Review: All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke |

Series: Ellie Hatcher
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Harper (June 10, 2014)
ISBN: 9780062208385
Source: Publisher

When therapist Helen Brunswick is found murdered in her Park Slope office, blame immediately falls to her estranged husband. Then the District Attorney’s office receives an anonymous letter detailing aspects of the crime not made available to the public, behavior eerily similar to a twenty-year-old case. In that case, Anthony Amaro was convicted of murder and for the past two decades has been serving time for his crime. Now, with this new information available, Amaro is requesting release from prison on the grounds that he was wrongly accused.

NYPD Detectives Ellie Hatcher and JJ Rogan are brought in to reevaluate the the investigation that led to Amaro’s arrest. Ellie’s relationship with the lead prosecutor on the case has her questioning her loyalties. They have few allies in this search; everyone is certain Amaro is the guilty party. In a surprising move, Carrie Blank, the half-sister of one of Amaro’s victims, joins the legal team led by a head strong celebrity lawyer to defend Amaro. Carrie does so more as a means to get answers to questions surrounding her sister’s death, not necessarily because she believes Amaro is innocent. Yet as each side of the investigation digs through past, all evidence takes them back to Carrie’s hometown. Someone is trying to prevent the past from being revealed, influential people in high positions of power want these secrets to remain buried, no matter the cost.

This is the fifth book in the Ellie Hatcher series, but the tenth book written by former prosecutor Alafair Burke. While I have read only a few of the previous books, I didn’t feel as though I was missing out on a great deal of content or back story. Burke excels at creating and developing her characters and it was able to reacquaint myself with the characters with great ease. Her obvious and apparent knowledge and familiarity with criminal law most certainly shines through. The legal aspects of the novel are accurate, explained in layman’s terms rather than technical legal-ease. The intense pacing of the storyline and the gradual reveal instantly reminded me of why I am such a fan of Burke’s writing. It captures you from the beginning, patiently builds the storyline and characters, and ends with a stunning yet satisfying conclusion.

Bottom line: All Day and a Night is just another piece of evidence to prove the talent of the great Alafair Burke. A classic detective series at it’s finest, I look forward to going back and reading more of the books in this series. Highly, highly recommended.