Civil rights lawyer Nate Rosen, hero of The Truth That Kills and The Love That Kills, looks into a case where an elderly Native American man is being pressured to sell off his land to accommodate gambling interests.
I really enjoyed this. I still don't know a lot more about the protagonist Nate Rosen's background than I learned in the first book. But I enjoyed the parallels the author draws between Rosen's Orthodox Jewish upbringing and the Native Wisdom he finds as he tries to clear his client Saul True Sky. And it was just a well-done little mystery, fun to try to puzzle out.
Fairly engaging mystery/thriller. I read most of it in one or two days, then took a little while finishing the last few chapters, but it’s a pretty decent little page turner!
THE SPIRIT THAT KILLS by Ronald Levitsky has interesting characters and setting. That is, civil liberties lawyer Nate Rosen from Washington, D.C. is representing an American Indian client charged with murder in South Dakota. It has an interesting mystery plot and courtroom maneuvering.
A negative in my mind is that Rosen dwells far too much on his personal, marital problems. The author is obviously using this as a way to show the main character’s vulnerability and to gain the reader’s sympathies. This is valid, of course, but might be more effective in smaller doses.
A character trait I find more interesting is that Rosen has deep connections to the Jewish faith and culture. Numerous times he finds parallels and echoes between traditional Lakota and Jewish beliefs.
This leads to what may be one of the best courtroom scenes I have read in quite a while, in which the lawyer of Jewish faith and culture representing an Indian quotes a Christian Bible to prove his case. Of course, the judge asks for and receives more substantial evidence.
Justice is served in both the courtroom and in solving the murder.
I liked this book a lot. I learned some Indian customs and how religions are really a like in so many ways. It was a great plot with wonderful characters. It was a great mystery with a different twist.