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    Silent Mercy
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    Silent Mercy
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    Silent Mercy
    Audiobook11 hours

    Silent Mercy

    Written by Linda Fairstein

    Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In the latest thriller in Linda Fairstein's bestselling series, Alex Cooper dives deep into the byzantine, sinister world of New York City's powerful religious institutions.

    It's the middle of the night. Prosecutor Alexandra Cooper is called to Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church, a beautiful house of worship originally built as a synagogue. But the crowd gathered there isn't interested in architecture, or even prayer. They've come for the same reason Alex has: to find out why the body of a young woman has been decapitated, set on fire, and left burning on the church steps.

    The only identifiable artifact on the charred remains is the imprint of a Star of David necklace seared into the victim's flesh. Alex wonders if the fire was meant to destroy this woman's body, or to draw attention to it. Her fears are confirmed days later, when a second corpse is found at a cathedral in Little Italy. The killings look like serial hate crimes, but the apparent differences in the victims' beliefs seem to eliminate a religious motive. Convinced that another young woman is bound to die, Alex mines the depths of Manhattan's many houses of worship to find a connection between the victims-and in the process uncovers a terrible and perilous truth that takes her far beyond the scope of her investigation, and directly into the path of terrible danger.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781101484609
    Unavailable
    Silent Mercy
    Author

    Linda Fairstein

    Linda Fairstein was chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the district attorney's office in Manhattan for more than two decades and is America's foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence. Her Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives in Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.

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    Reviews for Silent Mercy

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      The line about no pool no ... no pets comes from the song King of the Road.
    • 4/5
      In the middle of the night, prosecutor Alexandra Cooper is called to Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church to find out why the body of a young woman has been decapitated, set on fire, and left burning on the church steps. Alex wonders if the fire was meant to destroy this woman's body, or to draw attention to it. Her fears are confirmed days later, when a second corpse is found. Convinced that another young woman is bound to die, Alex mines the depths of Manhattan's many houses of worship.
    • 3/5
      Eh. The thirteenth book in the Alex Cooper series and it sorta shows. It wasn't a badly written book of course. Fairstein writes very well and her mysteries are generally well plotted and in this story, unlike the last one, the 'chock full of historical' facts that were on every page weren't quite as intrusive.As usual it starts with a murder, and not exactly a usual one. Alex, Mercer and Mike get to collaborate on it as it gets more and more about religions and women.There was also a tiny little subplot about a teen girl and her family and whether or not she had been raped and how her family was dealing with it. But it was done very superficially and in the background compared to the main plot. It seemed interesting though and I wish it had been explored more.I also wish that the book didn't seem so mean spirited to me. I understand that Alex and Mike are friends that poke and prod and kid with each other, but as the reader I don't find a lot of it funny. Not to mention Fairstein either needs to get Alex and Mike together, or get them apart, the in between has worn thin.
    • 3/5
      The novel opens with a gruesome scene. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cooper trails behind Detectives Mike Chapman on a scene where the headless body of a woman has been dumped in front of a church and burned. The two of them and Detective Mercer Wallace (in an off-to-the-side sort of way) team up to solve the crime even though "Coop" has been ordered to stay away from it. Even though this trio has been friends forever, they talk to each other as though they are lecturing about the various branches of the Christian religion. It reminded me of the TV show Criminal Minds in the scenes where the team is talking to some local police department.I was tired of Mike saying "Coop's" name. Most people don't call their friend's name every time they talk to them, especially when they are alone. You don't need to distinguish who you are talking to if no one else is around, right? The story was okay, but the writing was awkward and obvious. It was more grammatically correct than natural. Usually, I hear or read the words and just sort of flow with the story. Occasionally, I come across writing that makes me pay more attention to the words themselves than what they are trying to convey. And that's how I felt with this book.Example:"If there was a crevice in which to hide, I longed to find it. But I knew that if he got the glock before I did, Mike Chapman and Chat Grant were doomed." If someone's trying to kill you, wouldn't you think, "I want to hide." or "I need to find a hiding place." Why a crevice? Why longing? Longing is what you do for romance. When someone is in a life threatening situation with a friend, who thinks their whole name? It just felt weird to me.Barbara Rosenblat's narration was excellent! She does men's voices so well and you can tell the difference between young and old. A couple of times I even checked the back cover to see if there was another narrator listed with her!Not really looking for another Alex Cooper book.
    • 3/5
      Another brisk and bouncy outing with New York prosecutor Alex Cooper, with all the earmarks of this long-running series -- a crazed mass killer, a tour of one segment of New York history, and a violent ending in which Alex is in dreadful peril somewhere cold and dark. This time, the killer's mania is religious. Several of the crime scenes are religious institutions, and Ms. Fairstein scatters a good bit of information on various religious groups. Also, her strong feminist views come through, which is interesting in the religious context. One reason I keep reading these is because I am a New Yorker, and I like local info. Another is that I keep waiting for Alex to dump the latest in her series of improbable boyfriends and focus on ----- .. But no spoiler, and not yet
    • 4/5
      Alex Cooper, Asst. DA for Special Crimes, finds herself, in this 13th installment of the series, taking on the religious fanatic who is against the ordination of women whether as priests, ministers, or rabbis and is methodically killing the pariahs of the religious sects - women priest who have been silenced, teaching ministers on the path to higher positions. The background history of the NY City buildings, a staple of the Alex Cooper mysteries, takes the reader from a former synagogue converted to a Baptist Church in Harlem all the way to a island leper colony. We also see the characters especially Mike Chapman (Irish Catholic) and Alex Cooper (Christian/Jewish background) as our symbols of pro and con for the inclusion of women in the religious sects.In counter balance we see Alex standing firm against prosecuting a teenage boy for rape when it was obvious that the sex for the two teenagers was consensual as well as instigated by the young woman. Alex will not bend under pressure to expel the young boy simply because the girl doesn't want to be confronted by her previous partner at school and her parents have some political influence.Some readers seem to think that Ms Fairstein is running out of originality, but I am not of that opinion. I look forward to the next installment just as much as I did the previous ones.
    • 4/5
      Alex, Mike and Mercer tackle an interesting case that they believe is tied to priest pedophilia but does have a religious zealot leaving religious leaders bodies on church steps and altars. Very suspenseful ending after boarding a train to catch the killer and ending up on a deserted lepher coloney island off of Cape Cod.
    • 3/5
      This is a typical Alex Cooper mystery. The "mystery" plot is a little thin, but as in all of this series the best part is history and the involvement of locations in New York City. This time it is some of the religious buidlings found in the City. I would give this one 3 out of 5 stars.
    • 2/5
      Linda Fairstein is one of handful of writers with series that I enjoy enough to always read whatever the latest is. It's a relatively select group that provides me with great reading comfort food and sometimes that's just what you need. I have a lot of respect for Linda Fairstein and her pioneering work as a Sex Crimes DA back in the days when the victim deserved it. As bad as it is now, it is much much better than it used to be and women like Linda Fairstein helped make that happen. Bonus that she writes good crime fiction.All of that said it's feeling like she's running out of steam in this series. I still enjoyed it, particularly due to her penchant for teaching about the history and architecture of New York, but she's starting to head into Patricia Cornwell territory and that means I'll stop reading her at some point. Both this book and the last one were pretty annoying. Her books have great secondary characters, including her detective friends Mercer and Mike, but she's pretty much doing nothing for these characters. It's great that Alexandra is one of the guys, but for two books now Mercer has played little role and Mike is just so snarky that I don't know why anyone would stay around - and yet Alexandra always has an excuse for him. There's subtle victimization in the relationship that makes me really uncomfortable given the context.I think I'll read one more of her books and if there isn't huge improvement, we'll part ways.
    • 3/5
      Rating: 2.5 because I feel generousSetting: NYC, New Jersey, and MassachusettsSilent Mercy is the thirteenth novel in the Alexandra Cooper series. Cooper is the Assistant District for the Special Crimes Unit (Sex Crimes Unit.) Her colleagues includes Detective Mike Chapman of the Manhattan North Homicide Division, and Detective Mercer Wallace who works throughout Manhattan and supports the SCU full time. Cooper is the historian of the book, and most time his in depth look at the buildings and history of NYC is quite appealing being a former New Yorker. Mercer is the oldest and most experienced and one of the few Detective first grade who is black, while Cooper is the youngest and has been in the SCU for 10 years now.As we open the story, Mike and Alex arrive at Harlem's Mount Neboh Baptist Church, a house of worship originally built as a synagogue. The ghastly remains of a young woman who has been decapitated, set on fire, and left burning on the church steps awaits them. The victim was wearing the Star of David, which is we know is a Jewish cross. Soon, Mercer joins them and the search for her killer begins in earnest. Chapman goes beyond reasonable means in order to protect Alex from the things she sees on a daily basis, including putting her down constantly. Not sure when that is going to cause a rift between the two. Then, the story diverts away from the actual murder investigation, to a court room where a priest is on trial for sexually molesting boys. Naturally, after all the rumblings that the Catholic Church was complacent in not allowing these priests to be prosecuted in a court of law, you knew it was only a matter of time before Fairstein, who spent 26 years in the SCU of Manhattan, would jump feet first into the controversy in order to further stir the anger and resentment that still remains today.The fact that she had the Attorney General and the Bishop of the Church so friendly was disturbing to me as well. Especially later when she is told by the AG and Police Commissioner that they no longer want her on the Clergy Killer case because of her own religious beliefs and the fact that she pissed off the Bishop by demanding answers to why they continued to cover up the crimes for so long. Talk about a political hot potato. *Note* I grew up a Catholic, although I am currently lapsed, and I will say up front that I do not condone the actions taken by the church in burying these secrets deep, and then spreading them around the country. Each and every single priest, or Bishop that was responsibe for harming a child, or hidng the truth, should have been brought to justice and jailed with the most awful convicts alive today as their bunk mates.The book also dives into the controversial decision by the church not to allow women to be ordained as priests, forgetting about the fact that it also doesn’t allow priests to marry unlike other churches, which I disagree with. Maybe if priests were able to marry, the abuse of children would have been prevented or minimized.The author, who is Jewish like her character Alexandra, makes it a point to allow Chapman to explain or support the reasons behind the churches decisions. Chapman grew up in a devout household and also attended Fordham. He goes onto to state, in the authors words, cases where the Catholic Church actually made it a “grave crime” to have any women in a priest’s role. The penalties are silencing first, then ex-communication from the church and the banishment from teaching at any school. It was almost as though she knew the story was going to be controversial and thus needed a voice, Chapman, for those who are Catholic to speak up and defend the church against these charges. ::shakes head:: - 2 points off my review for putting in personal views once again into a story line that was discombobulated and not really all that fun to read.This was also the underlying reason why the “Clergy Killer” targeted feminist women in the first place. The dead, or targeted, are women who have either been ordained by the church, or preached for the inclusion of more women in leadership roles within the churches. It also seems that he was somehow brainwashed by new churches that are preaching destructive behavior from their members. Fairstein actually mentions nearly all religions except Islam. Guess she pissed off everyone else's instead.So, what we end up with in this book is part history lessons on leprosy (Hanson’s disease), NYC and Penikese Island, the Catholic Church’s dogma on women in the priesthood, part political left wing leanings and ramblings of an elitist, as well as part feminist theology.It’s too bad Fairstein strayed so far off course in this series. I have followed this series from the first book on. I was especially angry that she once again put Cooper in a difficult position because a teenager’s lie about being raped while drunk. It nearly cost another student his chance to remain in school. Then her father abruptly shows up at her supposingly safe apartment complex with guards on duty 24/7, to demand that she take care of the problem immediately. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?! It is always mind boggling that Fairstein keeps up her elitist attitude and rubs it in our faces time and time again about Cooper’s father’s invention which made them rich beyond means, and her ability to afford an apartment in Manhattan, and a home on Martha’s Vineyard while the rest of us peons are struggling to pay for our rent and food to put on our tables.The fact that Cooper is still technically with Luc Rouget the Frenchman who only is able to spend weekends with her, is also strange since normally her love interest are either killed off or they leave for a job someplace else.Wondering how much longer Fairstein can keep this series going after this mess of a story that would have been so much better without the ramblings and personal views.
    • 3/5
      The latest in the Alexandra Cooper series, this book started with a burnt body being discovered on the steps of a church. The church is behind a tall, locked gate, and the church itself is locked. How did the body get there? Cooper, her close friends and police officers Mercer and Chapman, begin investigating this murder when another burnt body at a neighbouring church shows up.Meanwhile, Cooper is attending to her daily duties as the chief of the Sex Crimes division of the District Attorney's office of New York City. In this book, it means stepping into a volatile trial involving a defrocked priest accused of improper behaviour with a student, and then handling a sticky situation with the family of a student who may have exaggerated a rape claim.The things I like about Fairstein's books were still here - great chemistry between the Cooper and her two main friends, Mercer and Chapman. As usual, I like seeing a strong female character in fiction who is also capable of having friendships with men (read: she isn't seen as a "ballbuster" or a bitch to be steered clear of).The things that I dislike, though, are still there, which is why Fairstein has been relegated to library-status. She repeats certain details in every book that really don't need to be there. Even if this was my first book, I don't NEED to know that she is wealthy because her father invented a diddly-do that was once used in every heart surgery way back when. Or that Chapman became a policeman because his father blah blah blah. I also read these stories for the great plotlines, the suspense, and the trial scenes. If I wanted lessons on New York City history and architecture, I could take classes or get entire books on those. And enough on lecturing me about how a woman or girl dresses doesn't mean she deserved to be raped. While I understand that Fairstein probably DID need to educate policemen and juries on this point in her actual job before she became a novelist, she doesn't need to use her fiction books to educate her readers. Or, if she wants to, find a better way to do it. At this point, I can usually spot the lecture coming and just skip the next page. It's tedious.
    • 3/5
      Another installment of Alexander Cooper, assistant DA for the sex crimes unit of NYPD. I like the fact that Fairstein puts so much history of New York in her books. I have learned so much about the city through this series. However, I think she made a significant mistake in this book because her killer is not a local and would not know the history that allows Alex and the detectives to figure out who he is. While the identity of the killer is interesting, it did not blend with the rest of the plot and was not believable at all. I feel like Fairstein either started this without knowing who her killer was or made a sea change mid-way through. I'd also like to see her shake up Alex's world a bit. Too much of the same is coming through in each book; lots of expensive booze, deferential restaurant owners, and the same shenanigans from her office nemesis. I'd like a surprise now and again.