Semiautomatic

Andrew Giobberti

by Robert Reuland

Rob Reuland's first novel, Hollowpoint , was described by the Guardian as 'a blackly comic tale of a lawyer on a redemptive mission in the bleak Brooklyn projects. Reuland guides us through the cynical courtrooms and mean streets with assurance, cruel wit and pathos.'Semiautomatic features the same lawyer, Andrew Giobberti. Having resolved an explosive case in a controversial manner, Giobberti was exiled from the high-powered DA's Homicide Bureau to the dusty decay of the Appeals Bureau. But now the powers that be want this brilliant, difficult prosecutor back in the courtroom. They're counting on Giobberti's courtroom brilliance to ensure a guilty verdict for murder suspect Haskin Pool. It seems a straightforward enough case - a bodega robbery gone bad, leaving a well-loved grocer in a pool of his own blood. The press has poured a lot of ink on the story, pressuring local pols to get a killer behind bars.What people want and what they get may be two different things - for Giobberti has a habit of uncovering nothing but the whole truth. It doesn't take long for him to realize this case stinks. There's a conspiracy to convict that reaches well up the political hierarchy and it's fully expected that Giobberti will play a key role in this seamy drama.

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2004

About the author

"Rob Reuland writes beautifully—about sadness and cities and injured dreams. He has renewed my faith in the health and future of the urban crime novel." —Dennis Lehane

I am ROBERT REULAND, an American novelist and criminal trial attorney.

I’ve spent more than twenty-five years working in the criminal justice system in Brooklyn, New York, first as an Assistant District Attorney in the homicide bureau. After publication of my first novel HOLLOWPOINT, I was fired by the DA. Now I defend persons accused of murder and other violent crimes. I also work to free persons wrongfully convicted by police and prosecutorial misconduct. I’ve investigated, prosecuted, and defended thousands of alleged felonies and have tried nearly one hundred cases to verdict before a jury.

After publication of my second novel SEMIAUTOMATIC, I took a break from writing to raise my kids and build my legal practice. BROOKLYN SUPREME is my third book. All of my books are set in my working life, and I try to present that world accurately. Because I write "true stories that never happened," I appreciate the novels of Tana French, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and others who write about crime without ever losing sight of the men and women affected by it.

My books have been translated into many languages and HOLLOWPOINT was to be made into a movie by Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella prior to their unfortunate, early deaths.

I have law degrees from Cambridge University and at the Vanderbilt University School of Law. I now divide my time between New York City and New Hampshire.

Drop me a line if you wish: rob@robreuland.com

Reviews

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. This one frustrates and infuriates. At times, you want to grab a character and demand, "You can't stop; what do you mean by that comment?" But persistence is often rewarding, never more important than with Semiautomatic. The book grows on you. It's about life in Brooklyn, from the toughness of its streets, to the realities of its policing and the difficult decisions of its courts. The narrator, and central figure, is Andrew Giobberti - but you rarely hear his first name! Deep down, Gio's calling is criminal prosecution but, because of his own difficulties including conflicts with higher-ups, and they keep surfacing, he's languishing in appeals. Out of the blue he's asked to take a hot-potato, prosecuting the case of an outrageous shooting of a convenience store owner. His question is "Why me?" Good question. Things become difficult immediately - once he meets the young, black female prosecutor he's replacing, Laurel Ashfield. She wants nothing to do with him or the case. Here we have the heart of the matter. Overlook the legal talks between Gio and Laurel at your peril. As to the title, I don't think it refers to a type of gun. (Fe2020/Oc2025)

[David Macpherson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just infuriated me. there was a lot of moments where our heero was frustrated that people were not telling him things about his case and not finding out what they were, which is so annoying because we are just reading pages waiting for something to occur or be explained and yet not until the near end to we realize what is going on in the case. And the ending where the bad guy is punished is a very unrealistic deus ex machina. I went through this wondering why I was bothering

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a really, really hard time trying to finish this book. The plot is interesting, the characters are quite well drawn, there is a lot of humor in the book, and, most importantly, the "seamy and seedy world" of Brooklyn DA office politics is shown with incisive insight. Mr. Reuland worked in the exact office he is writing about, so I tend to believe his portrayal of corrupt lawyers/politicians who care only about their careers and are ready to offer lives of other people on the altar of furthering their goals. Mr. Reuland's message about the troubled court system is clear, direct, and powerful.

For me, the problem with the book is the writing. Maybe other readers will find the writing great; apparently the professional reviewers quoted in the blurbs did. I find the book grossly overwrought in many places. Simple actions and thoughts that take fraction of a second in real life are magnified. Time is stretched. Hidden motives of actions are elaborated on. The characters' behaviors are overanalyzed. It seems almost like the narrator is in an altered state of consciousness, being outside of himself. In some places it works, in most others it is an irritating affectation. It feels like Mr. Reuland tried very hard to add depth to his writing, but managed to add only a pretense of it.

Still, Mr. Reuland portrays the racial tensions well, and the interplay between ADA Giobberti and ADA Lauren Ashfield is sometimes engrossing. And the message "Things are not what we think they are" is clear. I would love to see the author quit the histrionics and pseudo-psychological-depth effects in his writing and focus on what he does really well: enriching the crime novel milieu with sharp social observation. One of the reviewers compares Mr. Reuland to Raymond Chandler. Well, Mr. Reuland has perhaps as much to say as Chandler did, but Chandler's one sentence is worth 50 tortured pages of Mr. Reuland's prose.

Two and a quarter stars.

[Jordan McPeek · Rating 2 out of 5]

The description makes it sound like a thriller. But it ain't. It's about an average guy in the Brooklyn DA's office. He never has a thought or observation he doesn't think worthy of telling the reader. That fills in the ordinariness of DA life, but can't say it's thrilling. Yes, he wrestles with his conscience, and so do others to various degrees. It's all about struggling with doing the right thing on a small scale. No superheroes or superbaddies. No dramatic action sequences. No tense standoffs or chases. Ordinary people going about their lives. You'd think that'd make it easy to relate to, something I always thought I looked for in a book. Guess I need more distance. Maybe 'cause that ordinary struggle hits too close to home.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

(In the interest of full disclosure Reuland is a friend. ) Reuland's second book brings back his hero/antihero, Andrew Giobberti, a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York. Following a failed case, Giobberti is shuffling work in prosecutorial Siberia in the Academic Appeals Office—his career seemingly over and his alienation almost total—when he is offered a lifeline, another murder case to try. But there a catch, catches, something's rotten in Brooklyn, and Giobberti won't play the sacrificial lamb. Reuland is a fine writer and as a novelist worth reading for his style and craft as much for the story he tells.