Final Jeopardy

By: Linda Fairstein

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Alex Cooper awakens one morning to news of her own brutal murder. Soon, Manhattan's top sex-crimes prosecutor discovers that the actual victim is film star Isabella Lascar, who had sought refuge at Alex's private retreat. Now it is up to Alex to find the killer before another victim surfaces.

©1997 Linda Fairstein (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Really Good

interesting story thst seems gritty and realistic, with lots of details that suck the reader in. Heard about this book because a netflix show had a fictional character named after the author do bad stuff.

A very good book, indeed

Where does Final Jeopardy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would put Final Jeopardy in the upper middle class of the books I've listened to over the years. It was steady and well done.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

This was an ending I had not anticipated until well into the book. It's different and plausible so that was a nice shift from what I was expecting.

What about Barbara Rosenblat’s performance did you like?

Barbara Rosenblat has the sultry voice of a Kathleen Turner character. It's low and husky and slightly different from so many other readers. Once I got past the fact that this was a big voiced gal speaking a small woman's role I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Perhaps I liked the book as well as I did because it didn't produce an extreme reaction The characters were so well read, the accents so perfect, and the comfort with which they all interacted made this a comfortable listen.

Any additional comments?

It's easy to forget that the same person is doing all the parts in Final Jeopardy. Barbara Rosenblatt is more than equal to the task. She is marvelous with the male voices and makes Mike, the NYPD cop with whom she works, a great guy, someone I'd like to know. All the characters are quite separate with voices and inflections of their own. Well done.

I'm confused by the several bad narrator comments.

Would you consider the audio edition of Final Jeopardy to be better than the print version?

For me, listening to a book is always a different experience of the story than reading it. If I like a book exceedingly well, I'll both read and listen to it - just to get all the nuances from it. Having said that, I also think a great narrator can take a so-so story and give it life and humor and a naturalness that the actual story doesn't really have. And, of course, the reverse is true as well. Fairstein's books are complicated enough that it might be easier to keep track of all the characters and story turns on the page rather than by earbud.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I'm not quite finished with it, but I'm pretty sure I've guessed whodunit. More red herrings might have been good. :)

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene in Jed's club must be the confrontation fantasy of most people at one time or another.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Beware the fried clam stand.

Any additional comments?

It was surprising to me to see so many comments about the annoying aspect of narrator's (the brilliant Barbara Rosenblat) mouth noise. I have listened to dozens of BR's performances and, yes, I've heard her swallow. I've heard her carrying on with what sounded like the end of a head cold. I've heard her voice deepen as time went by.

I purposely listened out for these noises and can only remember hearing one swallow and virtually no 'sparkles' or 'clicks'. I'd also like to point out that an over abundance of this kind of noise should be at least partly attributed to the sound engineer. It certainly is easy enough to edit noise out of a reading.

If I have any complaint, it's with the voice BR chose to do for Mike. I keep seeing him as an overweight middle-aged guy, rather than the tall, dark, handsome (if crude) guy he is supposed to be. But maybe that's because it's been too long since I've been to NY.

Frankly, it's my opinion that it would take an awful lot more (purely natural) mouth noise to offset the fact that Ms. Rosenblat can do any gender, any accent, any genre with complete believability. (I have a terrible crush on her rendition of Emerson in the Amelia Peabody series.)

Interesting

I found the book interesting, kept me interested and entertained...but the horrible narration was really hard to take! The tongue noises and dry mouth took away from the good story. Good mystery though.

A surprise ending!!!!!

What made the experience of listening to Final Jeopardy the most enjoyable?

The Narrator. She was great with doing the different voices, especially Lt. Wallace.

What other book might you compare Final Jeopardy to and why?

Dark Horse by Tami Hoag. Similar twists and turns.

Have you listened to any of Barbara Rosenblat’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, just other Linda Fairsteins. I enjoyed this one more.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

Any additional comments?

No.

Nice plot twist at the end

It will be impossible to anyone to guess the identity or the justification of the murderer. The term FATAL JEOPARDY is drawn from the TV program Jeopardy which is a returning topic in the novel. The protagonist is a NYC sex crimes prosecutor like the author in her former life. The antagonist suffers from the unusual condition of erotomania. This book was released in 1996 and is the first of the very long Alexandra Cooper series. I have previously reviewed Bad Blood which is the 9th novel in the series. Narration is by British voice specialist Barbara Rosenblat who has an almost unique ability with voices and accents. Her voice is a bit old for this novel but it is always a pleasure to hear her outstanding audiobook narrations.

A great but seriously flawed narrator

What made the experience of listening to Final Jeopardy the most enjoyable?

Fairstein's story lines and her deep knowledge of rape prosecurtions are superb in all of her novels.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Certainly, at times, the action did pick up. There were periods of increased danger to the protagonist, and those were probably the most riveting. That said, the entire book...indeed, all of the Alexandra Cooper novels....are seriously plotted and they always present new information regarding the prosecution of sexual assault cases.

What aspect of Barbara Rosenblat’s performance would you have changed?

This applies to ALL of the Alexandra Cooper novels which Ms. Rosenblat narrates. She is outstanding with the pace of the story, and her mastery of voices, from male African Americans to Swedish victims, is incredible. HOWEVER, she has a disturbing habit of deeply swallowing. This is MOST "off-putting." I do think a skilled editing of these books would greatly improve the quality of these recordings. Perhaps Ms. Rosenblat needs more breaks to gulp water, suck cough drops or whatever?? My stomach occasionally turns at the sounds, worthy of a Dracula novel.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Regardless of the distracting narrator sounds, I will keep listening. Excellent stories.

Narrator is not that bad!!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator is a bit irritating at first but after a while you don't even notice it. Good book, I figured out who did it early on, but I don't think it was the writing at all. It was pretty good book

Cooper

I was drawn in from the beginning. loved the characters. the heroines sarcastic humor . the jeopardy references . can't wait to hear book 2

enjoyable start to finish

talented writer and talented reader. several more books in this series will give me weeks of pleasure!