Customer Reviews
Horrible crime overrules good book - By: M. James, 11 Nov 2008 
I am a big fan of Richard North Patterson's American legal & political thrillers. Good plots. Strong, believeable characters. Page turning legal to & fro-ing. I was very pleased to find onein audio CD that I had not read. The book deals with the death penalty & a case where the ability of the lawyers to prove the death row inmate both innocent & severely retarded may not be enough to save him from a lethal injection. Inter governmental politics may be more important. I will not give away whether the lawyers succeed, as the suspense is kept going right up to the last word. However, for me the book was almost totally ruined by the constant, vivid & literal repetition of the details of the child abuse that was the original crime. Maybe I am more squeamish at such things than most Patterson readers. But I think at least a warning that explicit paedophilia is featured oftenin this book would have beenin order. The Audio CD recording was also made a laughing stock as just as the gruelling finale was read, there was a cheeky chappie advert by Jim Dale of some separate Harry Potter recordings - this was highly inappropriate, it even came before the Random House sign off. Not the best of my Richard North Patterson experiences.
Heavy going but worth sticking with - By: Janie U, 23 Jun 2007 
Yet again Richard North Patterson follows his John Grisham formula which seems to work to create really good books. RNP books always seem to go more heavily into the legal technicalities than John Grisham which is to his disadvantage, several times I found myself skipping through a piece of legal chat just to read the last few sentences & get the idea of what had happened.
The book started by getting straight into the story at a fast pace, had a lullin the middle & picked up the pace again at the end.
It was a long book & during the middle section I nearly put it down a couple of times, but I cared enough about the characters to want to know what developed & was pleased I stuck with it.
To much like the Chamber - By: Matthew Jones, 14 Apr 2006 I thought this would be a fantastic read unfortunately it turned out to be way to much like the Chamber by John Grisham.
The Lawyers asin the Chamber are looking for loop holesin the law to try & get their client off of death row. The whole time i was reading it i just had a sense of Deja vu.
The client & the family get close as if he was one of the family again very similar to the Chamber.
The actual crime is at worst man slaughter which makes the fact that the client is on death row laughable & far fetched.
Very disappointing read if you've read the Chamber don't bother. If you have'nt read the Chamber by John Grisham then read it instead of this.
Dull - By: P. Gill, 19 Jan 2006 Normally I'm a hige patterson fan but this book falls way short of the mark. It's dull, boring & unispiring. The book explores the intricacies of the death penaltyin the USA & plods along at a snails pace.
Patterson can usually create charcters you care about but, by the middle of this book, I was so bored I just didnt care what happend to them. He had clealry done his research for this book but failed to write the storyin a way that was enjoyable to read. a huge let down
In legal books none is better - By: , 30 Dec 2005 
As allways Richard North Patterson is able to writein depth about a legal & moral subject. This time it is about a convicted murderer on death row. The reader is never truely sure whether the subject is guilty or not, but nevertheless your sympathy will go out to him & his defenders. The pro's & cons of the death penalty are deeply explored, not only legally but also morally & politically. The story is convincing & very human. The only thing I found somewhat overdone is the fact that the daughter of the principal lawer had been molested as a child. The story does not really need this.For the rest this book is first class & a must for people, who love a good legal book .
