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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The final third is great, 4 Mar 2009
First Sentence: On a Wednesday evening in early December, Dismas Hardy, standing at the thin line of dark cherry in the light hardwood floor of his office, threw a dart.
Attorney Dismas Hardy takes on a case from attorney Charlie Bowen, who has recently disappeared. Evan Scholler was a National Guard reservist sent to Iraq. Ron Nolan was an ex-Navy Seal now in Iraq working for a private contracting agency supplying security in Iraq. The interaction between Evan and Ron results in Ron being dead and Evan found guilty and in prison for his murder. But was he? Dismas is not so certain.
Absolutely relevant to today and the Bush presidential years, this books deals, in harsh terms, with the war in Iraq, government security contractors and federal waste.
Two-thirds of the book deals with those subjects, the relationship between the two men and it outcome. Only in the last third of the story does Dismas come fully into the story.
I found it rather slow going to that point as I didn't particularly care about the characters. However, once Dismas and Abe Glitsky joined the story, it picked up. This wasn't my favorite Lescroart read, but it was still quite good.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Invincible Dismas..., 16 Mar 2008
Dismas Hardy and his buddy Abe Glitsky are back, together with the rest of the colourful cast from the legal world of San Francisco. And the restaurant business. Lou the Greek and Moses at The Little Shamrock are serving the hungry/curious (today's Special at Lou's is not for the fainthearted) and thirsty as faithfully as ever. Secretary commander Phyllis in charge at the office and wives Franny and Treya at home, complete the daily order of things for our two friends.
The story is up to date, starting out in Iraq. Actually about two thirds of the book does not include Dismas & Co. at all, who only show up for the wrapping up of the mess and ensuring a happy ending.
Evan Scholler and Ron Nolan meet on different missions in Iraq. Their paths cross in connection with a serious incident which kills almost all lieutenant Scholler's men and leaves Evan seriously wounded. He is flown back to The States for brain surgery and further treatment. Having lost lots of his faculties both mentally and physically, the prognosis is for a long time somewhat shaky. But against all odds, Evan improves and becomes the miracle guy getting to be - almost - as good as new.
But Evan and Ron end up in a deadly conflict, both over what happened in Iraq and about Evan's beautiful girlfriend Tara. A conflict which ends with Ron's death and Evan ending up in prison for life. Attorney Charlie Bowen disappears while preparing Evan's appeal. His wife commits suicide, or does she?
The courtroom scenes at Evan's trial are simply brilliant. Even though I had to peep at the end in order to find out..., they kept me awake all night. Almost unbelievable that Lescroart is not a trial lawyer. These scenes kept me completely hooked and on edge until the predictable result. Didn't matter if it was predictable, the characterization and badgering between prosecution and defense is as good as it gets and far the best part of the book.
After Bowen's death Hardy takes over the appeal, and although it's neatly wrapped up, I felt a tiny bit disappointed with the last chapters. Hardy takes chances, setting not only his own life but that of his wife's, in peril. Seemingly, he knows what he does, and of course, James Bond never dies... But still. There is a fairytale flavour in the air here, saved, however, by the three last pages of the epilogue.
All is good which ends well. "The Betrayal" is another fine work by John Lescroart. If not quite a five, a solid four.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping, 1 Oct 2009
I had read a Lescroart novel some years back and recall not being overly impressed. Time, perhaps, to change my view.
The Iraq war and the use of Amercian contractors form the backdrop as a veteran is accused of killing a colleague on their return to the States.
The book has it all : a good plot, sound writing, some good lines, courtroom suspense and an ending that the reader won't sigh over. It is perhaps a bit long with the scene-setting taking virtually 400 pages. That said, readers like me will remain enthralled.
Some reviewers on the US Amazon site were critical of the book because (a) it is political, and (b) regular characters from previous novels are only given limited air time. On the first of these points, I found nothing at all offensive. On the second, it was hard for me to miss characters I wasn't acquainted with. It remains, in my view, a very good stand-alone novel.
Overall, I found this to be an excellent piece of work and Lescroart has certainly done enough for me to go out and look for more of his novels.
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