Cover Image: Fatal

Fatal

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Member Reviews

a gripping novel- like nothing i've ever read. Page Turner and will definitely keep you intrigued. Worth the read.

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Fatal by John Lescroart illustrates just how deadly infidelity can be. This is so much more dangerous an obsession than a boiled bunny. This is the creepy jackpot. If you’ve ever considered cheating, here’s where you learn your lessons and learn them well. Just dark enough to keep you awake at night so you can finish reading this book. You’ll love every twisted page. Masterfully penned, Mr. Lescroat!

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RATING: 3 STARS
(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)
(Review Not on Blog)

Please note this is a standalone novel...has nothing to do with any of the series.

I was very excited to see that Lescroart had a standalone novel! I love Lescroart's writing and I am going back to read the series chronological, so it was great to see Fatal was on its own. This novel does not seem like a John Lescroart novel. There was so much going on, first trying to sort out wheat this book is...suspense, mystery and literary genres. It's fine to be all of them as long as they balance out. The characters lack the chemistry and the plot starts to fall apart. At the end, you wonder what just happened. I think if you want to try John Lescroart, try Dead Irish!

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Fatal is about the rippling, crippling effect of infidelity and how those damaging ripples can be- well, fatal.

Kate Jameson seems to have the perfect marriage and wonderful children.

One day, she and her husband are invited to a dinner party where she meets Peter who is also married and suddenly Kate can’t get him out of her mind. She becomes fixated with wanting to sleep with him.

She does.

The consequences literally break hell loose and now Beth along with her partner Ike, is sent on a goose chase involving murderous plots and the cost of marital discords.

My Reaction:

This book was amazing. John Lescroart weaves a legal thriller like no other and left a bombshell of smoke in his creative wake.

Fatal’s strengths as a novel stands on the suspenseful plot twists, the tenacious, tactful, Beth Tully, and the resounding clear message that one night can destroy several lives.

I highly recommend this one!

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He had put in the time, supported his wife, raised his difficult sons. Maybe the world still owed him. He had given his all, his energy and his passion, and for what? People don't seem to realize that this infidelity stuff has consequences. Fatal consequences.

I have read several of Lescroart before and Fatal was indeed different from his others but it also was familiar in his main characters. Because of that I was totally engaged with this one.

The narration starts with two old friends getting together. Kate is married with two children, and Beth is single with a daughter working as a private investigator. Kate shares with her old friend her attraction to another man and in Beth's line of work she has seen the consequences of infidelity and warns her not to act on it. It is there are you pulled into how one justifies their actions and how it snowballs into a nightmare.

The narration builds on Kate's struggle and what she decides to do and what she has done. She meets with Beth again where an attack changes both of their lives. It takes 6 months for the friends to meet again but under different circumstances when an old acquaintance winds up dead on the beach of San Francisco with a bullet to his heart and a trail of heartbreak left behind.

This is a story about the consequences of infidelity and how far reaching it is. I liked that Beth had another story line going with a suspect of another victim that was killed by his wife and then the wife killed herself. The suspect was a victim was involved with husband and was reaping consequences of her own. The plot is driven by the characters that are fallible and are selfish. That are blind to themselves and others but you as the reader see how easily the deception takes a life of its own.

A Special Thank You to Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

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Very different from other Lescroart works. That said I enjoyed it immensely and would certainly suggest for that rainy day read.

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Even though this one took me forever to finish, it is a worthwhile read for anyone looking for a good mystery. The plot was a good one and you were kept guessing until the end. It was missing some suspense, which was a little disappointing as I was bored and put it down several times. But all in all, it was still an enjoyable read.

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Atria Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Fatal. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Beth is a San Francisco Police Detective who, along with her partner Ike, end up embroiled in a complicated case of murder and infidelity. When more people start dying and the pool of suspects changes, will Beth be able to determine once and for all what really happened to murder victim Peter Ash?

The problem that I had with Fatal was that the lead into the main story was too long and lacked the thrilling pace that I have come to expect from John Lescroart. Peter Ash is really not a good guy, so it is hard to garner up sympathy for him and his plight. The side plot with Alan, Laurie, and Ginny really only served to muddy up the plot, as it had no standing in the main story. Although I am not usually a fan of flashback books, Fatal would have been more compelling if the reader was allowed to feel sympathy for Peter before we discover who he truly is. I did like the realism at the ending, with regards to the case. Readers who like police procedural thrillers will probably like this novel by veteran author John Lescroart.

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I am a great fan of the Hardy/Glitsky series, so I was anxious to read this standalone by Lescroart. Although there is some action and suspense and it's a great police procedural, it is very slow tedious reading. It did not measure up to my expectations. Very disappointed.

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Published by Atria Books on January 24, 2017

The characters in Fatal, regardless of gender, have trouble keeping their pants on, at least when they are with someone else’s spouse. Fatal isn’t quite Fatal Attraction, although there are overtones of obsessive desire leading to dangerous consequences.

Geoff and Bina Cooke bring their friends Peter and Jill Ash together with their friends Ron and Kate Jameson. Kate comes home with the overpowering desire to shag Peter. One seduction later, Kate has satisfied herself but has transferred the obsession to Peter, who can’t stop thinking about her. This apparently transforms Peter’s life in ways that I didn’t understand or believe.

Frank Rinaldi is the murder victim in an apparent murder-suicide. Beth Tully, investigating the case, thinks his wife killed herself after she killed Frank, probably after learning that he was having an affair with Laurie Shaw. Beth, who starts dating Laurie’s brother Alan, happens to be a good friend of Kate. You might need a spreadsheet to keep track of the intersecting relationships in Fatal.

All of this seems more like a soap opera than a thriller until a group of terrorists start shooting people and blowing things up near the coffee shop where Beth and Kate are chatting about Kate’s infidelity. Hello, terrorists? That comes out of nowhere, and it’s followed by Peter’s murder. So now we’ve got a thriller. But then we’re back to a soap opera as Beth helps Laurie deal with her anorexia while adding her friend Kate to the lengthening list of women who might have wanted Peter dead. That’s a little too much soap for me.

John Lescroart should stick to writing about lawyers. This is a novel about cops, and his cops are tedious and annoying. Beth is more interested in her intuition than evidence and her partner is more interested in being a bully than in doing legitimate police work. When they finally settle on one of a few different competing theories, the partner isn’t the least bit troubled that no evidence establishes the purported killer’s motive. That reflects the sad reality of law enforcement — everyone they meet is a suspect, the presumption of innocence doesn’t exist, and clearing a case is more important than arresting the right person — but as realistic as Beth and her partner might be, I wouldn’t want to know them.

And unfortunately, by the end of Fatal, I didn’t care who shot Peter. The investigating cops are so unlikable and self-righteous that I would have been just as happy to see the crime unsolved — maybe happier, since I didn’t think they deserved to solve it. My favorite character was a CSI guy who kept telling them to stop bothering him until they had some actual evidence that merited investigation.

The solution to the mystery isn’t terribly surprising and the ending is silly, but I don’t have a problem with the plot so much as the disagreeable characters. I hope Lescroart returns to writing about Dismas Hardy. That’s a character I can enjoy.

NOT RECOMMENDED

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I hate giving John Lescroart a 2-star rating but... I need my Dismas Hardy. Fatal is the latest standalone novel that doesn't feature him that just didn't holdup for me. Sorry to get into my dislike of this novel so quickly but... Damn! I started Fatal knowing without a doubt I would be entertained. I was wrong. Boy was I wrong.

The novel begins with Kate who has an odd affection for a man she hardly knows. After meeting him at a mutual friends dinner party. Kate's life isn't unhappy and there's really no reason why she would want to but she decides to eat forbidden fruit. She calls Peter and they have an affair. And suddenly, Peter goes off the rails.



Enter Beth, she's investigating the murder of a man who's washed up on shore. Before long, she finds out this man's last few months alive may have been the reason for his death. He mysteriously leaves his family and begins a life of hooking up. His once perfect life is no more... but why? How can one moment cause such a ripple effect.

To top that off, enter in a terrorist attack. I know right? We aren't in Kansas anymore Lescroart.

Fatal had a lot going on but not enough to keep me interested. Yes, the beginning was interesting. Most affairs almost always end awfully for at least one of the parties. But, the terrorist attack was an effort not to go down the Fatal Attraction sinkhole yet still did nothing to salvage the plot. It simply made it even more disjointed and annoying.

To top it off, the characters just didn't do it for me. Beth was a nice enough inspector but... she was almost too cliche. I hate to sound like such an ass about this novel, but it didn't feel like any other Lescroart novels. They are usually better put together with an engrossing mystery that won't relinquish it's grip on my attention.

Suffice it to say, Fatal was not my favorite John Lescroart novel by far. I don't even want to be clever and try a play on words using the title because it doesn't deserve my whit. That's a little harsh. I'm sorry. My apologies. The novel wasn't awful but I have certainly read better and expect better by this author.

Copy provided by Atria via Netgalley

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Scrappymags 3 word review: devilishly delightful (2 words! Booom!)

Facts about your reviewer: I’ve only read one other Lescroart book (The Second Chair) so I don’t have a “relationship” with the author. It seems those who invested in Lescroart are more disappointed in the book. Me? I dug it.

Shortest summary. Ever.: beautiful wife has affair with a friend of a friend’s husband. Uh oh dead body! Who did it?

What’s good under the hood: I massively (and perversely) enjoy flawed characters and Fatal proved an abundance. Give me shiny happy people who truly suck behind the veneer and I’m in. There’s Kate who engages in the affair (not a spoiler) and there’s her college bestie Beth, devoted to her job as a homicide detective (guess who gets this case?), and there’s Peter, the other side of the affair who might not be the “nice guy” everyone thinks he is. Another case introduces Laurie, a young anorexic who befriends Beth’s daughter. Shady partners, frienemies everywhere… the plethora of suspects is far-reaching and each has something you’ll dislike (mostly). It’s like navigating a minefield of suspects. Personally I love that as I am in a reading phase of shirking virginal BORING characters. I was wrong about who-dun-it and that rarely happens.

What’s bad or made me mad: Beth would never nab the case because of her relationship with potential suspects. Readers must suspend disbelief there. Also I didn’t really understand the purpose of the whole attack/shooting (not a spoiler… first 50 pgs). It didn’t mesh nor seem important to the plot. The anorexic friend Laurie seemed like an odd addition too, but I suppose necessary to advance the story.

Recommend to: if you’re a Lescroart fan throw everything out the window. This doesn’t seem to be his usual work! Those who enjoy sexy thrillers (Gone Girl, Girl on the Train), book clubs, fans of the flawed, looking for a nice compact mystery.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my bitchin ‘ review.

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If you have read any other novels by John Lescroart you are in for a great surprise. FATAL is completely different than anything I have read by Lescroart in the past. A scary, page-turning story with deviating consequences. An amazing original novel.

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Kate and Ron Jameson have a happy marriage, two children, and live in San Francisco. When their friends invite them to have dinner with them and another couple, new to them, something about the guy, Peter Ash, sparks a passion in Kate and she wants to have sex with him. Knowing this is a crazy idea, she can’t seem to stop before herself actually bringing it to fruition. After an afternoon in a hotel room and agreeing that this is a one time thing, Kate seems to be able to put it behind her, but Peter realizes that if this ever got out, his wife would ruin him.

Kate’s good friend, Beth Tully, is a single mom with one daughter. Kate and Beth have been best friends since college. Beth spent years as a patrol cop and is now an inspector and is quite good at her job.

Kate and Beth have met up at a popular public place for coffee where Kate is about to confide in her about her affair with Peter. Just then, terrorists strike the area killing and injuring many people. Both Kate and Beth are injured.

Months later after lots of healing, Beth is just back at her job just as Peter Ash is murdered. As Beth and her co-worker, Ike, investigate his murder, many things open up and it appears the killer might be among Kate’s friends and family.

This is my first book by John Lescroart and now I realize why my husband is such a fan of his. This mystery is well-written with characters that seem so real, it’s like talking about your next-door neighbor. The book kept my interest all the way through making me wonder who the murderer was. I liked this book very much. My only skepticism is the “terrorist” attack centered on a small place in San Francisco. Had there been other attacks elsewhere, it may have seemed more feasible. But, that did not stop me from giving this book 5 stars.

Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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It was difficult for me to like this book since it showed us the worst in the human animal, but I did end up reading the entire book. I do admit to skipping and skimming parts since there had been so much redundancy.

I don’t know if it was the authors intention to write the characters as flat, unlikable, bleak and uninteresting as he did or to fill the gaps of the story with so much trivia and description about San Francisco, but this for me did not a good read make.

It was an interesting piece for showing that no matter how small our actions are (and this one was a doozy!) our choices affect so many around us. The ripple affect I imagine.

Unfortunately, there was less that I liked about this book than what made this a boring read.

The conclusion was not quite the shock to me that I imagine the author wanted it to be. That does not mean that I figured it out early on -I did not-it is just that by the time I got to the end I just didn’t care. The characters were just that uninteresting.

The author did add things that, in my mind had been totally unnecessary -why add the part of the terrorist attack and what about the anorexic and Ginny?

It almost felt to me that this book was written in the 70’s and then edited it to bring it up to date and the parts never meshed.

*ARC supplied by publisher

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Welcome to a new realm for John Lescroart – that of general fiction, and not necessarily a crime-driven world fueled by cops, lawyers and prison-aligned bad guys.

Lescroart's new standalone novel "Fatal" could feature you, or your neighbor; an everyday person who makes a fatal mistake to partake in infidelity, shattering lives beyond the imagined.

Kate is a pretty normal San Francisco resident, married to a lawyer, best friends with a cop. Then she has an affair with Peter, a lawyer from another law firm, whom both she and her husband met at a dinner party tossed by mutual friends.

Kate figured the one-day affair would be an open-and-closed type of deal, but that's not what happened. The far-flung ripple effects of Kate and Peter's affair are felt through many families, and manifest in disturbing ways. The message? You don't live in a bubble.

The infidelity-driven "Fatal" marks an extreme departure from the rest of Lescroart's novels.

First, as mentioned, it's a standalone, not featuring the Davis resident's best-selling characters Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky or Wyatt Hunt.

Second, while he keeps the edge of familiarity by using cops and lawyers as characters, they're not the usual plot solvers; rather they're the plot drivers, the victims, the rank-and-file characters, the "you and me" of the story.

Lescroart's written voice is also different in this novel. I'm sure that needed to go with the territory – Kate is a vastly different character than Dismas Hardy and his crew. This story is a vastly different story, with a different tempo.

The plot unfolds in a gentle, upward crescendo. So gentle, in fact, I was wondering when the peak crisis would hit the pages; but when it did, Chapter 12, in my opinion, it did hit, and turned the entire story around. Not to give anything away, but it cracked open a fissure leading adroitly around Lescroart's standard fare without reaching the thrumming crescendo of a thriller but giving a readers a little bit of police procedural as Kate's friend investigates a body found floating in the ocean below the iconic Cliff House.

As with any story involving the topic of infidelity, a certain amount of groundwork needs to be set. The reader needs to fully understand the characters, including the mundane bits of their lives, in order to understand why all the pieces fit together as they do, and then why the pieces fall apart as the story dictates. The story moves slow in those spots, which isn't something I expected in Lescroart's plots – but keep reading, there is a reason.

He is true to his tremendous art form, however, as he wends and bends, melding characters into plot thickeners in surprising ways. While I wouldn't call it gripping, as with his others, this book kept me reading, wanting to know what happens next.

'Fatal' by John Lescroart

Atria
ISBN: 9781501115677
$26.99
Release date: Jan. 24
Four out of five stars

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New York Times Bestselling author, John Lescroart returns following The Fall (2015) with a totally different type novel than his norm. FATAL, a standalone, the unexpected - the deadly consequences of a one-night stand.

As you begin reading you will think you are embarking on another “The Affair” American television series (currently catching up with the last season); however, minus all the continuous down and dirty sex scenes.

Set in San Francisco, a gripping domestic suspense of a woman who chooses a burning desire--to commit adultery-- infidelity, leading to a dark and suspenseful journey. A dangerous web of deceit.

Kate Jameson, age 44 is married to Ron (a lawyer) with two children.

They attend a dinner party and Kate becomes obsessed with Peter, also married. Her best friend is a cop, Beth Tully. They had been friends since college and shared their thoughts. She had warned her not to act on her lustful feelings.

However, Kate does not listen. A one-night stand turns into a nightmare. The lives it touches. Crossing lines. Harmful secrets. Could she go back to normal? Shattered lives. Deadly consequences. Murder.

A gang of terrorists. A shooting. Kate and Beth are wounded, then six months later. Peter winds up dead, plus more.

Be patient, a slow start; however, about 50% the intensity heats up.

A shocking stand-alone tale (coming from this author), straying from the usual Dismas Hardy style---writing from a woman’s point of view, a strong driving force which navigates the novel. A different tone than the norm, character-driven, with more sensitivity and relationships between women and men.

Give Fatal a whirl! Lescroart is welcome to lead us down a different path, as long as he leads us back with another Dismas Hardy (coming soon), can’t wait! A superb storyteller (no matter the genre) from the master. Perfect cover!

A special thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

JDCMustReadBooks

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Three out of Five Stars.

While I enjoyed FATAL - John Lescroart's first stand-alone novel, I didn't love it. I didn't find it riveting. I didn't find myself engrossed in it. It wasn't suspenseful, ironic or even funny. I don't want to crush this book, but I'm having trouble finding its outstanding merits.

Part of the problem I have was that the book was not fluid. It did not have a consistent pace. Part One of FATAL flew right by. Then, without warning, it was six months later, and the rest of the book, which spanned merely days, took me many days to read I'm afraid. This perhaps bothered only me, but it was significant enough to me to consider leaving the read unfinished. However, I trudged on.

There were many characters in FATAL, but none of them described in-depth enough for me to find all that interesting or even relate to. Many little things happened, but none seemingly important enough to deserve any kind of attention to detail. In fact, when two of the main characters are shot by terrorists, (spoiler alert) their ordeal is skipped over all together. I'm sorry, but if you're going to put an unrelated terrorist attack in a book, then it better be relevant somehow to the storyline. No such luck here I'm afraid. 

The book was well written in that the grammar and sentence structure flowed well. I believe I would enjoy reading on of John Lescroart's more well thought-out books. FATAL simply had a disjointed story, and too many loose ends. I had more questions by the end of the book (like what made the terrorist attack essential to the story?) than I started with. This murder mystery lacked in the mystery department, I think.

I feel as if I've said enough. The book wasn't bad. However, I wouldn't really recommend it to, or buy it for a friend, because there are just way too many wonderful books out there that I would recommend first.

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