|
|
|
A KEVIN R. TIPPLE BOOK REVIEW: The Jury Master: A Novel by Robert Dugoni
The Jury Master: A Novel By Robert Dugoni Warner Books March 2006 Hardback ISBN# 0-446-57869-X 438 Pages
Sometimes a book will be billed by the publishing house, a publicist or some reviewers as a legal thriller when it is not one at all. To be really considered as legal thriller, a good chunk of the book, at the very least, needs to be in the courtroom. The main character usually needs to be a lawyer, though that main character could be a defendant or other interested party, and usually a significant portion of the book involves a jury trial. Both John Grisham and Scott Turow made a fortune writing legal thrillers and publishers went crazy trying to produce more. Their books have spawned numerous copycats written by lawyers who dreamed of quitting the courtroom to write books.
I don’t know if that is the case here, but I do know that this very good book is not a legal thriller. Sure, the main character is a lawyer by the name of David Sloane. Not only does he live in California (don’t they almost always?) but he is very good at what he does. He has almost become legendary in that he can take a case that has all but collapsed and still pull a win out. In so doing, he has one very good streak going, an obnoxious client that pays very well, and the beginnings of a crisis of conscience. He also soon has a home that has been severely vandalized in what most definitely was not a robbery and he may have become a target for someone looking for something.
Half the country away, a good friend of the President, as well as a trusted advisor, is found dead in “Black Bear National Park” in West Virginia. For Detective Molina, the death of Joe Branick appears to be a suicide and yet it just doesn’t feel right. Not only may it be connected to a missing local officer who may just have left for vacation early, he can’t understand why the Justice Department is pushing so hard for him to cease his investigation. If it was really a suicide, how come the hard sell?
Gradually, in a highly complex novel over the course of 438 pages, the two situations are linked together. Along the way, much like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle, a number of characters are introduced, with their own very complicated parts to play. The result is an engrossing read that gradually pulls the reader into a complicated political situation that stretches back thirty years ago. Where the stakes are huge and one man, David Sloane, is the center of it all. Part mystery and part political thriller, the result is a read that very rarely is in the courtroom or law offices and instead becomes a cross country run to survive. It will keep you hooked to the very last page which explains why it has been moving up the various bestseller lists.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2006 |