Review by Michelle Fred -- Cooperative Lives

[Ngozi Onyibor]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Cooperative Lives" by Patrick Finegan.]
[rbc=4]id375327-125[/rbc]Co-operative Lives by Patrick Finegan follows the occupants of a high-end building on Central Park South, New York City. One of the occupants, Sheldon Vogel is a money manager; he manages the trust of his next-door neighbor, Allison Pfouts. One evening, on his way home from the park, he saved his wheelchair-bound neighbor, Mrs. Roberts from being hit by a reckless bus driver fwhen she attempted to cross the road by shielding her with his body. The accident left him badly wounded and disoriented, because of his distrust for doctors he managed the pain himself. While he is still reeling from the pain, he sold some of Allison's shares. In a moment of inattention, he sold more shares than he intended. The next day he realized his mistake, and the losses he had accrued. He quickly came up with a plan to hire a lawyer in the person of Mr. Roberts(Jack) to draft a repayment agreement between Allison and himself. With that thought in mind, he went about his day. Unfortunately, he passed out in the shower and went into a coma; the management of the building found him unconscious and subsequently hospitalized him.

On hearing about his hospitalization, Jack paid him a visit as an act of appreciation for saving his wife's life. He awoke from the coma and saw Jack in his room. After their chitchat, he thanked Jack for setting things straight. Not wanting to bother him, Jack didn't probe his words further. When Allison's lawyer, Andrew, discovered the discrepancy in her account, he contacted Sheldon who swore his lawyer, Jack had taken care of the problem. This portends the beginning of a legal drama that entwined the lives of every occupant of the building.

The amount of research that went into the book impressed me. The author's description of legal, historical, medical and geographical details is very accurate. Perhaps it has something to do with his training as a lawyer, but it was impressive nonetheless. For a non-medical professional, he seemed to have a sound knowledge of ailments and their treatments. His depictions of hospital scenes and dialogues were authentic and realistic. He paid attention to the minutest detail, overlooking nothing. Although, I think the book's most impressive quality is the character-driven plot. All the characters are well-rounded and developed. Each brought their own charm to the story, every character mentioned played an important role in the book. My favorite is Mildred, she is such a fun, sweet soul without a care in the world.

This book is unlike any other I have reviewed; nothing is as it seems. The bad guys are not who you think they are, and nothing will prepare you for the ending; it threw me off balance. It was my favorite part of the book. How I wish it's possible to expatiate further without giving away spoilers.

The only aspect of the book I had a problem with is the pacing: it is slow. There were a lot of unnecessary details that can be taken out without implications on a reader's understanding or enjoyment. Case in point: A certain character in the book is interested in a movie Gabourey Sidibe starred in, rather than merely mentioning the movie, the author included a short biography on Sidibe. There are also biographies of the people some characters are named after. These cumbersome details caused my mind to wander a lot.

That said, I spotted just a few formatting errors throughout the book. The excessive details notwithstanding, Co-operative Lives is a brilliant work of fiction with themes that will appeal to a wide audience; especially lovers of crime and mystery. Taking all this into consideration, I feel obliged to give the book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. The aspects I disliked might appeal to other readers, I don't think it's fair to give it a lower rating because of my personal preferences. There are instances of vulgarity and implied sexual activity, so I would only recommend this book to adults.

******
Cooperative Lives
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon