Temporary Sanity

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time on This Sequel
Review: "Temporary Sanity" is a robust, power-packed, legal thriller. Rose Connors introduces readers to: Martha (Marty) Nickerson, trying her first case as a defense attorney, J. Stanley Edgerton, an in-your-face, by-the-book assistant DA and Buck Hammond, who had the misfortune to murder the killer of his seven-year-old son in front of the sheriff and a slew of TV cameramen. To keep the action alive the author adds a feisty Judge and a series of murders. Marty's task is to convince the jury to find Buck Hammond `not guilty.' Connors' court room drama is lively, her characters vibrant and her dialogue authentic. "Temporary Sanity" is the classic legal thriller with interesting new twists and the perfect page-turner book to read when you are alone and won't be interrupted.
Beverly J Scott, author of Righteous Revenge and Ruth Fever
http://www.beverlyjscott.com

Rating:
Summary: Vigilante Justice
Review: Former prosecutor, Mary Nickerson, is confronted with the issue of vigilante justice in TEMPORARY SANITY. Can murder be justified if the crime committed against you is so heinous that it cannot even be contemplated?

Client, Buck Hammond, is charged with murder one for killing the pedophile murderer of his seven year old son. Buck took justice into his own hands as television cameras were rolling. The crux of the problem is can Marty win an acquittal with the crime on tape for the jurors to see. There are two other related crimes that mesh nicely into the story.

The story weaves a web around you and does not let go until the very last page. The basic story is Good vs. Evil. Buck against the pedophile killer, Marty against a wayward judge. During the climax of the story which takes place in the courtroom, the action veers off into the preposterous. It makes for an entertaining, but highly improbable courtroom scene. Despite some plot flaws, the words kept my eyes glued to the page and I had trouble putting the book done.

Rose Connors is a fresh, new voice in the legal thriller genre.
Well done sophomore effort.

Rating:
Summary: I Certainly Didn't See THAT coming.........
Review: I don't read much fiction so when I find a book I that really holds my attention like "Temporary Sanity" did, I take special note.

The whole book was woven together very well - I enjoyed each character - even the ones who were created especially so we would be frustrated with them.

Marty is very likeable as the able and highly intuitive defense attorney with a heart. I can imagine the small firm she works in is actually a positive place to hang your hat. (This must be fiction *smiling*.)

Not only is the writing thoroughly engaging and entertaining, the subject matter is one we can all relate to - in all its horrifying glory.

What worked especially well was the ending. I had no clue what was coming. I love when I am taken by surprise like this - kudos to Rose Connors for pulling off such a delightful conclusion.


Rating:
Summary: Brilliant pacing, great characters
Review: I won't reiterate the story as it is well documented on this page.

I read a lot of mysteries, and a few of them are so good that I buy a hardcover and give them a precious space in my bookcases. This is one of those keeper books. The author brings all the characters to life, tells a great, if gut-wrenching, story; winds it up with a terrific ending that keeps you wondering until the last words; AND she knows about guns. It is so aggravating that guns are used so often in mysteries by authors who are too dang lazy to do any research on them. Then their gun clankers in the book yank me right out of the story.

The big issue in the book is jury nullification, another one of my hot buttons (but that's just icing on the cake, it is a great book.) I really could not tell how the ending would come out until it did. Most authors I have seen treat issues like jury nullification as either for or against, all the way through, so you know what the ending will be depending on which soapbox the author climbs up on.

It is a hard read in places because of the horrific crimes that take place, but not stomach-turning.

Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Keeps you turning pages
Review: I've always loved legal thrillers, ever since the early Grisham and Martini books, and it is refreshing to have a new writer on the scene who actually knows how to plot a book well and how to keep you turning pages.

Rose Connors does that quite nicely in this book. Two major plotlines and one minor one tie up nicely at the end. I read the book in two sittings, which is very unusual for me. I usually read about fifty pages at a time. This book just couldn't be put down that quickly.

I recommend it strongly. In fact, after finishing this book, I went onto Amazon and ordered the first book in the series and the new one also.

Rating:
Summary: Courtroom thrills
Review: Marty Nickerson, a former prosecuting attorney, is now working for the first time as a defence attorney in Cape Cod and is called upon to defend Buck Hammond, a man with a spotless record who shot Hector Monteros, the man who kidnapped and brutally raped Buck's young son. The trouble is that a TV news crew filmed the event as it happened and that Buck refuses to use a plea of temporary insanity, insisting that he knew what he was doing and would do it again. Marty teams with Harry Madigan, her law partner and lover to produce a credible defence in the face of overwhelming evidence and at the same time, defend a battered woman whose live-in attacker was murdered. M/s Connors own courtroom experience comes into play here with her expert knowledge of procedures and some almost unbelievable courtroom characters who, one only prays, we will never have to face in person. I look forward to her next book.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time on This Sequel
Review: This is the second Marty Nickerson legal mystery and it's no better than the first. There's just no spark here, not much that's original or interesting. The prose is dull, and the characters are unimaginatively drawn. For example, the African American judge, and D.A. J.Stanley Edgerton's relationship with the judge, are very similar to what we saw in Grisham's "The Client," especially the Susan Sarandon movie version; and of course Grisham does it way better. The plot (father kills his young son's murderer) is transparently similar to an actual case where a father killed his daughter's rapist, a case that has been on TV shows like American Justice many times. The subplots, too, were trite and did not compel me to keep reading. I received this and the previous Nickerson novel as gifts: out of politeness I slogged through the first book but couldn't finish this one.

Rating:
Summary: Rose Connors cannot write another book fast enough for me!!
Review: This was a great book!! Just like Absoute Certainty, this is a book you can't put down!!
The characters are so real. The tension is felt in every page.
I love the heroine- she is so down to earth and smart.
Deals with real emotion, real issues, real courtroom drama.
LOVED IT!!
Rose, please write again SOON!

Rating:
Summary: Good reading mystery
Review: Thoroughly enjoyable courtroom procedural; it appealed to me quite a lot and I thought it a pretty darn good first novel. My fave bit occurs when the prosecuting attorney, after having been accused by defendent's attorney of trying to silence her, yells in response: "... the National Guard couldn't silence her." The resolution was not unexpected so much as unrealisted.