Title: The Killing of Mindi Quintana
Author: Jeffrey A. Cohen
Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers
Publication Date: May 16, 2010
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-0451229212
Genre: Fiction, Legal Thriller

and 1/2

About the novel:

Freddy Builder is certain he is meant for more. More than his life in corporate America bondage. More than selling china to bluebloods in Philadelphia’s landmark department store, Chanet’s. Meant for more, meant for better, and lacking only, onlyan occasion to rise to.

And now that occasion is murder-of Mindi Quintana, an old college flame wanting simply to stay in his past.

Freddy’s crime is major news from the start. Mindi is the beautiful daughter of a renowned Philadelphia businessman whose dramatic fall a few years back captivated the city. A televised trial for Freddy is in the offing.

Meanwhile, he is writing the book about his relationship with Mindi everybody wants — a remorseless rewrite of her life, his own, and their miserably thin involvement. As excerpts of his book are published to acclaim, he gives articulate, sympathetic jailhouse interviews, publishes ghostwritten articles on prison issues, and coverage goes national. A new celebrity murderer is taking the stage — a killer with a book, a jailhouse literary sensation.

Freddy’s defense attorney, Philip, watches in disgust as his client builds his fame with the bones of his victim. As a career public defender, Philip thought he’d seen evil in all its incarnations. He’d lost his outrage, his passion for the law, and his marriage along the way. But Freddy’s case is a turning point for him — the public’s sympathy for the poet-murderer, the rebel, the killer as greater soul, stirs something dormant in Philip.

To stop Freddy, and to vindicate Mindi, Philip will have to violate his oath, even break the law. But with the help of Mindi’s best friend Lisa, he gives Mindi back the truth of her life and death. And he’ll deliver a comeuppance to a killer with a book.

My Review:

The Killing of Mindi Quintana by Jeffrey A. Cohen is not the typical legal thriller since the reader knows straightaway who will die. What the reader does not know is the delightful plot twist Cohen will add to the novel separating it from others in the same genre. Fredrick Builder has wanted to be a writer since college, never daring to show his work to anyone, not even his girlfriend Mindi. Years later when they reconnect, Mindi is an editor of a literary magazine and working on becoming a published author while Frederick is a manager of the china and glass department in Chanet Department store, and while Mindi has moved on, Fredrick has not, but instead he has pined for Mindi. Mindi learns he is still writing and she offers to read what he has written and gives him her opinion of his writings. Mindi’s truthfulness is her undoing and Fredrick finds fame in the most unlikely of places. The beginning of The Killing of Mindi Quintana was slow going, but well worth sticking it out as all the players finally come together and the plot picks up momentum. The legal issues that follow are well written, exciting, and raise intriguing questions, however, I never felt a connection with any of the characters. Cohen’s message is clear and should be read. The Killing of Mindi Quintana would make for an excellent discussion group book considering the many legal, moral, psychological and ethical issues raised in this novel.

About the Author: To learn more about this award winning author please visit his website.

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I received a complimentary copy of The Killing of Mindi Quintana by Jeffrey A. Cohen from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the novel. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.