Indictment

Rating:
Summary: Reed succumbs to literary cliche
Review: A beautiful woman murdered, of course. A Yale-educated DA running for office, of course. It seems that Barry Reed is more concerned with looks and education rather than plot and dialogue. In this novel where everyone seemed to have "fresh, Nordic features," Reed focused more on the characters than the story. The only bright spot was attorney Dan Sheridan, who is a down-to-earth, broken-nose kind of player. With each description (which could have been stolen from a soap-opera script) was the educational background of each character. Character description is important, mind you, but not the solitary component of the work. I don't believe that a woman who has been lying face down dead in a marshy area for hours is the most beautiful woman the medical examiner had ever seen. It just doesn't happen. And neither did this book. Barry Reed should read Robert K. Tanenbaum, whose characters are believable and enhance the plot, not replace it

Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but a good read
Review: I disagree with the Booklist reviewer who thought that the romance angle didn't work in the story. It enhanced it for me... it added a complication that otherwise wouldn't have been there....but then again, I tend to be into that sort of thing.

Anyway, the things that irritated me about the book would go largely unnoticed to anyone who doesn't live in Boston. I didn't mind the geographical liberties that were taken, since it is fiction after all.... but Boston is presented as a kind of Irish theme park.... and while nobody would deny the impact that Irish immigration has had on Boston and its culture over the past 150 years, Boston is a large and very ethnically diverse city.... the Brahmin-vs.-Irish thing is about 120 years out of date. Most people that read this probably won't care about that though.

The rest of the book, while sometimes far-fetched, was a gripping, entertaining read. The pacing was quick and the way that Sheridan's team stayed on top of their adversaries kept the storyline from insulting my intelligence. Lovers of legal chess game-type thrillers should find this hard to put down.

I had some issue with the resolution of the mystery at the very end (if that person was actually guilty of killing the woman,he/she would not have done some of the things he/she did, in my opinion). However, it made for a nice plot twist.

Better character development than Grisham... good legal drama. Like the story "Silent Witness", by Richard North Patterson, in this story, you didn't know if the defendant was guilty or not through the whole story, but you rooted for him anyway, since his lawyer was the "good guy." Makes for an interesting ambivalent feeling when reading.

As a footnote, I listened to this as a "BooksOnTape" auciocassette (unabridged), read by George Guidall from a local library. Too bad that version doesn't seem to be available anymore, as I just love Guidall's delivery.


Rating:
Summary: Sorry, I got emotionally involved!
Review: This was a well told story with a complex plot. I found myself rooting for Sheridan and then for his relationship. When that happens, the author has done his job well. I have been entertained and taken out of my daily life - if only for a few brief moments. I enjoyed this book on tape. Full - unabridged version. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, I got emotionally involved!
Review: This was a well told story with a complex plot. I found myself rooting for Sheridan and then for his relationship. When that happens, the author has done his job well. I have been entertained and taken out of my daily life - if only for a few brief moments. I enjoyed this book on tape. Full - unabridged version. Recommended.