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Fiona Fitzgerald Mysteries #7
The Ties That Bind
Fiona FitzGerald, senator's daughter turned Washington, D.C., homicide detective, is called in to investigate when the daughter of a prominent lawyer is found murdered. All clues begin to point to a revered Supreme Court Justice with a sadomasochistic fetish.
The Ties That Bind is the sixth book in Warren Adler's Fiona FitzGerald series. The first mystery, American Quartet, was on The New York Times list of top ten crime novels of the year. Try the other Fiona mysteries: American Quartet, American Sextet, Senator Love, Immaculate Deception, and The Witch of Watergate.
The Ties That Bind is the sixth book in Warren Adler's Fiona FitzGerald series. The first mystery, American Quartet, was on The New York Times list of top ten crime novels of the year. Try the other Fiona mysteries: American Quartet, American Sextet, Senator Love, Immaculate Deception, and The Witch of Watergate.
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Warren Adler
78 books107 followersWarren Adler was an American author, playwright and poet. His novel The War of the Roses was turned into a dark comedy starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito.
Adler was an essayist, short-story writer, poet and playwright, whose works have been translated into 25 languages.
Adler was an essayist, short-story writer, poet and playwright, whose works have been translated into 25 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2009
Adler truly ticked me off to no end.
What Adler has delivered to his readers, as if only to satisfy a contractual agreement with his publisher, is an extremely poorly researched work that caters to stereotypes and preconcieved notions. In this case, people enjoying BDSM (Bondage/Discipline/Sadomasochism) are painted as nothing more than sexually perverted souls.
* Possible spoiler for this paragraph * A woman is found dead in a hotel room. She is bound, gagged, stabbed and has nasty words written all over her body in lipstick. Her anal passage has also been penetrated by an oversized vibrator. There is a paddle on the nightstand. Adler’s hero, the often wimpy and reluctant Fiona FitzGerald is immediately brought back to a time when she was in the same position, with the exact same setup in every detail with a lawyer fifteen years before. In essence, we know who the alleged killer is right away. Even so, FitzGerald takes her sweet time in shining an investigative light on the actual killer and most of the book centers around a “red herring” suspect that wasted over a hundred pages. I would be shocked if any reader could be remotely bought into the possibility that this other character had done the deed. Granted, fetishes are not exclusive by any means, but to have every single dot connected down to the most minute detail pointed the arrow in only one direction. Therefore, this book was a waste of a mystery.
The funny thing is that Adler is a decent writer. I loved most of the dialogue and turns of phrase. The story was fast and flowed well, and even had a couple of minor yet poignant surprises. But overall, Adler is a bad storyteller and in the end truly cheated his audience. And the most annoying thing was that his third person narration was overloaded with question: “But could she do it? How would …?” This went on ad nasuem and would be something I’d expect from a new writer, not an established author. Where was his editor? (Sorry, I had to ask that question.) Many of these questions could have been presented as legitimate statements.
For example, in the end, our hero FitzGerald is in the clutches of the “killer” and there’s no escape. Then she’s rescued by her partner and her boyfriend as well. Her partner, Gail Prentiss gets the bad guy. How can the hero be sidelined like that? Worst still, the ending was ludicrous and reeked of entrapment on a grand scale. Even more disconcerting, Adler had created a character I despised more than any other in Tom Herbert. He was a complete and total bastard to the extreme – but in the end, he doesn’t get his comeuppence. Readers do not have the pleasure of seeing him fall and be chastized as he so rightly deserves. We were ripped off. (But Adler really and truly nailed down Herbert. He’s one of the best “bad” characters I have ever read.)
For some odd reason, this 1994 book was hung up on gender issues to the extreme, which also bothered me. In regard to gender bias, I would have expected the story to take place more in the early to mid-eighties. I’m not sure why he felt the end to go there so deeply with a “gender experiment” in putting two female detectives together. Hell, wasn’t this all addressed with “Cagney and Lacey” in 1982? Please.
As for the whole BDSM thing, I was sick of hearing supposedly seasoned detectives from DC and LA remark about how shocked they were about the alleged murder scene and how no respectful woman would submit her body to such a thing. That didn’t add up at all. In effect, it was as if Adler had just learned of this alternative lifestyle, did ultra-minimal research and quickly wrote what I’m sure he considered to be a juicy novel that would shock and awe. (Much like Kubrick with his ludicrous “Eyes Wide Shut”.) I’m sure his seasoned city detectives wouldn’t overtly balk at such a thing as if a sex crime was something new.
Needless to say, throughout the novel concensual and loving BDSM is mixed and mashed together with criminal sexual sadism. There is no distinction between the two. By throwing both into one undeniable heap for the reader, Adler is selling the idea that all of BDSM is mentally unstable sexual deviancy and perversion. This is completely abysmal, unfair and wrong.
In this 220 page piece of garbage, not until the two detectives visit a sex store, where they act like children by the way, do we get any true inkling that all might not be bad and sinister in leatherland. The shop keeper talks about loving and consensual S&M. Then, on page 218 Fiona thinks this about BDSM: “But she did know that these practices often got out of hand and had dangerous consequences.” Often? Dangerous consequences? How dare Adler say such a thing – I can’t even imagine where he got his information from. If Adler had provided a character to counteract all the negatives regarding the subject matter, that would have been completely acceptable and welcomed. But Adler skimped greatly on his research and gave readers erronenous information to sell a bad book.
Adler should be ashamed of himself for perpetuating and exploiting stereotypes, and for insulting a hell of a lot of people. (Man, I am being so very kind here. I really want to run amok with expletives.)
What Adler has delivered to his readers, as if only to satisfy a contractual agreement with his publisher, is an extremely poorly researched work that caters to stereotypes and preconcieved notions. In this case, people enjoying BDSM (Bondage/Discipline/Sadomasochism) are painted as nothing more than sexually perverted souls.
* Possible spoiler for this paragraph * A woman is found dead in a hotel room. She is bound, gagged, stabbed and has nasty words written all over her body in lipstick. Her anal passage has also been penetrated by an oversized vibrator. There is a paddle on the nightstand. Adler’s hero, the often wimpy and reluctant Fiona FitzGerald is immediately brought back to a time when she was in the same position, with the exact same setup in every detail with a lawyer fifteen years before. In essence, we know who the alleged killer is right away. Even so, FitzGerald takes her sweet time in shining an investigative light on the actual killer and most of the book centers around a “red herring” suspect that wasted over a hundred pages. I would be shocked if any reader could be remotely bought into the possibility that this other character had done the deed. Granted, fetishes are not exclusive by any means, but to have every single dot connected down to the most minute detail pointed the arrow in only one direction. Therefore, this book was a waste of a mystery.
The funny thing is that Adler is a decent writer. I loved most of the dialogue and turns of phrase. The story was fast and flowed well, and even had a couple of minor yet poignant surprises. But overall, Adler is a bad storyteller and in the end truly cheated his audience. And the most annoying thing was that his third person narration was overloaded with question: “But could she do it? How would …?” This went on ad nasuem and would be something I’d expect from a new writer, not an established author. Where was his editor? (Sorry, I had to ask that question.) Many of these questions could have been presented as legitimate statements.
For example, in the end, our hero FitzGerald is in the clutches of the “killer” and there’s no escape. Then she’s rescued by her partner and her boyfriend as well. Her partner, Gail Prentiss gets the bad guy. How can the hero be sidelined like that? Worst still, the ending was ludicrous and reeked of entrapment on a grand scale. Even more disconcerting, Adler had created a character I despised more than any other in Tom Herbert. He was a complete and total bastard to the extreme – but in the end, he doesn’t get his comeuppence. Readers do not have the pleasure of seeing him fall and be chastized as he so rightly deserves. We were ripped off. (But Adler really and truly nailed down Herbert. He’s one of the best “bad” characters I have ever read.)
For some odd reason, this 1994 book was hung up on gender issues to the extreme, which also bothered me. In regard to gender bias, I would have expected the story to take place more in the early to mid-eighties. I’m not sure why he felt the end to go there so deeply with a “gender experiment” in putting two female detectives together. Hell, wasn’t this all addressed with “Cagney and Lacey” in 1982? Please.
As for the whole BDSM thing, I was sick of hearing supposedly seasoned detectives from DC and LA remark about how shocked they were about the alleged murder scene and how no respectful woman would submit her body to such a thing. That didn’t add up at all. In effect, it was as if Adler had just learned of this alternative lifestyle, did ultra-minimal research and quickly wrote what I’m sure he considered to be a juicy novel that would shock and awe. (Much like Kubrick with his ludicrous “Eyes Wide Shut”.) I’m sure his seasoned city detectives wouldn’t overtly balk at such a thing as if a sex crime was something new.
Needless to say, throughout the novel concensual and loving BDSM is mixed and mashed together with criminal sexual sadism. There is no distinction between the two. By throwing both into one undeniable heap for the reader, Adler is selling the idea that all of BDSM is mentally unstable sexual deviancy and perversion. This is completely abysmal, unfair and wrong.
In this 220 page piece of garbage, not until the two detectives visit a sex store, where they act like children by the way, do we get any true inkling that all might not be bad and sinister in leatherland. The shop keeper talks about loving and consensual S&M. Then, on page 218 Fiona thinks this about BDSM: “But she did know that these practices often got out of hand and had dangerous consequences.” Often? Dangerous consequences? How dare Adler say such a thing – I can’t even imagine where he got his information from. If Adler had provided a character to counteract all the negatives regarding the subject matter, that would have been completely acceptable and welcomed. But Adler skimped greatly on his research and gave readers erronenous information to sell a bad book.
Adler should be ashamed of himself for perpetuating and exploiting stereotypes, and for insulting a hell of a lot of people. (Man, I am being so very kind here. I really want to run amok with expletives.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2016
As always, Warren Adler does not disappoint This thriller delves deep into the impact of past events on the individual years and/or decades later in their livews.
It all takes place in the most elite and sanctioned halls of the country's most powerful persons in government.
with the eye of a seasoned veteran of those areas, Adler keeps us suspended in uncertainty until the very last moments.
It all takes place in the most elite and sanctioned halls of the country's most powerful persons in government.
with the eye of a seasoned veteran of those areas, Adler keeps us suspended in uncertainty until the very last moments.
June 6, 2020
Fiona is portrayed as very human, with a lot of doubts. She also knows the political side in her job, and dealing with them. Well written and enjoyed. Narration was good given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion
March 23, 2024
Firstly be careful listening to this on alexa with teenagers around (it could get (embarrassing). Most of the book was about Fiona exploring her previous experience and building a new relationship with her new partner. It was quite introspective. I liked learning about the situation in Washington, the gender and race politics etc. It is something that I havent really thought about.
The narration worked well.
The narration worked well.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews