Category Archives: Alafair Burke

June 8, 2014 · 11:57 pm

Review: All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke

all dayTitle: All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke
Ellie Hatcher Series Book Five
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

A new murder case with ties to a convicted serial killer leads Detective Ellie Hatcher into a twisting investigation with explosive and deadly results in this superb mystery from the “terrific web spinner” (Entertainment Weekly) Alafair Burke.

When pyschotherapist Helen Brunswick is murdered in her Park Slope office, the entire city suspects her estranged husband—until the District Attorney’s office receives an anonymous letter. The letter’s author knows a chilling detail that police have kept secret: the victim’s bones were broken after she was killed. Her injuries were eerily similar to the signature used twenty years earlier by Anthony Amaro, a serial killer serving a life sentence for his crimes. Now, Amaro is asking to be released from prison, arguing that he was wrongly convicted, and that the true killer is still on the loose.

NYPD Detectives Ellie Hatcher and JJ Rogan are tapped as the “fresh look” team to reassess the original investigation that led to Amaro’s conviction. The case pits them against both their fellow officers and a hard-charging celebrity defense lawyer with a young associate named Carrie Blank, whose older sister was one of Amaro’s victims. As both the NYPD and Amaro’s legal team search for certainty in years of conflicting evidence, their investigations take them back to Carrie’s hometown and secrets left behind there. And when Carrie falls victim to a brutal attack, Hatcher knows that the young attorney got too close to the truth.

The Review:

All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke is another intricately plotted and very intriguing mystery starring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher. In this outing, Ellie and her partner J.J. Rogan are selected by ADA Max Donovan to take a fresh look at a current murder investigation that matches the same MO as a series of murders twenty years earlier.  Anthony Amaro confessed to one those killings and is currently serving a life sentence with no change of parole. When the DA’s office decides to take a second look at the earlier cases, DNA evidence from one of the victims exonerates Amaro and Ellie and Rogan are under pressure to find evidence that will keep the convicted killer behind bars.

An added complication to Ellie and Rogan’s investigation is Amaro’s overzealous defense attorney’s appeal of his conviction. A fiery TV personality and wrongful conviction advocate, Linda Moreland hires Carrie Blank to help find the evidence that will set Amaro free. Carrie is the sister of one of his alleged victims, and she is determined to discover who is responsible for her sister’s murder. At first confident that Amaro is indeed innocent, Carrie is soon plagued by doubts and begins to wonder what Moreland’s true motive is for wanting her on the team.

Ellie and Rogan are reluctant participants in the investigation but they are soon immersed in both the new and old cases. Shoddy police work, a possibly coerced confession and unreliable eye witnesses are just a few of the problems they encounter with the earlier investigation. However a new lead in the present murder points to possible link between the victim and the earlier deaths. Ellie and Rogan’s search for answers takes them to the small town where the killings began and they uncover a long buried secret that someone will go to any lengths to keep hidden.

Since All Day and a Night is the fifth book in the series, the characters continue to grow and the various relationships continue to strengthen and evolve. Ellie’s rougher edges are beginning to smooth a bit but she still retains many of the qualities that make her such a unique and likeable protagonist. She remains deeply committed to finding justice for the victims whose deaths she investigates. Ellie tries to maintain an emotional distance from love interest Max, but she takes steps to deepen her commitment to their relationship. She and Rogan have a great working relationship and their close friendship is made stronger by Rogan’s astute observations that provide some much needed insight into her personal life.

The overall plot is complex but the various story arcs are relatively easy to follow. The chapters alternate between Ellie and Carrie’s points of view, but these shifts in perspective are clearly marked. There are numerous plot twists that make solving the cases difficult and while I had a pretty good idea what the investigations would reveal, I never lost interest in the overall story and I was pleasantly surprised by the ultimate resolution of the different storylines.

All Day and a Night is a well-written a novel with a multi-faceted cast of characters. The story is engaging and fast-paced and the investigation is quite fascinating. Old and new fans of Alafair Burke are sure to enjoy this latest addition to the Ellie Hatcher series.

Click HERE to read my reviews of other books in the series.

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Filed under Alafair Burke, All Day and a Night, Contemporary, Ellie Hatcher Series, Harper, Mystery, Rated B+, Review

June 3, 2013 · 3:57 am

Review: If You Were Here by Alafair Burke

Title: If You Were Here by Alafair Burke
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the latest urban folktale—the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenage boy from the subway tracks seconds before the arrival of an oncoming train. When McKenna locates a video snippet that purportedly captures the incident, she thinks she has an edge on the competition scrambling to identify the mystery heroine.

McKenna is shocked to discover that the woman in the video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend—and a classmate of her husband’s at West Point—who vanished without a trace ten years earlier. The NYPD concluded that the nomadic Susan—forced by her father into an early military life, floundering as an adult for a fixed identity—simply started over again somewhere else.

But McKenna has always believed the truth went deeper than the police investigation ever reached. What might have been a short-lived Metro story sends her on a twisting search that leads across New York City—and to dark secrets buried dangerously close to home. . . .

The Review:

If You Were Here is another intriguing mystery by Alafair Burke. This standalone novel has many unexpected twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing not only whodunnit, but why, right up until the novel’s stunning conclusion.

When McKenna Jordan sees the video of the dramatic rescue of a teenage boy from the subway tracks, she is stunned when she recognizes the rescuer as her missing friend, Susan Hauptmann, who vanished ten years ago without a trace. Determined to discover the truth of the woman’s identity, McKenna takes a second look at long ago events and what she uncovers threatens her career, her marriage and ultimately her and her husband’s lives.

McKenna Jordan is likable with all too realistic flaws and imperfections. She is tenacious in her pursuit of the truth about Susan’s original disappearance and her possible reappearance. McKenna is tenacious almost to the point of obsessive as she re-examines old and new evidence. When she uncovers a possible link between an old case she was working on and Susan’s disappearance, McKenna relentlessly pursues old and new leads that lead to shocking revelations.

The plot of If You Were Here is complex and it takes a while for the various story arcs to converge. The storyline is quite interesting but sometimes a little slow moving. Seemingly unrelated events will later prove to be quite significant and by the novel’s end, Alafair Burke beautifully ties everything together.

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Filed under Alafair Burke, Contemporary, HarperCollins, If You Were Here, Mystery, Rated B, Review

May 17, 2012 · 3:57 am

Never Tell: A Novel of Suspense by Alafair Burke

Title: Never Tell: A Novel of Suspense by Alafair Burke
Ellie Hatcher Series, Book Three
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B

Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Julia Whitmire appeared to have everything: a famous father, a luxurious Manhattan townhouse, a coveted spot at the elite Casden prep school. When she is found dead in her bathtub, a handwritten suicide note left on her bed, her parents insists that their daughter would never take her own life.

But Julia’s enviable life was more complicated than it seemed. The pressure to excel at Casden was enormous. Abuse of prescription anti-depressants and drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity ran rampant among students; an unlabeled bottle of pills in Julia’s purse suggests she had succumbed to the trend. And a search of Julia’s computer reveals that in the days leading up to her death, she was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying against an unlikely victim.

NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced the case is a suicide, but she knows from personal experience that a loving family can be the last to accept the truth. When the Whitmires use their power to force a criminal investigation, Ellie’s resistance causes trouble for her both at work and in her personal life.

As she is pressured to pursue a case she doesn’t believe in, she is pulled into Julia’s inner circle-an eclectic mix of overly precocious teenagers from Manhattan’s most privileged families as well as street kids she met in Greenwich Village. But when the target of Julia’s harassment continues to receive death threats, Ellie is forced to acknowledge that Julia may have learned the hard way that some secrets should never be told.

The Review:

Never Tell by Alafair Burke is a superbly crafted and intriguing mystery that is quite suspenseful and full of secrets. NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is quick to assume that teenage Julia Whitmire’s death is a suicide. Mounting pressure from the Whitmire family forces Ellie and her partner J.J. Rogan to look at Julia’s case a little more closely. Their discoveries take the case in many different but interconnected directions and expose secrets that are best left buried.

Ellie Hatcher is a wonderfully developed albeit slightly dysfunctional protagonist. Her past initially clouds her judgment, and she grudgingly investigates Julia’s death more thoroughly. While she is pretty good at reading people, Ellie sometimes takes people at face value instead of looking a little deeper and beneath the surface.

Ellie’s investigation reveals many puzzling and seemingly unrelated clues. What does a sexual abuse survivor’s blog have to do with Julia’s death? Who is leaving threatening posts on the survivor’s blog? Where does a pharmaceutical company’s drug trial fit in?

Never Tell is a compelling novel with many unexpected twists and turns. Red herrings and misdirects keep the identity of the killer tightly under wraps. Alafair Burke beautifully ties all of the seemingly unrelated events into a fascinating and intricately woven mystery that fans of crime novels are sure to enjoy.

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Filed under Alafair Burke, Contemporary, Ellie Hatcher Series, HarperCollins, Mystery, Never Tell, Rated B