[.ca] Cover-Up: A Novel of Suspense (ISBN 0060899018)

Perils of Prosecution:
If you watch any of the versions of Law and Order that are continually running on one cable channel or another, the local police are quickly pulled into the case following an accidental discovery of a crime. The police lead the way for 20-30 minutes and then the prosecutors start to take over. By the end, we only see cameos of the police as they make brief testimonies and look for last minute evidence. Occasionally, a high-profile crime involves the federal authorities who do their best to oust the local prosecutors and cops. The federal authorities seem to have their own agendas. Cover-Up is quite a change from that tried-and-true formula. As the story opens, federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas has taking her FBI boyfriend, Dan O'Reilly, out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. Before the evening ends, he's summoned to the crime scene and invites Melanie along. When the local prosecutor can't take the violence at the horrific scene, Melanie finds herself the woman on the stop and is soon handling the press. But the crime scene makes no sense. Why would top investigative reporter, Suzanne Shepard, be out in a part of Central Park known for gay rendezvous in a rainstorm? What's the reason for the extreme violence perpetrated against her? Someone has a grudge, but that's true of everyone she's ever reported on. The case soon takes on political overtones when the father of one of Melanie's fellow prosecutors is linked to Shepard by a threatening package. Melanie's boss is about to get married and can't be bothered to run proper interference and Melanie is accused of running a cover-up. In the middle of all this, Melanie acquires a stalker who likes to send threatening e-mails. At the same time, Melanie finds her relationship with Dan up in the air when Dan's ex-father-in-law dies. The personal dimension is further developed as Melanie struggles with baby sitters and a cheating ex-husband who doesn't take his paternal responsibilities very seriously. As the case evolves, more and more suspects appear. Each has a decidedly unpleasant aspect. Despite this, the judges aren't at all sympathetic and make progress more difficult than it needs to be. The suspense, danger, and pace of the story build nicely over the course of the book. The ending will surprise you and provide an appropriate coda for a story of intense hate and sadism. Ms. Martinez has a nice ability to capture the common elements of a day, as well as tell her gripping tale. That contrast makes her story telling seem more real, which makes the tension more powerful. You'll also find yourself being interested in the characters, even the ones that aren't developed very much. It's a rare skill to be able to make even incidental characters seem interesting. Ms. Martinez could do a little more to steer the reader into feeling the pulse behind the story by what she has her narrator think about. Once Ms. Martinez develops that ability, there's no stopping this excellent author. With that skill, she won't have to rely quite so much on shock tactics to get your attention. If you find the gruesome a little hard to take, you'll find this book to be over the top. But compared to much crime literature, I found the violence level to be acceptable.

ESCALATING SUSPENSE AND A SHOCKER ENDING:
Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas has seen a lot during her years in New York City, and very little of it has been pretty. \oMost Wanted (2005), The finishing School (2006)\c. She's a tough, smart gal and there is not much that shocks her. However, that was before the grisly scene in Central Park: "Melanie gasped and jerked her eyes away, closing them instinctively to shield herself from the monstrous sight. But it stayed with her anyway, vibrating against her eyelids, so after a moment she opened them again, swallowing hard to fight back the sour taste rising in her throat." Susan Shepard, a once beautiful tabloid television reporter, has been murdered, her body so gruesomely butchered that it could only have been done by a psychopath., soon dubbed the Central Park Butcher. It wasn't any secret that Shepard had enemies; she'd made plenty of them in her line of work. But her news beat was celebrities, the rich and famous, who among them could have committed this heinous crime? In her heart of hearts Melanie believes that whoever did it has also done it to other women so she fears he will soon repeat his villiany. At tha time she didn't suspect that she would be his next intended victim. Earlier in the evening she'd been having a romantic tryst with handsome FBI agent Dan O'Reilly, the new love of her life. She's been burned before, is now divorced and learning to trust Dan. Yet love almost fades from her mind when she receives a frightening email from an anonymous sender. The words are chilling. Later emails from the same untraceable source terrify as the writer divulges details about the crime that only he could know. It's obvious that he is the Butcher, and he knows Melanie's every move. Author Martinez has crafted a spine tingling thriller, keeping a cap on the Butcher's identify until the end. After 8 years as a federal prosecutor in New York she well knows the ins and outs of department politics, which become almost a subplot in her story. For this reader the romance wrap-up - Dan's promise of unending fealty didn't quite ring true but the escalating suspense throughout and the shocker ending were extremely well done. Recommended. - Gail Cooke