John Grisham has written a legal thriller which reminded me of an Ann Rule true-crime book. It is very procedural, but it doesn't lose too much of theJohn Grisham has written a legal thriller which reminded me of an Ann Rule true-crime book. It is very procedural, but it doesn't lose too much of the excitement of a novel of fiction. 'The Whistler' is a good book to bring along to the beach or while riding public transit.
I have copied the book blurb because it is accurate:
"We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of justice.
But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.
Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.
But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.
What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.
But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.
Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else....more
‘The Cage’ by Bonnie Kistler was a disappointment for me. Partially it was because I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters who were ‘The Cage’ by Bonnie Kistler was a disappointment for me. Partially it was because I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters who were mostly lawyers. The lawyers are somewhat similar to the people in HBO’s Succession series, except ‘The Cage’ is not funny nor about a family. Basically the lawyers all overreach in their ambitions, moving into gray areas of legality, with some going beyond the red lines of illegality. I thought the writing seemed a bit flat, too, maybe due to an almost procedural style the author uses in various behind-the-scene legal maneuvers.
The cover blurb promises an excitement I didn’t feel:
”Combining the propulsive narrative drive of The Firm with the psychological complexity of The Silent Patient, a gripping and original thriller about two professional women—colleagues at an international fashion conglomerate—who enter an elevator together . . . but only one is alive when they reach the ground floor.
On a cold, misty Sunday night, two women are alone in the offices of fashion conglomerate Claudine de Martineau International. One is the company’s human resources director. Impeccably dressed and perfectly coiffed, she sits at her desk and stares somberly out the window. Down the hall, her colleague, one of the company’s lawyers, is buried under a pile of paperwork, frantically rushing to finish.
Leaving at the same time, the two women, each preoccupied by her own thoughts, enter the elevator that will take them down from the 30th floor.
When they arrive at the lobby, one of the women is dead. Was it murder or suicide?
An incredibly original novel that turns the office thriller on its head, The Cage is a wild ride that begins with a bang and picks up speed as it races to its dramatic end.”
For me, none of the above was true except for the brief synopsis about the death mystery in the elevator. Instead the book reminded me of many novels that are the first in a series from a new author with obvious promise of better books to come. Kistler definitely knows about legal firms from the inside. Her biography explains she was a trial lawyer, and I liked the insider reveals about how a legal firm works! However, for me, the characters were barely two-dimensional, the plot was not propulsive nor was there psychological complexities.The lawyers were primarily narcissistic to different degrees. Their narcissism and desires for power and wealth cause their difficulties. But, perhaps the main character, lawyer Shay Lambert, will be headlining a series which gets better and better, as how many do eventually? She became a stronger and wiser person from her problems, and she gradually grew on me. A little bit.
I was reminded of the early books of Marcia Muller about the private detective Sharon McCone (start here: Edwin of the Iron Shoes), which I liked very much by book four.
aPriL does feral sometimes
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Books:
legal-thriller
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