Final Argument

Rating:
Summary: What would you do?
Review: Imagine you're a defense lawyer but you used to be a prosecutor. Now,imagine you find out a career criminal that you put on Death Row is really innocent of the crime because you discover that the witness statements you used were all lies. Now, imagine that he's going to die in a month. What do you do?

Throw in a heaping handful of racial politics, Florida's fascination with the electric chair and the main characters fractured family life and you've got this novel. It started out very slow but I kept going and it turned out to be one of the better legal thriller books I've read for a while.

I give this book a "4 stars" - I'm dropping the score because of the slow start.


Rating:
Summary: Unarguably good
Review: In the Final Arguments, we are taken on a defense attorney's quest for justice.
Ted Jaffe, as a state prosecutor, put Darryl Morgan on death row for the murder of Solomon Zide. A decade later, he believes he made a mistake; now as a defense attorney he wants Darryl free.
Fast-paced, suspense-filled, and witty, it's a simple story that is well written. Infact, the best part of the novel was the description of Sweeting's execution. Clifford Irving depicts the courtroom bantering brilliantly, as well as the political and legal maneuverings.
Though the ending is expected, the plot makes the book worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: A Unique concept
Review: This crisply written first-person novel is the story of a prosecutor who sends a man to Death Row, and then, years later, when he discovers that his prosecution was flawed. comes back to battle for the freedom of the man he prosecuted. It's informative, very well researched (I'm a lawyer), and, if I may be forgiven a cliche, I couldn't put it down. It's set in Florida and captures that world perfectly. Irving is a truly fine writer, one of our best. His other legal novel, TRIAL, is also terrific.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been a 3 star, but.......
Review: This was not a bad read for the most part. The last half of the book had me staying up past midnight (a rare feat for me). However, the author went overboard in trying to show me how awful the death penalty is. I know that writers are perfectly entitled to incorporate their moral views into their writing, but it goes to far when the reader feels manipulated and starts thinking of putting the book down. I'm glad I continued to read on, but a detailed scenerio of someone dying in the electric chair (complete with electrical malfunction) reminded me of people that shove pictures of fetuses in front of abortion patients. There's a lot of context dropping and sermonizing.

The book is interesting, although the ending is no surprise. The main character, as admitted on the book cover, is no hero. He shows some integrity, but is inconsistant.

Not a bad read, but there are better books out there.