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Witness for the Defense
His lifelong career in jeopardy after being accused of coercing testimony, San Francisco attorney Hunter Dobbs is forced to take the case of a man falsely charged with kidnapping, and the life of an innocent man, as well as his own, hangs in the balance
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 19, 2013
** Spoilers Within **
A reasonably well-written court-room drama, with good dialogue and a neat twist about the defendant.
However, I don’t feel the action sequences were very credible – particularly the ending which seemed contrived (as Mark Twain said when, an American novelist doesn’t know how to end his story – “kill everyone off”).
Too many open variables to really work.
A reasonably well-written court-room drama, with good dialogue and a neat twist about the defendant.
However, I don’t feel the action sequences were very credible – particularly the ending which seemed contrived (as Mark Twain said when, an American novelist doesn’t know how to end his story – “kill everyone off”).
Too many open variables to really work.
March 15, 2020
I had a really hard time getting into this book and then about half way it got better. I really had an issue with the beginning because it didn't seem plausible and then captain obvious showed up a few times and I almost stopped reading it. I bet some people did but I hate giving up on a book so will stick it through when others won't.
A defense attorney, Dobbs, was representing a client charged with a gang related shooting that killed a man and his younger sister. He is told there is a witness in lockup that claims he was there and saw the shooting and that his client wasn't the shooter. He interviews the 18 year old who is scared to death and realizes he is lying when he got key facts of the case wrong. He told him he couldn't put him on the witness stand because he'd purger himself. He feels bad for the kid though because he can tell he's being threatened by the gang and he is obviously just desperate to get away from them. Later when he is in court for a bail hearing for another client he sees the same kid sitting next to his client. When he is in chambers with the judge and other lawyer he asks for the judge to let that boy out on his own recognizance to help him out. That didn't go well because the kid had other outstanding warrants so he dropped it. After that he is learns he is being charged with suborning perjury because the kid claims he said he would put him on the stand to lie for his client.
I had a really hard time believing that would really happen. If that was all it took I think there would be no lawyers left to defend anyone. I could see it maybe if the lawyer actually had him listed as a witness for the trial but that didn't happen. It was just the word of a kid who was obviously scared to death.
A young lawyer, daughter of a retired judge, agrees to represent him and he drives over to meet her at her father's Christmas tree farm. While he's there an old army buddy of her fathers is arrested for attacking a young boy. He agrees to defend him against a dirty cop that planted evidence and he knows has done so before. Things get pretty intense as he tries to learn more about what happened and it seems like the evidence is pointing to the judge instead.
A defense attorney, Dobbs, was representing a client charged with a gang related shooting that killed a man and his younger sister. He is told there is a witness in lockup that claims he was there and saw the shooting and that his client wasn't the shooter. He interviews the 18 year old who is scared to death and realizes he is lying when he got key facts of the case wrong. He told him he couldn't put him on the witness stand because he'd purger himself. He feels bad for the kid though because he can tell he's being threatened by the gang and he is obviously just desperate to get away from them. Later when he is in court for a bail hearing for another client he sees the same kid sitting next to his client. When he is in chambers with the judge and other lawyer he asks for the judge to let that boy out on his own recognizance to help him out. That didn't go well because the kid had other outstanding warrants so he dropped it. After that he is learns he is being charged with suborning perjury because the kid claims he said he would put him on the stand to lie for his client.
I had a really hard time believing that would really happen. If that was all it took I think there would be no lawyers left to defend anyone. I could see it maybe if the lawyer actually had him listed as a witness for the trial but that didn't happen. It was just the word of a kid who was obviously scared to death.
A young lawyer, daughter of a retired judge, agrees to represent him and he drives over to meet her at her father's Christmas tree farm. While he's there an old army buddy of her fathers is arrested for attacking a young boy. He agrees to defend him against a dirty cop that planted evidence and he knows has done so before. Things get pretty intense as he tries to learn more about what happened and it seems like the evidence is pointing to the judge instead.
December 21, 2021
Attorney Hunter Dobbs is in deep trouble. He's representing a low life who cons another prisoner into providing him with a false alibi. When Hunter refuses to put the liar on the stand, his client tells the judge that Hunter was the one who tried to get the guy to lie. He's suspended from his public defender job and, to fill the time, works with his own attorney on her first murder case. These two cases weave interestingly through this story. I'd never read any of Eberhardt before but after finishing this one, went out and got his two former books. I love finding a new author!
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April 25, 2021Interesting.
May 8, 2023
I really enjoyed this legal thriller with lots of action and a fast paced plot. Two seemingly unrelated storylines converge in an explosive climax.
2023 nursery rhyme challenge-for
2023 nursery rhyme challenge-for
June 18, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and have discovered a new author to follow!
March 10, 2014
I tend to like legal thrillers more than other types of thrillers. This one, not so much.
Public defender Hunter Dobbs is faced with a "witness" who is happy to testify falsely to help keep Dobbs' client from being convicted. Dobbs soon figures out that the guy is lying and says no thanks.
The thanks he gets for this action is an accusation that he tried to force the witness to lie on the stand.
Meanwhile, Dobbs lands another case, thanks to the daughter of a judge who had caused Dobbs no end of trouble before the judge retired. A friend of the judge is accused of kidnapping a boy. The friend and the judge were both in the military years ago, and the friend has since become a drifter. He was staying on the judge's farm, helping out, when accused.
Dobbs is faced with having to defend himself in a peculiar sort of proceeding. He is prevented by client-lawyer ethics to reveal what actually happened between him and the witness. So he has to look elsewhere for corroboration of his innocence. As for the kidnapping case, there are rumors that the judge himself might be involved. What's true here and what's not?
Some interesting legal issues but not enough. The writer is also not as skillful as I would have liked. He creates a character, Dobbs, who is not all that likable, who flies off the handle rather too easily (and probably too easily for any court to accept in real life), who has a two-dimensional view of women (not uncommon among these legal thriller writers, unfortunately), and just isn't that interesting. I'd set it somewhere below Grisham, maybe a grade or so.
Public defender Hunter Dobbs is faced with a "witness" who is happy to testify falsely to help keep Dobbs' client from being convicted. Dobbs soon figures out that the guy is lying and says no thanks.
The thanks he gets for this action is an accusation that he tried to force the witness to lie on the stand.
Meanwhile, Dobbs lands another case, thanks to the daughter of a judge who had caused Dobbs no end of trouble before the judge retired. A friend of the judge is accused of kidnapping a boy. The friend and the judge were both in the military years ago, and the friend has since become a drifter. He was staying on the judge's farm, helping out, when accused.
Dobbs is faced with having to defend himself in a peculiar sort of proceeding. He is prevented by client-lawyer ethics to reveal what actually happened between him and the witness. So he has to look elsewhere for corroboration of his innocence. As for the kidnapping case, there are rumors that the judge himself might be involved. What's true here and what's not?
Some interesting legal issues but not enough. The writer is also not as skillful as I would have liked. He creates a character, Dobbs, who is not all that likable, who flies off the handle rather too easily (and probably too easily for any court to accept in real life), who has a two-dimensional view of women (not uncommon among these legal thriller writers, unfortunately), and just isn't that interesting. I'd set it somewhere below Grisham, maybe a grade or so.
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September 15, 2008see Body of a Crime
October 22, 2012
good book, fast paced, the first line of the book let me know I would like this author, he has a vivid detailed style, i would like to read more by him
August 30, 2013
This was a new author for me.
Exciting court room drama and
a lot of twists and turns. Keeps
you turning those pages.
Exciting court room drama and
a lot of twists and turns. Keeps
you turning those pages.
April 24, 2014
Read in a day. Excellent
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews