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Barry Siegel Actual Innocence
Ballantine Books 2001 0345413105 / 9780345413109 Mass Market Paperback Very Good
0345413105 From Publishers Weekly Despite its sleepy appearance, the tiny hamlet of El Nido, Calif., harbors terrible secrets. As Siegel's second thriller featuring attorney Greg Monarch (after The Perfect Witness) begins, El Nido resident Sarah Trant has been sitting on death row for five years, convicted by a jury of townsfolk on the basis of very shaky evidence. Monarch, who lives in the nearby town of La Graciosa and was formerly Trant's lover, agrees to handle her appeal, though he knows Trant has a history of mental instability. Upon arriving in El Nido, he gets a frosty reception. The district attorney won't help with even the most basic information, the sheriff is downright hostile and Trant's former attorney refuses to take his calls. Monarch pushes on, eventually discovering aspects of the case that were covered up the first time around. These include the fact that the testimony clinching Trant's convictionAa dying declaration from the victim identifying Trant as the killerAis patently false; the dying man's throat was cut all the way to the spine. Monarch figures the key to the case is the victim, Brewster Tomaz, an elderly geologist who had been working for an oil company that wanted to build a huge health spa on its now dry fields. Trant, who vehemently opposed the health spa plan, had clashed with Tomaz several times in the past, but so had many others, including people with knowledge of one of El Nido's even bigger secrets. Though some of the plot turns are predictable, Siegel beautifully captures the flavor of scandal in a small communityAthe knowing looks, the awkward silences, the amateur attempts at coverup. The novel ends, appropriately, not with big-city drama, but with a quiet, small-town America nod-nod-wink-wink deal. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal California attorney Greg Monarch is back (after The Perfect Witness), and this time out he's helping old girlfriend Sarah Trant in her last-ditch efforts to avoid execution. Sarah is claiming "actual innocence" as her final defense, saying that she was framed for the murder of old Brewster Tomaz, that she didn't cut his throat and leave him dead in El Nido Creek. Greg's investigation turns up not only flagrant trial misconduct by the prosecution but also a dark tangle of lies and twisted relationships that have pushed the citizens of seemingly peaceful El Nido Valley into a conspiracy of silence. And when Sarah's original defense lawyer suddenly dies of a mysterious illness, Greg begins to realize just how dangerous his investigation is. Crime reporter Siegel has again crafted a thriller filled with a wealth of legal detail and realistic characters that will appeal to Phillip Margolin fans. Highly recommended.ARebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Lib., Hammond, IN Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability.
Price:
1.69 USD
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Barry Siegel Actual Innocence
Ballantine Books 2001 0345413105 / 9780345413109 Mass Market Pa Good
0345413105 Mass Market Paperback. Good. Lite wear, creases otherwise a solid copy. General Used condition. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability.
Price:
1.69 USD
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Barry Siegel Actual Innocence
Ballantine Books 0345413105 / 9780345413109 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK Good
0345413105 Mass Market Paperback. Good. Lite wear, creases otherwise a solid copy. General Used condition.
Price:
0.69 USD
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Barry Siegel Lines of Defense
Ballantine Books 2003 0345438221 / 9780345438225 Mass Market Paperback Very Good
0345438221 From Publishers Weekly Siegel is a reporter who has written a couple of legal thrillers (e.g., Actual Innocence) and some true crime books. On the evidence of this work, set in a little California coastal town whose charms are rapidly giving way to progress, he is better at plotting there are some devious twists here, as well as some that don't quite ring true than characterization. Doug Bard is a conscientious and dogged detective, separated from his upwardly mobile financial-analyst wife, Sasha, who is not at all happy with the local DA's finding that a fire that killed an elderly eccentric and his young piano student was accidental. When the authorities finally accept that it was murder, they seem to Doug to have hit upon the wrong man as a suspect. Meanwhile the ambitious DA, glamorous Angela Stark, has set her cap for a man of mysterious wealth who's trying to develop the town. Bard is very much on his own as he tries to puzzle out the killer, and meanwhile comfort Sasha and young daughter Molly, who are receiving threats possibly because of him and his investigation? The balls are all kept in the air, and the real villain is a genuine surprise, but Sasha's role is unconvincing, and the characters are wooden; it takes more than fondness for a daughter to create a believable hero, and a love scene in which a man's body "reminded her of a Greek statue" suggests that style is not one of Siegel's strong points. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Booklist The Los Angeles Times reporter follows up his two previous legal thrillers--The Perfect Witness (1998) and Actual Innocence (1999)--with something of a change of pace. The setting is the same, La Graciosa, California; the writing is excellent, as always; even some of the supporting cast is familiar. But where is Greg Monarch, the attorney-protagonist of the previous novels? Retired, Siegel tells us, and living near Puget Sound. Stepping in as lead character is Douglas Bard, a detective on the local police force, whose suspicions about the supposedly accidental deaths of a schoolteacher and one of his young female students lead him into very deep, dark waters. It's always a little curious when an author dumps a series character, but Siegel very quickly makes us forget Monarch and cheer for the new guy, Doug Bard, a determined and shrewd investigator who only takes "No" for an answer when it suits him. It would be nice to see these two characters team up; until that happens, we look forward to more Bard adventures. David Pitt Copyright ?© American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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1.69 USD
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Barry Siegel Lines of Defense
Ballantine Books 2003 0345438221 / 9780345438225 Mass Market Paperback Very Good
0345438221 From Publishers Weekly Siegel is a reporter who has written a couple of legal thrillers (e.g., Actual Innocence) and some true crime books. On the evidence of this work, set in a little California coastal town whose charms are rapidly giving way to progress, he is better at plotting there are some devious twists here, as well as some that don't quite ring true than characterization. Doug Bard is a conscientious and dogged detective, separated from his upwardly mobile financial-analyst wife, Sasha, who is not at all happy with the local DA's finding that a fire that killed an elderly eccentric and his young piano student was accidental. When the authorities finally accept that it was murder, they seem to Doug to have hit upon the wrong man as a suspect. Meanwhile the ambitious DA, glamorous Angela Stark, has set her cap for a man of mysterious wealth who's trying to develop the town. Bard is very much on his own as he tries to puzzle out the killer, and meanwhile comfort Sasha and young daughter Molly, who are receiving threats possibly because of him and his investigation? The balls are all kept in the air, and the real villain is a genuine surprise, but Sasha's role is unconvincing, and the characters are wooden; it takes more than fondness for a daughter to create a believable hero, and a love scene in which a man's body "reminded her of a Greek statue" suggests that style is not one of Siegel's strong points. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Booklist The Los Angeles Times reporter follows up his two previous legal thrillers--The Perfect Witness (1998) and Actual Innocence (1999)--with something of a change of pace. The setting is the same, La Graciosa, California; the writing is excellent, as always; even some of the supporting cast is familiar. But where is Greg Monarch, the attorney-protagonist of the previous novels? Retired, Siegel tells us, and living near Puget Sound. Stepping in as lead character is Douglas Bard, a detective on the local police force, whose suspicions about the supposedly accidental deaths of a schoolteacher and one of his young female students lead him into very deep, dark waters. It's always a little curious when an author dumps a series character, but Siegel very quickly makes us forget Monarch and cheer for the new guy, Doug Bard, a determined and shrewd investigator who only takes "No" for an answer when it suits him. It would be nice to see these two characters team up; until that happens, we look forward to more Bard adventures. David Pitt Copyright ?© American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Price:
1.69 USD
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Barry Siegel Lines of Defense
Ballantine Books 0345438221 / 9780345438225 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK Good
0345438221 Paperback, cover has wear May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability.
Price:
0.49 USD
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Barry Siegel The Perfect Witness
Ballantine Books 1999 0345430840 / 9780345430847 Mass Market Paperback Very Good
0345430840 Amazon Review A beautifully crafted sense of place surrounds prizewinning journalist and nonfiction writer Barry Siegel's debut thriller in a cocoon of credibility, adding weight to a strong story. "If he closed his eyes, Jimmy almost could imagine himself back in the La Graciosa of old," Siegel writes about the fictional town on the central California coast. "Gone now was the cigar factory, the big wholesale meat market, the dairy, the Greyhound bus station... Henry's Hardware, where you could buy everything from kerosene lamps to washboards, was now an empty lot. The meat market was a dress store, the creamery a complex of sushi, cappuccino and moccasin shops. La Graciosa hadn't turned precious yet, but it was fighting the battle." In an area where the most important industry is no longer agriculture but nuclear energy, the town's own power structure has shifted. At its center is a dangerously ambitious district attorney, Dennis Taylor, who will do anything to win. Lawyer Greg Monarch, carving out a quiet living doing estates and wills, has worked for and against Taylor in the past, and has been badly burned on both sides. Now Taylor is about to nail Monarch's best friend and former law partner for murder, and Monarch has only a few faded defensive skills to fight what appears to be another losing battle. But as sharp and surprising as the book's resolution is, it's the image of the fading, changing town of La Graciosa that will stay in your memory. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal Greg Monarch's quiet life as a small-town lawyer is shattered when he is asked to defend his former partner, Ira Sullivan, on a murder charge. Unable to turn his back on an old friend, Greg reluctantly agrees to handle the case. However, he soon finds himself involved in both an ever-widening conspiracy and a moral dilemma. As Greg uncovers a complex web of government corruption and deceit, he is faced with the necessity of bending his own ethical standards and manipulating the star witness, a pathological liar, in order to free Ira. Siegel, author of the nonfiction A Death in White Bear Lake (LJ 6/15/90), offers a rather cynical but realistic view of the machinations behind the legal system combined with a collection of eccentric characters. The result is an intriguing blend of mystery, suspense, and courtroom drama that should appeal to readers of those genres. Recommended for most popular fiction collections.?Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany Libs. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability.
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1.69 USD
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11 |
Barry Siegel The Perfect Witness
Audio Literature 0787116939 / 9780787116934 Audiobook CASSETTE Very Good
0787116939 From Library JournalGreg Monarch's quiet life as a small-town lawyer is shattered when he is asked to defend his former partner, Ira Sullivan, on a murder charge. Unable to turn his back on an old friend, Greg reluctantly agrees to handle the case. However, he soon finds himself involved in both an ever-widening conspiracy and a moral dilemma. As Greg uncovers a complex web of government corruption and deceit, he is faced with the necessity of bending his own ethical standards and manipulating the star witness, a pathological liar, in order to free Ira. Siegel, author of the nonfiction A Death in White Bear Lake (LJ 6/15/90), offers a rather cynical but realistic view of the machinations behind the legal system combined with a collection of eccentric characters. The result is an intriguing blend of mystery, suspense, and courtroom drama that should appeal to readers of those genres. Recommended for most popular fiction collections.?Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany Libs.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From AudioFileThis legal detective novel boasts better writing than the Grisham model it resembles. Having given up criminal defense because of his guilt over a lost case, a conscientious attorney cannot escape representing his dissolute former partner on a murder rap. The case hinges upon a sexy psychopathic liar, the perfect witness of the title. The listener may at times wince at Ed Asner's narrating deficiencies--his growly, almost somnolent, pianissimo, odd rhythmic fluctuations and mid-sentence pauses. Yet, abetted by a suspenseful script, he exerts a certain hypnotic fascination. Furthermore, his voice is authoritative and his characterizations of women particularly fine. The effect is of a tiger, seemingly languid, but tense and ready to pounce. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, MaineFrom Kirkus ReviewsA dogged defense attorney's running battle with an unimpeachable prosecution witness raises disturbing questions about the nature of the judicial process, in this first novel by crime reporter Siegel (Shades of Gray, 1992, etc.). At first Greg Monarch thinks the evidence against his former law partner Ira Sullivan, now one step up from a drugged-out bum, is a joke. The pistol that killed neighboring postmaster Bob Wilson is found on Sandy Polson, not on Ira, along with $33,000 wrapped in one of the postmaster's towels. Sandy's explanation: Ira came rushing out of the post office and gave her the gun and the money to hold, and she was too frightened and confused to say no. The tale is incredible, of course--but she tells it, and the many stories that follow, with an absolute conviction that makes her the perfect witness. Sandy is one smooth piece of work. Whenever Greg threatens to trip her up on a detail, she just weaves his information into a new version just as seamless as the last. And when a dim corroborating witness, Paul Platt, phones Greg to tell him he's been lying under pressure from hungry D.A. Dennis Taylor, Greg--ever the boy scout--refuses to see him, then agrees, only to have Sandy and Taylor turn Paul around again, and Taylor haul Greg up on charges before the California bar. Greg struggles through Ira's trial trying to figure out the case's connection to a runaway jury's earlier rampage against the nearby Devil's Peak nuclear facility. But he gets stonewalled at every turn; he's no match in the courtroom for an accomplished liar like Sandy, and the jury takes only two hours to convict his client. Then things get really interesting. Not a whodunit, but a sharp, unsparing exploration of the conflicts between justice and advocacy in the adversarial system Greg's inherited from the Founding Fathers.
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1.79 USD
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