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Semiautomatic
 
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Semiautomatic (Paperback)

by Robert Reuland (Author)
2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
RRP: £10.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (8 Jul 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0224061550
  • ISBN-13: 978-0224061551
  • Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.6 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,760,402 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Product Description
Rob Reuland's first novel, Hollowpoint, was described by the Guardian as 'a blackly comic tale of a lawyer on a redemptive mission in the bleak Brooklyn projects- Reuland guides us through the cynical courtrooms and mean streets with assurance, cruel wit and pathos.' Semiautomatic features the same lawyer, Andrew Giobberti. Having resolved an explosive case in a controversial manner, Giobberti was exiled from the high-powered DA's Homicide Bureau to the dusty decay of the Appeals Bureau. But now the powers that be want this brilliant, difficult prosecutor back in the courtroom. They're counting on Giobberti's courtroom brilliance to ensure a guilty verdict for murder suspect Haskin Pool. It seems a straightforward enough case - a bodega robbery gone bad, leaving a well-loved grocer in a pool of his own blood. The press has poured a lot of ink on the story, pressuring local pols to get a killer behind bars. What people want and what they get may be two different things - for Giobberti has a habit of uncovering nothing but the whole truth. It doesn't take long for him to realize this case stinks. There's a conspiracy to convict that reaches well up the political hierarchy and it's fully expected that Giobberti will play a key role in this seamy drama.

From the Publisher
A brilliant literary thriller in the style of Scott Turow

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Average Customer Review
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2.0 out of 5 stars Very Weak, 7 Mar 2005
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I picked up this short crime novel 'cause I was in a rush and it had a nice blurb on the cover from George Pelecanos (one of my favorite writers). Well, haste definitely made waste for me, and I'm sad to report that Pelecanos gave me a bum steer. This story about a murder trial in Brooklyn is an utterly tepid and uninteresting piece of work. Part of the problem is that a lot of the backstory to the protagonist Giobberti, a 40-year-old homicide prosecutor for the District Attorney's office, resides in Reuland's debut, Hollowpoint. Apparently in that book Giobberti screwed up so badly that he was exiled in disgrace to the backwater of the Appeals Bureau. He also either then or subsequently lost his daughter in a traffic accident and his wife walked out on him. Now, some 18 months later, he is unexpectedly told to take over a routine case involving a teenager who killed a bodega owner in a stickup.

Already on the case is inexperienced junior prosecutor Laurel Ashfield, who's never tried a homicide. Most of the book revolves around Giobberti and her getting a feel for each other and the case. Almost immediately, Giobberti (and the reader) realizes there's something not quite right about the case, and it takes an awfully long time for the specifics to be revealed. Once revealed, the specifics end up being woefully uninteresting, revolving around the completely unshocking reality of cops and DAs playing fast and loose with the truth in order to put away bad guys in order to score political points. The theme of corrupt a corrupt legal system and bent cops has been exhaustively explored in film and fiction for over a century, and Reuland brings nothing new to the table here.

The author was himself a lawyer for the Brooklyn DA's Homicide Bureau, so the book does benefit from a certain authenticity of detail. Reuland is particularly strong in describing places and creating vivid mental images of the courtroom, apartments, bathrooms, offices, and so on. Unfortunately, the people moving through these spaces don't talk or think the way real people do. The dialogue tends to be so clipped and elliptical that one wonders if the author is trying to parody of pulp films. At one point Giobberti actually addresses Ashfield as "sister" and another character laughably tells Giobberti to "take your meathooks off me!" Worst of all, there's no suspense and no dramatic tension to be found anywhere in this entirely skippable book.

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