Review: 212

Title: 212

Author: Alafair Burke

A little background summary provided from the Alafair Burke's website:

When New York University sophomore Megan Gunther finds personal threats posted to a Web site specializing in campus gossip, she's taken aback by their menacing tone. Someone knows her daily routine down to the minute and is watching her — but thanks to the anonymity provided by the Internet, the police tell her there's nothing they can do. Her friends are sure it's someone's idea of a joke, but when Megan is murdered in a vicious attack, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced that the online threats are more than just empty words.

With smooth, straight-talking partner J. J. Rogan at her side, Ellie tries to identify Megan's enemies, but she begins to wonder if the coed's murder was more than just the culmination of a cyber obsession. Phone records reveal a link between Megan and a murdered real estate agent who was living a dangerous double life. The detectives also learn that the dead real estate agent shared a secret connection to a celebrity mogul whose bodyguard was mysteriously killed a few months earlier. And when Megan's roommate suddenly disappears, they know they have to find her before another young woman dies.

I downloaded this as the free nook book offer of the week.  I was not sure what to expect from this novel.  The free download of the week is hit or miss and since this was one with a female character, I was expecting it to be a bit heavy on ditzy girl drama and romance.

I did a little research on the author, before reading it, just to get an idea if my expectations should be low or high.  I found out that the author is a Criminal Law Professor, so that slightly improved my expectations.


I liked the fact that 212 did presented a strong female character.  Lately, a lot of the books that I have read with a female investigator have been heavy on being an overall ditz and light on actual thought.  While Ellie does have a love interest in the DA, it is not the overall focus of the story.  I like that fact that Ellie was not dependent on her relationship with the DA to get things done.  At times, she was aware of the fact that people might view their relationship as an advantage and tries to keep the relationship separate from her job.

The main thing that I disliked about 212 was that I felt I really did not get to know the characters or get a good impression of what they looked like.  This did not interfere with the overall story that was being told, but I think knowing a bit more about the characters would have helped in better visualizing it.  At the end, I really did not feel attached to any of the characters or think much about them.  As this is the third novel in the series, I am hoping that more was revealed in the first.

I also disliked the fact that I was able to figure out the twist or "big reveal" of who the murderer was.  I did not totally figure it out towards the end of the novel, but I was disappointed that the ending was not more of a surprise for me.

The one thing I didn't get was the two separate murder story lines (Megan's and the bodyguard's).  At the beginning of the novel, the two appear totally unrelated, but as the novel goes on and more is revealed it starts to look like there is some secret connection between the two.  When everything is revealed, the connections between the murders are more of one big coincidence.  This disappointed me because I thought Burke was doing an awesome job leading the reader through all the connections and then the end felt like a big let down.  I feel that maybe the murder of Megan and of the bodyguard could have been two separate novels and that dividing the two up would have been better suited.

Overall,  I would rate this book at 2.5 out of 4 stars.  I think 212 is a good read overall, but it is not one of the best that I have read.  I would definitely read more of Alafair Burke's novels, especially the rest of the Ellie Hatcher series.  It was an entertaining read and one that I couldn't put down; however, I would have preferred if the ending was more of a surprise and better planned.