Silent Mercy

Library Journal Fairstein's newest thriller (after Hell Gate) commences at the scene of a grisly fire at a historic Harlem Baptist church. Assistant D.A. Alexandra Cooper and NYPD colleagues Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace investigate the badly burned and beheaded body of a woman on the porch of the church behind a locked gate. After a second corpse is found mutilated at a landmark Catholic cathedral and a recent unsolved murder in a Kentucky Pentecostal church is discovered, possible connections among the victims arise. Before another dies, can Cooper and her colleagues apprehend this killer who is literally and figuratively silencing women? Fairstein's 30 years as a New York City prosecutor and a gift for suspense have enabled her to craft a riveting novel that thrusts readers into the darker side of religion and bigotry against the backdrop of some of New York's oldest churches. VERDICT The 13th entry in Fairstein's series is a tightly wound mystery that delivers an adrenaline rush with its fast-paced, nail-biting manhunt across several states. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/10.]—Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights