Hard Evidence

Dismas Hardy #3

by John Lescroart

The first evidence is found in the belly of a shark: a hand sporting a jade ring. The hand belongs to a Silicon Valley billionaire. When the rest of his bullet-ridden body washes up on shore, Dismas Hardy, assistant D.A., is suddenly plunged into San Francisco's murder trial of the century.
A Japanese call girl with a long list of bigshot johns is the defendant. But a series of bizarre twists and turns blows the case wide open, making Hardy himself a target for everyone from the victim's sexy daughter to the vengeful judge who wants Hardy to sizzle . . . .
"A gripping courtroom drama that may well be Lescroart's breakthrough novel . . . As always, Lescroart creates compelling, credible characters and holds the reader's attention through every step of the plot." — Publishers Weekly
"A compelling combination of courtroom drama and whodunit . . . Sparked with crackling dialogue and vivid scenes of its San Francisco setting . . . Lescroart is a fine writer." — Richmond Times-Dispatch

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

688 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 1993

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

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly, this story lacked interest and is much longer than necessary. Reluctantly, I give a passing grade. 2 of 10 stars

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The development of Dismas is excellent in this entry. Regular characters continue and interesting new ones appear. Dismas changes jobs more than once in this book. I think Lescroart offers some brilliant insight into the soul-crushing, ego-death that a fruitless job search can become. Lots of clues given towards the final twisted plot resolution...it's all laid out, the reader just has to follow.

[Olivia "So many books--so little time."" · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Lescroart is a genius. I've read three legal thrillers by him and his are among the best I've read. The plot of Hard Evidence has a lot of intriguing twists and turns, all of which make this book a page-turner.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem often with legal thrillers is I know too much about the law--and yes, it matters. Part of the pleasure of a good book is feeling immersed in another world--whether it's Mars or Ancient Greece or a nuclear submarine--or, in this case, the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Our hero in Hard Evidence, Dismas Hardy, is an ex-cop returning to the DA's office at 40 after a stint as a bartender. He's investigating a possible murder after a severed hand wearing a jade ring is found in the belly of a shark.

That's my first problem. Assistant District Attorneys don't investigate crimes--that's what police officers and their own investigators are for--and for good reason. They're supposed to try the case--they're not supposed to be participants who can themselves be called to the witness stand. Lescroat also has Hardy take part in an ex parte communication with a judge--a private conversation regarding a case without opposing counsel present. Not done. Then he has someone say that just because something is a homicide doesn't mean it can't be a suicide, accident or natural death. Er...no. By definition, a homicide--which legally is broader than muder--is the "deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another." The last straw was when towards the end of Part One, before we were on even page 100, Hardy was conducting a warrantless search. Just stupid--this is all first year law school stuff. And OK, Lescroat doesn't have a law degree, but in his Acknowledgements he credits several San Francisco District Attorney lawyers as helping him--he should have had at least one of them read through his manuscript. And if he did, he should have listened to them. Because Lescroat quickly lost credibility with me.

And while I might not care about that much if he had wit or style or could make me laugh or cry, it's a fatal flaw in what is popular thriller boilerplate.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, Diz...droning on and on like John Lescroart let you do, becomes very tedious reading. And I decided some time ago that life's too short to waste on books that I don't enjoy reading.

In my opinion, Hard Evidence needed some very serious editing which would have taken the 516 pages to a comfortable 350 pages more or less.

Lescroart's writing simply became very boring with pages and pages of saying little to keep the plot moving forward.

No, I will not stop reading this great series and yes, I do enjoy Lescroart's writing a lot; most of the time, anyway. No idea why, in my mind, this book 'went south' so fast for me. But like I said, life's too short...moving forward.

(Must be me because my GR friends liked it, a lot and we usually agree.)

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard Evidence (Dismas Hardy, #3) by John Lescroart.

This entry in the Dismas Hardy series is the best legal thriller I've read. Dismas doesn't stay in one place for a minute. Starting in the prosecution team and ending with the defense team.

A billionaire's body is found on the shore being filled with bullets. An Asian call girl is the prime suspect. To make matters more complex a former prominent judge is obsessed with her. Then the bottom drops out from beneath Dismas's feet and all hell breaks loose.

This was the best story in this series.

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third novel in the Dismas Hardy series kept me enthralled throughout.

In "Hard Evidence" Hardy is now working as an assistant district attorney. He's a newlywed with an adopted infant daughter and another on the way. Hardy's not thrilled that as one of the low men on the totem pole, his caseload consists of petty crimes committed by lowlife criminals. He understands its the pecking order in the DA's office, but still, he'd like to sink his teeth into something more substantial.

"Be careful what you wish for," might well describe the substantial case that comes his way. In the midst of working long hours and the distractions of the job, Hardy's marriage hits a rocky patch. Our hero, as principled as he is, is still a flawed human-being. Can he win his case and keep his happiness? The courtroom drama and Hardy's personal situation keep the readers turning the pages.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a much later John Lescroart Hardy/Glitsky novel and absolutely loved it, so I'm working my way through the series from the beginning...I love the use of the city of San Francisco as another character in the story, kind of like Linda Fairstein's use of NYC in her Alex Cooper series...a fun legal thriller explaining Dismas' shift from the prosecutor's side to defense involving defending his ex-Father-in-Law of the murder of an eccentric billionaire who has stolen the affections his mistress...good stuff!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 500+ page book has to really intrigue me to keep my attention to the end, this one did the trick. Great plot, believable characters and a good combination murder mystery/legal drama, I’m hooked on this series and have really just started it (this is book #3 out of 17, so far, the most recent entry was just published).

[Terence M [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] · Rating 1 out of 5]

Audiobook - 17:03 hours - Narrated by: David Colacci
I listened to most of this book last year or the year before. After spending some time working out what I remembered of the novel and reading on from where I had given up, after a few hours I realised that "Hard Evidence" suffered from a severe case of 'book bloat'.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, Hardy is back as a lawyer--an assistant DA in SF's very political DA's office--but it's not a good fit. When he's fired, he finds himself on the other side, as a lawyer defending his ex-father-in-law, a judge, for murder. Richly realized characters again and we meet several new series favorites including newspaper reporter Jeff Elliott, who gets his big break reporting Hardy's case, and David Freeman, whose law firm Hardy eventually joins. (Isn't is satisfying to be able to remember enough of the plots to look back see how these relationships began?) This is the novel rich in issues--racial, sexual, and dealing with both families and the law. Hardy and Frannie are married and expecting a child, Glitsky joins the investigations, but Hardy remains at the center. While Frannie keeps him in line and on point, grounded and true to his ideals, he slips sometimes. Not the perfect hero but one with good intentions and skills in investigating and arguing in court. While I suppose one could start later in the series, it's nice to have gone back to the beginning to get a real sense of the vividly drawn characters. Practically my only memory of this book from my first reading in 2004 is Hardy walking a great white shark in a pool beneath the aquarium. The director wants a great white and when fishing boats have caught one and bring it in, he calls on volunteers to walk the shark in a pool--they die if they aren't kept moving. No success yet, but perhaps in one of the later titles.

[Linda Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading these books in order would have been advisable; but reading a book here and there lends knowledge of the characters lives just the same.

Dismis Hardy is now an Assistant DA, but before the end of the book, he will get his first taste of being a defense attorney.

A hand wearing a Jade ring found in the belly of a shark is the first indication that something may be amiss.

Then comes the body of a Silicon Valley billionaire; one known to frequent high quality call girls. In fact, one of those call girls is arrested for his murder. When witnesses are found by the defense team to verify here alibi, the case is reopened.

Hardy finds himself dismissed from the DA's office and is asked to act as a defense attorney for the next person arrested, the honorable Judge Andy Fowler. Although he accepts this position, Hardy needs to know the truth; did the Judge murder his competitor or is someone else guilty of the crime?

What will he do if and when he learns the truth?

[Pisces51 · Rating 3 out of 5]

HARD EVIDENCE [1993] (DISMAS HARDY #3) By John Lescroart
My Review Three Stars***

This third installment featuring the colorfully dubbed “Diz” (short for “Dismas” after the tortured thief from Calvary) was originally published in 1993, and it was only some fifteen years later that it was released in Kindle Edition. I was a big fan of Lescroart’s works in those early days, the advent of the ‘90s, and rented Unabridged Audio Books of his novels whenever opportunity knocked.

In recent years I have tracked down the early works of a few authors, like Lescroart, whose protagonists and creative talent for writing crime fiction thrilled and impressed me in the past. This book marks my third Dismas Hardy novel in the lengthy series, and interestingly enough, I hadn’t read any of the first three books in the series. It was gratifying that I found myself immersed in the genesis of Dismas Hardy for the first time and experiencing his character arc as it was gradually being developed by his talented creator over three decades ago.

I just finished reading HARD EVIDENCE and my big “takeaway” from the experience is that the book was just too long. The 550-page novel seemed to go on forever, and although there have been times that I have enjoyed a book so much that I wished it WOULD go on forever, this wasn’t one of those times.

The narrative picks up soon after the harrowing events that take place in THE VIG, Book 2 of Lescroart’s series featuring the exploits of Hardy. Dismas and Frannie have now “tied the knot”, Rebecca has been born and Fran is pregnant again by new hubby Diz. Hardy has been back in the D.A.’s office for the previous four months but he is nearing 40 and is resentful about being assigned cases that he feels should be handed out to a fresh-faced new graduate instead of a former seasoned D.A. such as himself. This served to provide new readers with a bit of meaningful back story about Hardy’s past and what he was doing before tragedy struck his family and every facet of his life. This novel actually begins with Hardy “walking the shark” with Pico, which is a “call out” to the debut novel DEAD IRISH. Sadly, the mortality statistics for the sharks he and Pico have tried to save haven’t improved any. It is while they are cutting open the current Great White that they find a disembodied human hand in its belly. The hand is missing a digit but is sporting a serpentine jade ring on the pinkie finger. Hardy is immediately intrigued by the surprising discovery of the hand and wastes no time in approaching his old ally Art Drysdale in the D.A.’s Office. Drysdale is well aware of Hardy’s depth of experience and promises Hardy the case if it is determined to be a homicide.

And so it is that a challenging murder mystery and complex legal thriller begins its long and excruciating journey, the majority of the trip as a whodunit with suspects galore, but ultimately leading to some scenes in the courtroom at the end, and then finally what for me was a less than satisfying conclusion. But let’s start with a review of the clearly positive elements of the novel.

Lescroart is quite simply an outstanding writer, and one of his trademark strengths is creating truly compelling, credible, and believable characters. He also has a knack, a real flair really, for writing witty dialogue and his propensity for injecting dark humor both entertains and holds the reader’s attention for extended intervals of time while the plot gradually unfolds. The backdrop of San Francisco also provides a vivid and colorful landscape with a descriptive atmospheric ambience that infuses an element of realism into the changing scenes.

This book is chock full of “big personalities”, many of who are already fixtures in Hardy’s universe, like his attractive ex-wife Jane, former father-in-law the Honorable Judge Andy Fowler, his friend and business associate at the pub, Moses, and of course the likeable “larger-than-life” Homicide Detective Abe Glitzy. Many of the characters associated with the judicial system will also be familiar to fans, but the author creates a memorable “take no prisoners” D.A. in the character of “Bets” (Elizabeth Pullios). The famous Defense Attorney David Freeman who magically materializes to defend the beautiful Oriental damsel in distress (ostensibly for free publicity) is also a very memorable and believable character. Supporting characters such as the tenacious sympathetic MS-stricken reporter Jeff Elliot also add emotion and substance to the mercurial story line.

A body of course does indeed wash up on the shoreline and is subsequently identified as the well-known Silicon Valley billionaire Owen Nash. Dismas finds himself in the enviable position of prosecuting what is shaping up to be the murder trial of the century. That is, until Pullios, having gradually recognized the amount of media attention the case has generated, pulls the rug out from beneath Hardy’s feet and takes the case for herself.

The initial murder suspect is a mysterious and exotic high end Japanese call girl who was ostensibly hired by the murder victim to be his mistress, totally consistent with his character and former patterns of practice according to his business partner. The victim’s stunningly beautiful and sexy daughter Celine Nash is devastated by her father’s murder and is adamant that the money-grubbing prostitute is the killer. Homicide Detective Abe Glitzy finds himself in the awkward position of having to arrest the alleged money motivated concubine with no basis to charge her for the crime, but rather because she lied to him and was leaving the jurisdiction on a jet plane back to Japan. Pullios meanwhile decides to charge the fleeing mistress for murder and then to find motivation and evidence wherever she can to make the charge stick. Pullios is pretty much prepared to demand the death penalty for jaywalking and hardly bothered about putting the horse before the cart. Hardy meanwhile is steamed that she stole “his” case and because he has been relegated to the duty of being her unofficial gopher by the shallow politically motivated District Attorney. It isn’t my intention to provide a synopsis of the plot, but only to stress that the story is colorful enough, and the characters interesting enough, to get your attention as a reader and keep you guessing about whodunnit for quite a voluminous number of pages. The author’s writing style is just that outstanding.

I’ve already commented that HARD EVIDENCE sports an impressively complex plot, and that is putting it mildly. Hardy finds himself at first collecting facts and findings for the prosecution, standing in the shadow of the controlling Pullios. The famous Defense Attorney Freeman then discovers that his client who is charged with capital murder had an ironclad alibi and the case is dismissed. Diz gets to blink a few times before he discovers that he has done a 180 and sits as the Defense Attorney beside the second person Pullios has decided to prosecute for the same murder. You’d ask yourself how likely it would be for Diz to get fired by the D.A.’s Office and become the attorney of record for the accused in such rapid-fire succession.

In my opinion the author was just too ambitious with this one. There was just too much going on in the story line that at about the 75% mark I felt myself still interested but wondering if the writer would ever finally “wrap it up”. I was getting to the point of feeling tired and fighting off boredom. It was also a disappointment that I was able to successfully guess the real killer fairly early on in this novel, and even the tentative motivation that I had assigned to the murderer was “dead on” (pun intended). I don’t have a great track record in guessing or figuring out surprise endings, so maybe this one was perhaps too easy. Now despite my main gripe that the author could have shaved a couple hundred pages off this tale of murder and mayhem, I would still have rated the book at 3.75 Stars (rounded to 4 Stars) but for the mounting antagonism I acquired toward the main protagonist Hardy.

I decided that the book didn’t deserve more than 3 Stars because of the feelings of disgust I had to absorb due to several actions taken by the main character of Diz. In addition, I was disappointed and depressed by the conclusion of the book, the nature of which was decided and orchestrated by Hardy. Diz is a newlywed in this third installment. He had been involved with his former wife Jane in the prior book, but was ultimately honest with his ex-wife about his feelings for Frannie. That showed me as a reader that his moral compass was pretty much intact. In this novel, he meets the stunning Celine Nash, daughter of the murder victim, and essentially “goes to hell in a hand basket” over her. In one scene he had neglected to take one minute out of his schedule to call Frannie (and her brother, his best friend Moses) to let them know he was running late meeting them for a special occasion. He was ridiculously late, and Frannie had feared for his safety (realistic considering her former cop husband had been murdered). He was skating on thin ice already and then along comes Celine. He meets her at a bar instead of his office, and they are too touchy-feely for a professional meeting. He subsequently goes home to his wife and engages in some wild sex while avoiding looking at her face and focusing in his mind on the face and body of Celine. Then:

“In the light of day, he thought it hadn’t done him any harm to fantasize—it was natural once in a while. No need to whip himself over it. “

Later in the book he meets Celine knowing full well he is walking into the inferno, and the two play sex games together in a sauna to the point of climax. In light of the facts that these manipulations did not technically meet the criteria of coitus, he judges that he did not cross the line of having sex with another woman. This is even more maddening because before he sees Celine again (following the first meeting in a bar instead of his office) his self-reflections and assessment of the situation is as clear and concise as it can be. He recognizes the danger, and clearly knows what remedial actions he can take to avoid an inevitable betrayal of his marriage vows. Specifically, if you don’t want to get burned to a crisp you don’t walk into a blazing fire. Yet despite his self-awareness he first cheats in his heart with his fantasies of Celine, then later is unfaithful in the flesh (actual coitus is not necessary to meet the definition of infidelity).

That said, this behavior made me dislike the character more than all of his negative traits that were disclosed in the first two installments of the book series combined. I made excuses for Dismas behaving like a sloth, dulling his senses with booze daily, his less than studly approach to a death threat considering he is ex-military and an ex-cop, and also his naivete (or some would say stupidity) getting himself almost killed by making rookie mistakes cornering a murderer with no back up, etc. He DID lose a decade of his life because of human tragedy after all. But Diz cannot be all too human, with so many frailties of conscience, and yet be simultaneously self-righteous as sin (demanding his client take a lie detector test to convince Diz of his innocence before he acted as his Defense Attorney for example). Then he can’t keep his eyes from wandering, his hands to himself, and his dress pants intact when confronted with a bit of temptation on the job. Given the cascading disappointments I shouldn’t have been surprised that Hardy would “top himself” and decide that he was self-important enough to just get his client a Not Guilty verdict based upon Reasonable Doubt, and not be a righteous enough man and attorney to seek justice for the albeit, flawed victim. Hardy had carried out a thorough investigation with the help of all those who contributed information and clues to solve the puzzle of who murdered Owen Nash. He knew the identity of the killer and did virtually nothing about it. The narrative at the conclusion of the book tells the reader the fate of the guilty party, but even though it was somehow sad, the fact Hardy concealed the truth and let a murderer go free still left a bitter taste in my mouth.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this series. this one opens a new horizon. Disnas has returned to the practice of law and the latter part of this is a quite decent courtroom drama. I think the characters are really nicely developed. (Do read in order or you will miss this.) the one weakness (and this would be far more important to some people than it is to me) is that the identity of the murderer is pretty easy to figure out fairly early. I don't insist on that element of suspense--I often reread mysteries. So, as I say, I don't really care much about this. But if you read for the puzzle of it all, this might matter to you.

[wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished today the 26th of august 2020 good read four stars really liked it kindle owned have not read these in order, interesting to read this one after most of the others that were written after, years apart.

[Θανάσης · Rating 4 out of 5]

7,5/10
Το τέλος του έκοψε έναν βαθμό σίγουρα. Εκτός αν νύσταζα τόσο πολύ για να το καταλάβω :P

[Jeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book but too long.

[Stven · Rating 1 out of 5]

The tone of this whole thing is, to my ear, mundane and boring. Here's a sequence of paragraphs from a random opening of the book:

Celine told him there was a juice bar on the second floor. Would that be all right? Hardy followed her up a wide banistered granite staircase to the upstairs lobby, the entire space bordered by hi-tech metallic instruments of torture--exercycles, Climb-Masters, rowing machines, treadmills. Each was in use. You couldn't avoid the panting, the noise of thirty sets of whirring gears, occasionally a moan or a grunt. Beyond the machines, the glass wall to the outside showed off another of the city's famous views--Alcatraz, Angel Island, Marin County. You could see where the fog abruptly ended a mile or so inside the Golden Gate.

The juice bar was about as intimate as a railroad station, but at least the noise level was lower. The aerobic music wasn't pumped in here, although it did leak from the lobby. Celine ordered some type of a shake that the perfect specimen behind the bar poured a bunch of powders into. Hardy thought he'd stick with some bottled water; he paid $4.75 for the two drinks.

The sat at a low table in the corner of the room where the glass wall met brick. "Do you come here a lot?" Hardy asked.

[Steve Sawczyn]

Really liking the Dismas Hardy series, very suspenseful, a wonderful escape from reality. When the bullet-ridden body of a Silicon Valley billionaire washes up on shore, assistant D.A. Dismas Hardy finds himself the prosecutor in San Francisco’s murder trial of the century. The suspect: a Japanese call girl with a long list of prominent clients. But when a bizarre series of events blows the case wide open, Hardy finds himself on the other side of the law—as a lawyer for the defense….

[Mr Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Lescroart book I read. Was not disappointed. In fact, it kicked off a courtroom drama reading binge on my part that is still in full swing.

And yes, I agree this particular plot and conclusion is maybe done a little more often than is prudent. But hey. Lescroart's take on it is a good one. So.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have been four stars, but the way the author totally glossed over Hardy's decision to not try to use his knowledge about the real killer in his (Hardy's) client's capital murder trial was a huge hole. It was like Lescroart had a page limit and knew he was approaching it, so just skipped over this huge part of the story.

[matteo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book too me forever to read for some reason. The writing is good. The familiar locations are interesting. The story isn't bad. But there is some weird pseudo-romance that just seems idiotic. And the reveal at the end... It doesn't come completely out of nowhere, but after all of the red herrings, it comes with almost no buildup and leaves the reader feeling dirty.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed

I thought this was ok. Hardy is becoming the character I liked from later books, but still prone to self-abuse. He makes some very poor choices in this book that kind of infuriated me. The cast is large but the story felt a little bloated that maybe could have been edited down some.

[Barry Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book, I love the characters and storylines, and I plan to keep reading this series. But..... this book went on way too long. I was almost to the point of saying... enough already, just get to the frigging point!!!!!

[Sue Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked this book except for the very small print. Had to use my big magnifiers. It was a really good story and I truly didn't know who done it til almost the end.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

the bloat is a definite distraction

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to spend time with Dismas and Abe, but a fairly lackluster book in the series.

[Don Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard Evidence is the third novel in the Dismas Hardy series and after having read the first two novels, this story dives deep into some of the characters.

Hard Evidence takes place almost 1 year after The Vig and Dead Irish. Dismas Hardy is now married to Frannie. Rebecca is born and is 4 months old. Frannie is a widower from Eddie Cochran, Rebecca's father and the murder victim from Dead Irish. Frannie is pregnant with Dismas and in this novel they have their son, Vincent. After being tired of tending bar at The Little Shamrock for 9 years, Dismas has gotten back into law again becoming an Assistant DA. He is starting all over again prosecuting petty street cases. Moses McGuire is Dimas's brother-in-law and partner from The Little Shamrock.

Back at the San Francisco DA's office, Hardy's long time friend and ex-cop partner Abe Glitsky is a Detective Sergeant and Art Drysdale is the Chief Assistant District Attorney and Hardy's boss. Christopher Locke is a 52 year old African American elected District Attorney and is Drysdale's boss.

Hardy's ex-wife is Jane Fowler and they remain close friends notwithstanding the divorce and her father is Andy Fowler, a judge with whom Hardy often has cases in front of. Dismas and Andy are also friends.

In Hard Evidence, when Dismas finds a severed hand after cleaning out a shark fish tank, it leads to the murder investigation of Owen Nash, a wealthy businessman. The murder takes place on Nash's private yacht, out in the ocean. Given Dismas's find, he makes a play to be the lead prosecutor in the case. Unfortunately he gets bumped to second chair by Elizabeth Pullios, an ambitious prosecutor and a series of events has him move from prosecution attorney to defence attorney within the same murder investigation, something new for Dismas. Andy Fowler is also caught up in all of this.

I really enjoyed this novel and because I have committed to reading the series in order (which is not necessary to enjoy each novel), I am becoming vested in the plot lines of each of the characters. I am curious as to if Dismas will continue in his career as defence attorney or switch back to the other side in The Thirteenth Juror, novel #4.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just pissed me off. The 1st 350-400 pages were a slog, and I just couldn’t get invested in the characters at all. The main character spends all this time talking about how happy he is with his new wife and child, and how great life is, but then the first time a good looking woman enters his world, he starts lusting after her like an adolescent teenager. Really? And if thats not happening, then he’s just botching about office politics. Cause that’s what I want to read when trying to escape real life. I don’t know what the author was trying to do with the main prosecutor (Pullios). He mostly portrays her as a smart, aggressive , competent prosecutor, but the on several occasions has her sleeping around with her coworkers. Like, what? Was he initially going with the “sleeping her way to the top” trope and then decided better of it? If he did, great (it’s a B.S. trope), but then why leave in all the sleeping around? And don’t even get me started on Fowler (the defendants) and his actions. Overall, just a frustrating book.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dismas is now working as a prosecutor in the District Attorney's office. He is frustrated dealing with smalltime cases and manages to snag a possible murder case when a hand is found inside a shark. However, the murder becomes a high profile case and is given to an assistant DA. The case becomes more and more complicated and Dismas is eventually put into a compromising position and decides to leave the DA's office (with a little push from the DA). He then finds himself taking over the defense of the second trail for the murder of the high profile murder that came from the "hand in the shark."

As with most of the stories in this series, the case becomes very complicated with many plot twists. The daughter of the victim is a beautiful temptress and this puts stress on Dismas' new marriage.

Its a fine story with a dense plot that keeps you guessing until the end.