He describes it as “one of those clean, simple novels that proves heartbreaking stories can be life affirming.” A book called Eight Days to Die, evidently a suspense story, is important to Jack’s alibi. Two examples: Olivia terms the tangled state of the case at one point a “clusterfuck” and she refers to her own habitual expression as “RBF - resting bitch face.”īurke shows a playful side, slipping in funny lines as well as sly remarks about books and television shows that might be seen as indirect references to her own work. The language throughout is clear and only calls attention to itself to reflect the urbane world of Olivia and her friends and to add humor. The Ex satisfies as a mystery or legal thriller.īurke writes well. She adds a wrenching final turn to Jack’s story, unforeseen but plausible, and, at the very end, a turn to Olivia’s story. At the denouement, new facts, appropriately hinted at earlier, change the whole picture. She is an individual but also a type, the hard-boiled female detective or lawyer familiar to mystery readers.īurke knows how to control suspense and add surprises that are not manipulative but arise from what is already known.

She engages in sharp banter with police detectives and prosecutors and is capable enough to risk questionable legal maneuvers, but she can also adopt a mild manner to coax information from a witness. Olivia’s confidence in Jack wavers, returns, and wavers again as she leads the reader through a well-structured web of clues and alternative theories. Later, she pursues evidence that there might be another shooter or another main target. The first step is to untangle his complicated explanation of why he was near the site of the shooting. The main plot follows Olivia’s efforts to build a case for Jack’s innocence. She feels compelled to take the case of Jack Harris, her fiancé from 20 years ago, who is accused of shooting three people - one of whom he had threatened - in a park on a Sunday morning. Olivia Randall, the first-person narrator of Alafair Burke’s latest mystery, The Ex, is a fast-talking New York City criminal-defense lawyer.

The ex alafair burke summary