ENTOMBED by Linda Fairstein
ENTOMBED is the latest novel by Linda Fairstein and it is only a mediocre thriller. Fairstein has certainly written better books in the past, and hopefully will do so again in the future. This time out she has gone to the aura of mystery surrounding Edgar Allen Poe and has tried to use his mystique in a way to give her novel some. Sadly, Poe's mystique doesn't travel.
This is another story involving Assistant District Attorney Alexander Cooper. She is on the scene when a body is found walled up in a basement. It looks as though the woman was alive when this act was done. Poe had written about an act such as this in his novels and this murder took place in the basement of a house that once belonged to Poe.
At the same time that Cooper is helping with the investigation of this horrid act, she is also involved with a case involving a serial rapist. The man committing the rapes has been at large for years and Cooper is determined to get him this time.
Her two allies in all this are Mercer and Chapman, two police detectives who work with her in her investigations. This trio is tight and work well together. Chapman has a quick quip for every situation while Mercer is the steady force of the three.
Although the Poe element is an interesting one, it really doesn't add anything to the suspense of the book. What we get instead is a lot of minutia about Poe and his life. We also get a few murders that are similar to those committed in his stories.
Alex Cooper isn't an altogether appealing character. She seems to constantly find herself in bad situations and most of the time it is through her own carelessness. Most mystery stories feature very capable heroines, but Alex is not completely self-sufficient. Thanks to Mercer and Chapman she gets out of most jams but not due to her own resources.
ENTOMBED is not a bad read, it is just not a really good one. In this day of so much competition, reading a less than superlative novel is a waste of time.
ENTOMBED is published by Scribner. It contains 397 pages and sells for $26.00.