. Yet high fashion means high stakes, as Alex Cooper quickly discovers when businessman and designer Wolf Savage is found dead in an apparent suicide, mere days before the biggest show of his career. When the man's daughter insists Savage's death was murder, the case becomes more than a media sensation: It is a race to find a killer in a world created entirely out of fantasy and illusion. With her own job at the DA's office in jeopardy, and the temptation to self-medicate her PTSD with alcohol almost too strong to resist, Alex is not anyone's first choice for help. But she is determined to uncover the grime - and the possible homicide - beneath the glitz. Along with detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, Alex must penetrate the twisted roots and mixed motives among the high-profile players in the Garment District. The investigation takes the trio from the missing money in Wolf Savage's international fashion house to his own recovery from addiction; from the role of Louisiana voodoo in his life to his excessive womanizing; and to the family secrets he kept so well-hidden, even from those closest to him - just as things are about to get deadly on the catwalk. With Killer Look, Linda Fairstein proves once again why she is the "queen of intelligent suspense." -Dutton, 2016
I decided to drop myself into another series, drawn in by the fashion aspect of the synopsis. I have to say, I was really taken in by the story. I was nervous at first because the first few chapters weren't grabbing my interest. But I kept at it and once the mystery got going, I got sucked in.
After being saved from a kidnapping, Alex Cooper returns to duty unofficially after a famous designer dies under mysterious circumstances. While she solves the case, she has to come to grips with the trauma she suffered as well as the corruption surrounding her in the law offices.
I'm meeting Alex Cooper for the first time under special circumstances so I can't really comment on her too much as a character. I thought she would be in danger to be too crippled by her trauma from the kidnapping to focus on the case. That doesn't turn out to be the case and the book is better for it. She reminds me of an amateur detective with the way she goes about finding evidence and interviewing suspects when she's not supposed to. It was a lot of fun to read,
The story itself reads like your typical police serial - like CSI or NCIS or any other procedural show. If you like that sort of plot and setting, you'll enjoy this immensely. If not, you'll want to pass on this series.
The writing is good and it's not overly complicated. It's very easy to read. I had no trouble getting through it.
Overall, it's a good story, a good mystery, and you don't have to know the characters very well in order to understand what's going on. After I finish all of my other books, I may check out the other books in this series.
I give Killer Look an A.
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