book is supposedly based on a true story and the author “has recalled facts and events as best as he remembers them”, whatever that may mean.
A pennyless, idealistic young man working as a janitor passes his bar exam, finds work with an enigmatic Russian lawyer/mobster, his stunning blonde colleague falls for him right away of course and his second ever case as defense attorney the first was a speeding offense is a highprofile murder case involving the death penalty where he is up against an experienced, icecold prosecutor who is one step away from becoming DA, blah, blah, blah.
. .
The book is very short, sloppily written, full of clichés and entirely predictable, Why did Mr. Methos bother
With money and hope in short supply, newly minted attorney Brigham Theodore decides its time to lower his standards, He joins a seedy flybynight firm in Salt Lake City out of desperation, After he loses his first casea speeding tickethes convinced his career is over, But to his shock, his boss hands him a slightly more complex case: capital murder,
Brighams new client is Amanda Pierce, a lost, exhausted woman who gunned down the man who tortured and killed her sixyearold daughter.
A jury may prove sympathetic to her unbearable pain, but the law is no fan of vigilante justiceand neither is Vince Dale, the slick and powerful prosecutor whos never lost a murder case.
Theres no question that Amanda pulled the triggershe did it in front of five witnesses, If she pleads guilty, she will avoid a death sentence, but saving her life this way comes with an admission that what she did was wrong.
However, if she refuses the “guilty” label, Brigham will have no choice but to fight for his careerand Amandas life, I was intrigued when I discovered Victor Methos last month and vowed that I would come back to try some more of his work.
Stumbling upon a short legal thriller, I thought that this would be the perfect addition to my vacation reading list, Brigham Theodore has just passed the Utah Bar and the ink on his certification is still drying as he seeks employment, While many of the firms in Salt Lake City snub him, he finds one willing to take a chance on him, Handed a murder trial in his first week, Theodore is in full panic mode, but can only hope that what hes read about criminal procedure will be enough.
A young woman is accused of gunning down the man who is set to have raped and murdered her six yearold daughter, With five witnesses, Theodore will have a hard time arguing her innocence, but is ready to do whatever he can, Arguing diminished capacity, Theodore enters the courtroom as green as they come and stumbles through the trial agains a man set to be the next District Attorney.
While Theodore may be new to the profession, he is not completely inept and pulls out some interesting legal arguments to intrigue the jury.
It will take more than a few unique legal tricks to keep Theodores client from facing the death penalty, but his willing to do what he can to help a woman full of guilt and agony at the loss of the only thing she holds dear.
Methos is strong with his delivery and keeps the reader guessing as the story progresses, Recommended for the reader who enjoys a good legal thriller, as well as those who enjoy something compact for easy reading,
It was a Goodreads banner that led me to Victor Methos and I am happy to say that this second novel was as impactful as the first.
Methos works well with the subject matter and compresses it into a story that could be read in a single day, Brigham Theodore has much to offer in this piece, though his wet behind the ears nature can something offer a stumbling block to a legal blockbuster.
Theodore is still unsure how to handle himself and the cases at hand, but he is determined to find answers and stumbles into the arms of a woman who can guide him through the maze that is criminal law.
Without being too optimistic, Theodore can only hope that the law he studied is applicable in the courtroom, though he is faced with a prosecutor who is out for blood.
In this midlength novel, there are a great deal of other characters who make am impact and help move the story along, From the accused who is trying to process what she may have done, to the prosecutor who has more to worry about than this simple case, and even a fellow member of the firm who uses his naïveté to her advantage, Methos offers much on which the write can build a better understanding for the story and the law.
With a strong narrative that does not stop throughout and a plot that pits the hapless lawyer against the legal system, Methos knows how to craft a great novel.
In a piece whose central focus is the courtroom, the story turns on the smallest thing, I am happy that I came back to try some more Victor Methos, With a second novel in the series, I am ready to leap right in,
Kudos, Mr. Methos, another great piece. I have enjoyed both pieces greatly and will read the second book in this series eagerly to see how it fares,
Like/hate the review An evergrowing collection of others appears at:
sitelink wordpress. com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: sitelink goodreads. com/group/show/ The Rainmaker
Rudy Baylor
Memphis
The Neon Lawyer
Brigham Theodore
Salt Lake City
A mother assassinates the killer of her six year old daughter.
The prosecutor wants the death penalty,
No.
There is no way the state would seek the death penalty, People would look at the mother as a hero not a killer, The prosecutor would plead her out,
This was second rate make that third rate John Grisham, A Capital Murder case for an attorney with one case under his belt A speeding ticket case, A bit of a stretch, And of course the hottest blond in the office falls for him, Like i said a bit unrealistic,
Not worth the time, Skip it. Ok. My rating of this book is actually/stars, I really like the way Victor Methos writes, He doesn't go into these long dragged out descriptions, He keeps it short, but still tells enough to keep the reader engrossed in the story, It was a very fast read, You can probably finish it intohours, There were several reasons why I didn't give thisstars, To begin, I found the beginning of the book lacked action and was predictable, I have learned a 'Thriller' should have action and tension in every scene, This unfortunate did not. However, later in the book, the courtroom scene did change that some, Also, the protagonist in the story is a little hard to believe, He takes on a capital murder case, with a possible death penalty, being right out of law school, I don't think so. Finally the ending was a little anticlimactic and I felt there were some things that needed further explaining and closure,
I am definitely going to checking out other books of this author, I You can find this review in English below,
,stars
Me encantan las series de abogados, Y las pelis. Y, sobre todo, las historias, Pero me resulta casi imposible dar con ellas, Y aún más difícil es encontrar alguna “especial”, Y si encima, este no es el caso, tiene un poco de romance entonces ya es la leche!, con perdón, sigh
Lo que más me ha sorprendido es que esta historia está basada en hechos reales.
El señor Methos es abogado y ha ejercido y este fue uno de sus casos, según nos explica en unas notas al final del libro.
Tengo que ser sincera, esto me ha hecho mirar a la historia con otros ojos, y lo que en principio iba a ser una historia más dentro del género, al final acabó siendo una historia con muchísimo potencial pero que ha pecado de superficial.
Sinceramente creo que esta historia hubiese funcionado espectacularmente bien en la pequeña pantalla, Tiene todos los ingredientes para ser una de mis favoritas, pero en formato escrito la he encontrado frívola,
El autor hace un trabajo buenísimo introduciendo personajes, todos con un toque especial, con bagaje y muy humanos, Pero lo hace de una manera muy apresurada, sin dar demasiadas explicaciones o detalles, con lo cual, al final, todo parece un poco forzado y poco creíble.
Le han faltado páginas,
Lo mismo me ha pasado con la trama legal, El caso que tiene entre manos el Sr, Methos es de todo menos sencillo, Y al final todo ha sido tratado desde un único punto de vista: el del sentido común, que muy a mí pesar, nada tiene que ver con el derecho legal.
Tal y como se cuenta en la propia descripción de la historia, el caso está claro desde el principio, con lo cual, estaba esperando que pasase algo extraordinario y/o espectacular que me hiciese tiritar de emoción al llegar al final, que seamos sincero, también estaba claro.
Y no ha sido así, Todo ha quedado en agua de borrajas, Este ha sido un caso de los que se gana en los alegatos finales, con lo cual, el juicio per se no tiene ninguna importancia, y aunque hay un par de ideas brillantes aquí y allá, quedan deslucidas porque todo es blanco o negro, bueno o malo y los contrastes no existen, y la historia me ha parecido superficial y apresurada por culpa de esa falta de matices.
La posición de la fiscalía no se explica y es inexplicable y el caso entre manos es demasiado cruel y salvaje para tratarlo de una manera tan veleidosa.
Mi conclusión es que el autor ha tenido que decidir qué contaba y qué no, y al final se ha apoyado más en el melodrama que en la legalidad.
Ojalá hubiese tenidopáginas más llenas de razonamientos, Hubiese sido una historia deestrellas,
,stars
I love TV series about lawyers, And movies. And, above all, written stories, But its almost impossible to find them, And even more difficult is to find some "special" ones, And if to top it all, this is not the case, it has a bit of romance, . . then. . wow! It would be heaven! sigh
What has surprised me the most is that this story is based on real events, Mr. Methos is a criminal defense attorney and has practiced and this was one of his cases, as its explained in notes at the end of the book.
I have to be honest, this has made me see the story in a new light, and what initially was going to be another average story in the genre, in the end it ended up being a story with a lot of potential but that had suffered of superficiality.
I sincerely believe that this story would have worked spectacularly well on the small screen, It has all the ingredients to be one of my favorites, but in written format I have found it frivolous,
The author does a great job introducing characters, all with a special touch, with baggage and very human, But it
does so in a very rushed way, without giving enough explanations or details, which, in the end, makes all a bit forced and unbelievable.
The story lacked pages.
Idem with the legal plot, The case in Mr. Methos's hands is anything but simple, And in the end everything has been treated from a single point of view: that of common sense, which very much to my regret, on most occasions has nothing to do with the law.
As it is told in the blurb itself, the case is clear from the beginning, so I was waiting for something extraordinary and /or spectacular that made me shiver with emotion when I reached the end, which let's be honest, was also clear.
And it has not been so, All went up in smoke, This has been a case won at the final allegations, and the trial per se is of no consequence, and although there are a couple of brilliant ideas here and there, they are lackluster because everything is white or black, good or bad and contrasts do not exist, and the story has seemed superficial and hurried because of this lack of nuances.
The position of the prosecution is not explained and is inexplicable and the case in hand is too cruel and savage to treat it so loosely.
My conclusion is that the author has had to decide what to tell us and what not, and in the end the plot has been based more on melodrama than on legality.
I wish it had hadmore pages full of reasoning, It would have been astar story, Good ol' page turner,
I enjoyed the characters described well, yet leaving enough to my imagination, I felt the story pulling me right in and I just couldn't stop reading, I will be sure to watch for other writing by Mr, Victor Menthosstars. this was really good. i realise I havent read a legal thriller for a long time, Part of why I liked it is because it was short, Sometimes authors of legal thrillers feel the need to put in as much detail as it would take to actually present the case, Ive docked half a star because the lawyers success did suspend belief a little, An entertaining read. Stick it to them
In most fiction novels, you know the good gal or guy is going to win, the question is how.
In this story the author does an excellent job of sticking it to the bad guy, I gaveinstead ofbecause the portrayal of the prosecutor was one dimensional, I would have given it two if it wasnt plagiarism,
The author used the ides from
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
Young fresh out of university lawyer that no one want to hire, gets a job at a small law firm.
The owner of the firm has questionable reputation and connections to the crime world, The young lawyer gets a big case and wins it,
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
A parent takes the law in his own hands and kills the two boys that rape his little girl while they were escorted out of the court.
Young lawyer takes the case and wins it, Beautiful female assistant that help him, falls in love with him and ends up in bed with him,
The whole writing had this John Grisham feel to it, but lacked the research and experience,
The only thing that seems to be the writers idea is the closing argument of Theodore Brigham which is a valid point, but not enough to call the book his own.
.