Devil’s Bridge

In bestseller Fairstein’s subpar 17th novel featuring ADA Alexandra “Coop” Cooper (after 2014’s Terminal City), a paralegal steals Coop’s files for a sex trafficking case and gives them to the defendant. Then investigators find a connection between the theft and a shady self-styled pastor and community agitator with suspiciously close ties to Alex’s boss, DA Paul Battaglia. When Alex disappears, her friends assume that she’s taking a break from professional stress and her new romance with NYPD homicide detective Mike Chapman, but in fact she’s been kidnapped. Mike takes over the first-person narrative from Coop, but this shift reduces his smart, gritty persona to a clichéd tough-but-sensitive cop. The search for Coop allows Fairstein to show off Chapman’s encyclopedic New York knowledge, which becomes didactic at times, and delve into backstory about his legendary cop father and a brutal Irish gang. Series fans should enjoy the glimpse into his past, and Battaglia’s possible corruption promises to figure in a future installment. [em]Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Aug.) [/em]