The Hearing

Rating:
Summary: A Return to the Old Style
Review: This is my first Lescroart book. An enjoyable read, the characters are developed well and I didn't have any problem learning the background of the main characters, despite not having read anything else in the series. But, speaking of character, for a while, it seemed like a new one was introduced every 5 pages for the first 200 pages. At times, I had to pause to recall who someone was. Not in and of itself bad, just tedious at times.

Like another reviewer, I flinched at some factual things. "Dress out"? Another that caught my eye was when Cole recalls his friend, Steve, from his early years and Cole flashes back to when he last saw Steve - at a frat party at Notre Dame. Now I went to Notre Dame. There are no frats there, no greek system at all. Then Cole brought cocaine with him to the party and some girl indulged. At Notre Dame? Catholic Disneyland? Please! You get dirty looks if you smoke a cigarette there. A small nitpick but it clearly showed the author only paid attention to certain facts, not others.

It's a decent read but Lord, it's longer than it needs to be. I could hardly believe it when Lescroart desribed the preliminary hearing in such detail. If the ordinary way to tell a story is to say, "I called Shelly," Lescroart will tell it like this, "I picked up the telephone. I pressed out the number on the keypad with the tip of my index finger, on my right hand. I had the receiver to my ear. I heard the phone ring. It rang again. Then again. Finally, Shelly answered." Sometimes, it is borderline painful.

The problem is that Lescroart does a good enough job with characters that you still want to know what happened and so you brave the tedium. I don't think it's a "page turner" per se. It's interesting and decently written. I think most readers would enjoy it, I just had some nit picks.

Rating:
Summary: First Time Lescroart Reader
Review: This is my first Lescroart book. An enjoyable read, the characters are developed well and I didn't have any problem learning the background of the main characters, despite not having read anything else in the series. But, speaking of character, for a while, it seemed like a new one was introduced every 5 pages for the first 200 pages. At times, I had to pause to recall who someone was. Not in and of itself bad, just tedious at times.

Like another reviewer, I flinched at some factual things. "Dress out"? Another that caught my eye was when Cole recalls his friend, Steve, from his early years and Cole flashes back to when he last saw Steve - at a frat party at Notre Dame. Now I went to Notre Dame. There are no frats there, no greek system at all. Then Cole brought cocaine with him to the party and some girl indulged. At Notre Dame? Catholic Disneyland? Please! You get dirty looks if you smoke a cigarette there. A small nitpick but it clearly showed the author only paid attention to certain facts, not others.

It's a decent read but Lord, it's longer than it needs to be. I could hardly believe it when Lescroart desribed the preliminary hearing in such detail. If the ordinary way to tell a story is to say, "I called Shelly," Lescroart will tell it like this, "I picked up the telephone. I pressed out the number on the keypad with the tip of my index finger, on my right hand. I had the receiver to my ear. I heard the phone ring. It rang again. Then again. Finally, Shelly answered." Sometimes, it is borderline painful.

The problem is that Lescroart does a good enough job with characters that you still want to know what happened and so you brave the tedium. I don't think it's a "page turner" per se. It's interesting and decently written. I think most readers would enjoy it, I just had some nit picks.

Rating:
Summary: Not very exciting
Review: This is the first novel by this author I have read. The story was okay, the presentation was a little lame. I like a little more action and excitment in my stories. It's not that the plot was weak or the story was poorly told, it just lacked life. When I get to the end of a chapter I like the author to compel me to continue reading the next chapter. I found that lacking in this book. When i finished one chapter, I was neither curious nor excited to see what the next chapter would bring.

This book is basically about a man accused of murder, the people trying to prove his guilt and those trying to prove his innocence. The end of the book gets better and has a much quicker pace.

All in all, this is not a bad or competely boring book, it just doesn't grab you and keep you riveted. Don't expect your pulse to quicken or to suffer from sleep deprivation. I would, however be willing to give another of his novels a try.

Rating:
Summary: Decent legal thriller; surprise ending, good characters
Review: This story, featuring a crotchety detective, Abe Glitsky, and other variously interesting characters, has a fairly good story:
the death of a rising star, in the D.A.'s office, plus a drug deal, but also a surprising ending. (I'm not tellin'.) Not a bad book. I think I'll check into a few more of Mr. Lescroart's books. Reader Robert Lawrence did a fine job with various voices and to keep the story fairly interesting. (Got a bit "sensitive" at the end, i.e., with the guy proposing to marry, but not too "sappy".) A good listen for a nightime.