Night Watch

A too slavish devotion to the details of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case of 2011 undermines Fairstein’s 14th legal thriller featuring her alter ego, Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper (after 2011’s Silent Mercy). While Cooper is vacationing with her lover, restaurateur Luc Rouget, in a village outside Cannes, France, the discovery of a former employee of his, Lisette Honfleur, floating dead in a forest pond threatens to spoil their holiday. Soon after, Alex’s boss demands she return to New York City to deal with a firestorm. Mohammed Gil-Darsin (aka MGD), head of the World Economic Bureau, has been arrested following an accusation of rape leveled at him by a hotel maid. Just as in real-life, the prosecutors’ initial belief in the victim’s account becomes less strong the more they learn about her. The major departure from the actual case arrives late while the subplot centering on deaths that may be linked to Rouget doesn’t quite deliver, but as usual, ultimately, Fairstein does. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (July)