The Hearing

Dismas Hardy #7

by John Lescroart

The call comes at midnight. It looks like a tragic and petty murder - a rising star in San Francisco's legal firmament found shot in a dark alley. But for homicide lieutenant Abe Glitsky, the crime cuts horribly close to home - unknown to anyone, the victim was his daughter. Seething, Glitsky leans hard on his only suspect - a homeless heroin addict found lingering over his daughter's body, with her jewelry in his pocket and a smoking gun in his hand.

The city's embattled, ambitious D.A., Sharron Pratt, sees an opportunity to revive her troubled administration by publicly declaring war on the killer and vowing to deliver the death penalty, putting the case on the fast track to certain conviction. Unable to watch a man die for Pratt's political gain, Dismas Hardy warily takes on the defense. But as Hardy's crusade to secure his client a fair hearing ensues, a lethal web of political corruption, legal conspiracy, and cold-blooded murder begins to unravel. In a case that will send shock waves through the city of San Francisco and echo in the private lives of its most prominent citizens, the hearing is just the beginning.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Legal Thriller, Thriller, Crime, Legal, Mystery Thriller

464 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2000

About the author

John Lescroart (born January 14, 1948) is an American author best known for two series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the characters Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky.

Lescroart was born in Houston, Texas, and graduated from Junípero Serra High School, San Mateo, California (Class of 1966). He then went on to earn a B.A. in English with Honors at UC Berkeley in 1970. In addition to his novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays.

Reviews

[Diane Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

a winner!! great mystery,writing,characters and great courtroom drama scenes...satisfying ending (paperback!)

[Ted Wagoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard book for me to put down. I like court room scenes, lawyers and police working together and this one was chocked full of court room antics and schemes.. Dismis Hardy is a great character,,kind of a super man being a husband, a good father, a defense attorney, a homicides cop best friend, and even a little match making on the side.. The writer doesn't just suggest possible alternate possibilities but he writes in a way that you, the reader, come up with these possibilities on your own,,then he shoots them down!! lol..there are twists, twists and turns in this one.. If you a reader of crime novels, you'll love this one, it has the crime mysteries as well as taking it into the court room..Great book, really..

[wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished yesterday the 29th of august 2020 good read four stars really liked it kindle owned but curious about san francisco weather, spent the better part of a year at hunter's point naval shipyard and i never thought the weather was cold thought the weather was great in fact but maybe i missed the better part of the winter season. that's all folks.

[ElaineY · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW OF AUDIOBOOK; FEBRUARY 10, 2017
Narrator: Robert Lawrence

Lescroart is longwinded, as usual, but Dismas and Friends are such a likeable lot that I did not mind. I like Glitsky ( have yet to listen to his own series) and in this installment he shares centerstage with Dismas. The first half (and more) was a little heavy-going in that several threads and characters are woven in. I was thinking to myself they'd all better be nicely tied up at the end or I will be a very grumpy fan. They are, and the final few hours of this 15-hour book is one of the best courtroom dramas (if a little primetime soapyish) that make this audiobook a winner in a series that I was slow to get going with.

There're lots of details and little paths to follow that I did get a little overwhelmed at first but it did settle, as did I. I'm glad things ended HFN (Happy For Now) for the good guys and even the suspect was on his way to redeeming his life at the end of the book. This is what I treasure in my fiction (happy endings) and I value the author for giving me this, unlike Brian Freeman whose Jonathan Stride books always leave me depressed and empty.

Verdict: Highly recommended for legal thriller fans.

[Johnny G. · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a stinker. I pushed through to the end, though, because I wanted to see how the hearing played out. You’d think that a murder/mystery in San Francisco, allegedly committed by a drug user, would be interesting. How in the world could anyone defend a junkie? This story missed the mark with its character development, dialogue that NOBODY would ever use, and, not to mention, it took almost 400 pages to get to the hearing.
I am NOT interested in the characters and wouldn’t think of reading on in this series. I just can’t get over how poor this book is/was.

[Linda Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, I have found where Treya enters the story....

When Abe Glitsky is called upon to handle a murder, at first he orders the detectives to strong arm the defendant, get a confession. After speaking with his friend Dismas Hardy, Abe revisits his tactics and the filmed confession. Why? Because the victim is his secret, a secret he has shared with no one; his biological daughter.

There is more going n in this case then meet's the eye; Glisky ans been suspended s he teams up with Hardy to expose the truth; both men will risk their lives t get to the truth!

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, kept me hooked throughout even after it was sorta clear who the killer was. Equal parts procedural and human-interest. Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky and Freeman are all characters you like and root for; even Hardy's client, Cole Burgess, grows on you after a while. On the whole, I wasn't surprised I was hooked to the book, and the next thing on my list is to look for more in the Dismas Hardy series.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this series in order and have found a lot to like. On the plus side, this book advances the well drawn main characters (and has some great secondary characters), has some original plot twists and dramatic courtroom scenes. As with the other books I’ve read in the series so far it’s quite long and there are many characters to juggle, but it’s a good bet for readers who enjoy this author.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satisfying read.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book, compelling story and interesting outcome

[Byron Washington · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, albeit with a convoluted plot gracing a novel that was probably two hundred pages too long. That's Lescroart's way though. The minutae is mind numbing sometimes, but once you complete his tale all of your questions have been answered. Everything tied up in a nice little bow.🎀

Buy it, read it and enjoy!!👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥

[Tonya Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book with many facets.
Dismas Hardy is an amazing character.
I love the story lines incorporated in this murder mystery.
I highly recommend this book to those who love trying to figure out a great murder mystery.

[Lynn Pribus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a good read. Someone at my gyn must be a fan, because over the past week a half dozen have appeared in the swap basket.

Fairly complex plots, familiar characters including Glitsky, Dismas Hardy, Wu, Frannie and others. Includes real families with children and their complications to people's lives.

In this one, the body of an attorney know to Hardy is found by police with a druggie crouched over her and her jewelry in his pocket. Sure case, right? Well, of course not. But a puzzle to the end.

[Johnnie Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay book definitely a 3 star. A mystery, a murder mystery, actually at least 3 murders, missed opportunities to connect with someone, drugs, booze, an odd hookup, a trial. There was a lot going on, perhaps too much.

Don’t think I will read any follow up books, but that could change.

[Rob Nankin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars in this overly long book. Kept my interest but needed some editing.

[Nan Williams]

I thought I had read all of John Lescroart's books, certainly all of them featuring Dismas Hardy. I was thrilled to find The Hearing written in 2001. I looked forward to enjoying it as I have enjoyed his other books.

Nope, not so. The plot was probably a good one, but he just couldn't get away from the racial issue. Every single page we had to read what color someone was and that they were dating (or married to) someone of a different color. How many times did he mention (and emphasize) that Abe is 1/2 black and 1/2 Jewish? How many times was I told that the woman senator was black and married to a white guy? And those are just 2 characters. He was simply obsessed with noting everyone's skin color and heritage, choice of friends' skin color, etc.

I made it 128 pages and really wanted to get into the plot, but slogging through all his racial issues was just too, too tedious and unbelievably redundant. Tell me once or tell me twice - not with every single mention of that character!

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t like this book.

[Emily Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lt. Abe Glitsky has not told any of his friends that he had a daughter, Elaine, born of a short relationship before Glitsky’s marriage. Glitsky had not revealed their relationship to his daughter who is an attorney at a San Francisco law firm. Now, Elaine has been murdered and Glitsky wants nothing more than to have the killer arrested. Once the heat of his anger subsides, Glitsky realizes that the man arrested for the killing may be innocent after all.

[Coralie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a courtroom drama in a while and this one was excellent. The author is a little long winded, but I still stayed up until the early morning hours to finish this book because I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended!

[Jane Giardino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Lescroart read and it will not be the last. I liked the main characters and the plot was complex and well done. Suspenseful as in the best John Grisham novels but with more humor and sophistication. Thoroughly enjoyable!

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A twist

Long, complex, with characters intertwined. Had to check out twice from digital library to finish. Couldn’t leave it unread to the end. It had a twist that was not expected- worth the read.

[Pisces51 · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE HEARING [2001] By John Lescroart
My Review Five Stars*****

This novel is Book #7 of the author’s popular Dismas Hardy series (19 books in print when I finished reading this installment last month). In 2020 I began the goal of reading all of the Hardy book series in the order of their publication. It is proving to be a daunting task but an overall enjoyable one, having begun the journey only last year and finished the first seven novels before the advent of 2022.

This legal thriller featuring the colorfully dubbed “Diz” (short for “Dismas” after the tortured thief from Calvary) was published a full two decades ago. I was a big fan of Lescroart’s works in those early days, renting Unabridged versions of his books on tape whenever I could find them. I somehow missed this title so it was the first time I read THE HEARING.

In this seventh offering in the book series and follow-up to NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, Hardy reluctantly agrees to defend a confessed murderer named Cole Burgess. Elaine Wager, a beautiful attorney and rising political star (whose mother Loretta Wager had been the popular charismatic African-American Senator from California), is found shot to death in the street. The man in custody for the high profile killing is a recalcitrant drug addict, heavy boozer, liar, and thief. His own sister and brother-in-law abandoned him. It is a confluence of circumstances that result in Dismas standing beside Cole, a down-and-out heroin junkie, at the arraignment and subsequently at his side at “The Hearing”.

Fans of the Dismas Hardy series are well acquainted with Hardy’s steely best friend Abe Glitsky, the head of SFPD’s homicide division. The colorful and somewhat scary Glitsky is black but also half-Jewish. The murder victim Elaine Wager was Abe’s daughter, which had been a closely guarded secret. In fact, Abe did not learn that he had a daughter until after Loretta’s death. The hapless Cole Burgess was apprehended fleeing the scene of Elaine’s murder and discovered with jewelry belonging to the victim on his person. Burgess was “dead drunk” and in the early stages of heroin withdrawal when Glitsky and his detectives descended upon him. Glitsky was fueled by the pain of his daughter’s death and the blinding rage of vengeance. The interrogation of the suspect and the confession that was subsequently obtained was not unsurprisingly less than righteous and by the book.

Initially everyone believes that Cole Burgess is a guilty man but it quickly dawns on Abe that the conviction of his daughter’s killer may be negatively impacted by his squad’s handling of the suspect and the subsequent manner of securing the “confession”. Abe’s fallibility carries heavy consequences for him, but it is but one of the pivotal reasons that Hardy finds himself involved in yet another fascinating death penalty case.

Fans of Lescroart are likely to have loved this one. I used past tense because this book was published two decades ago, and takes us back to the streets of San Francisco at the dawn of the new millennium. I’d like to believe that there are many fans like me who are reading the book series in order. THE HEARING is a novel that could be read and enjoyed as a standalone, but the character arcs of the recurring personalities in the Hardy series is an integral aspect of the overall enjoyment factor of the reading experience. I adore the recurring character of Defense Attorney extraordinaire David Freeman for instance. The flamboyant Freeman is “larger than life”, absolutely a brilliant legal strategist but also LOL hysterical at times when he outwits his opponents. Fans know that at this point in the series that Dismas has rented office space in David’s Law Office building.

Uber liberal DA Sharon Pratt returns in this installment, now facing a re-election campaign that has her trailing in the ratings at the polls. She sees the high-profile murder case of Elaine Wager as a way to flip the switch and make her constituents forget about all of the failures that resulted from her liberal politics. She announces that Cole Burgess will be charged with Elaine’s murder with special circumstances (robbery committed during the course of the murder) rendering it a Death Penalty Case. Dismas is appalled by the incomprehensible move by the DA’s Office and jumps into the fray feet first. Abe is working behind the scenes to investigate the case following his suspension from the SFPD. Then David Freeman proposes to act as Keenan Counsel and makes his mentally sharp and intellectually hungry interns all available to investigate and prepare for the scheduled Hearing that is rapidly approaching.

I loved the courtroom drama in this novel. It was informative, entertaining, and at times LOL hysterical. Hardy is outstanding in his own right, but Freeman is truly a legal eagle and can pull off the most outrageous antics imaginable. THE HEARING was an exceptionally satisfying character-driven legal thriller with an impressive number of twists and turns in the story line.

Lescroart’s loyal fans understand that his books are all about fleshing out the colorful and imaginative repertoire of recurring characters who comprise Hardy’s universe. The big “takeaway” is that long-time fans will patiently allow the story line to move along with stops and starts, not expect immediate gratification, and comprehend that the big pay awaits but only after the author has laid the foundation. The last section of the novel that addresses “The Hearing” is fantastic and engrossing. Lescroart’s novels to date have been long (this one 529 pages). The length of his novels is a strength but also a vice. His sprawling sagas of legal intrigue are great when the plot “hooks” the reader’s interest. Conversely, it can feel like the book is going on forever. This seventh book in the series is my favorite of the ones I’ve read. It prodded me to learn the difference between a Grand Jury Indictment and a Preliminary Hearing. Fascinating stuff, but I was disappointed that in my state it is necessarily the Grand Jury approach in criminal proceedings.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. To me it just seemed to drag on and on:(

[Ferne (Enthusiastic Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

As mentioned after reading, Nothing But the Truth, John Lescroart's series with Dismas Hardy, wife Frannie, friend and Head Homicide Detective Abe Glitsky, and brother-in-law (Frannie's brother) Moses McGuire, are characters that the reader comes to know more intimately than in some legal thrillers. I knew I had the next novel in the series on my "to read" pile and couldn't resist spending more time with all the series characters. This novel definitely becomes one of my favorites of the series. The headliner relationship in this novel features the friendship of Dismas and Abe. We learn more about Abe's sons and a relationship that he has kept secret. As family dynamics are explored when a carefully protected secret is exposed to family and friends. The legal thriller aspect takes us back to the court room with Dismas trying to protect a young man's life - guilty or not guilty - he doesn't deserve the death penalty or does he? Is the D.A.'s office so interested in the next election that they'll prosecute for a wrongful conviction? Is Abe as Head Homicide Detective so guilty over his silence in keeping a special and personal relationship a secret that he has created the opportunity for a wrongful confession? Can Dismas defend a client in the court room each day with so many unanswered questions about the night of the murder?

Without a doubt, don't miss #7 in the series! This series can be read out of order or as single stand-alone titles but knowing the history between the major characters definitely adds to the reading pleasure and treasure chest of John Lescroart's writing.

[Stephen Brayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot

Hardy’s best friend, Lieutenant Abe Glitsky, has kept a secret from him…and everyone else. Hardy never knew that Abe had a daughter-until she was shot dead. It seems obvious that the heroin addict hovering over her body with a gun is the guilty party, and Glitsky has few qualms about sweating a confession out of him. But there is more to this murder-much more. And as both Hardy and Glitsky risk their lives to uncover the truth, others are working hard to stop them.

My Analysis

This book took me a bit to get into. It started fine, but I lost track of characters every so often. this may be because I was listening to the audio book and the narrator made it difficult to keep on track.

However, I kept up with the story. There were a lot of characters and a lot of intrigue. The mystery was how was Hardy going to figure a way to clear his client.

Actually, this reminded me a bit of Perry Mason. Many of Gardner’s stories featuring the attorney didn’t have them going to trial. Perry discovered the guilty party at the preliminary hearing. I liked that. In this case, Hardy paralleled Mason in the “razzle-dazzle” department. I was surprised the judge allowed him to continue with his line of questioning with a lot of witnesses.

Anyway, a legal thriller always picks up the moment the hearing or the trial begins. Up until then, it’s all build-up, with various suspects, revelation of evidence, and digging for the truth.

Lescroart—I attended an event where he was the feature—channels his inner Gardner for this book. Glitsky gets involved with the case a’la Paul Drake.

My rank:

Blue Belt

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. After reading The 13th Juror I took some time to pick out my next Dismas Hardy book. I was pretty disappointed with this one. Admittedly, after The 13th Juror my expectations were very high, but even still I don't think this book is worth the time.

Lescroart is extremely wordy and ultimately takes the reader to an unsatisfying ending after bouncing around for far too long. Dismas Hardy is rarely shown a the sharp-witted but likeable attorney that we love, there is essentially no character development regarding the the accused, and the story is very predictable.

The writing is once again top-notch, but I could never recommend this to anyone.

[Jyoti Dahiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawyer Dismas Hardy (what kind of name that is becomes clear in this book) is begged by a friend to get her brother to hospital. He's a junkie, and the prime suspect in the murder of Elaine Wager who is the chief detective, Abe Glitsky's, unacknowledged daughter and a rising legal star. Abe has hinted to his staff to hang the mugger out to dry, hence the call. Dismas slowly becomes embroiled in the case, though Abe is his best friend, he admired Elaine, and hates his new client. Vintage Lescroart. But read the series in order, okay, otherwise there are too many spoilers.

[Reviewed in 2012; uploaded here now]

[Arno ILIC · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Lescroart is a great writer and story teller. The way he has put this story together and the twists and turns were great. The story is about a lawyer who was murdered. The suspect was arrested at the scene with the murder weapon in his hands. It seemed an open-and-shut case until the lawyer and a suspended police lieutenant started peeling away the layers of evidence. This had me continue thinking that other people were guilty, but near the end, it became apparent that none of those I thought were guilty were not.

[Susan Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A popular attorney is killed. It appears that the killer is in custody. But, then we find out that the attorney was the love child of series regular, Homicide Detective Art Gilsky. And the killer is the brother of a good friend of the other series regular, defense attorney Dismis Hardy. I like these characters a lot and have enjoyed all the other Hardy/Gilsky books. This one started off fairly slowly but about a third of the way in, I was totally hooked.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of these days I'll learn not to start a Dismas Hardy when there's stuff I need to do.

Hardy gets into a case defending a young man accused of murder that he's not sure he committed. Lots of politics. Sharron Pratt, the DA, is determined to ask for the death penalty despite her previous laxity in prosecuting murders. But if Hardy's client didn't kill Elaine Weger (Abe Glitzky's illegitimate daughter) then who did?