Review by Booklist Review
Dismas Hardy, the grief-stricken former district attorney turned bartender who first appeared in The Vig (1991) and Dead Irish (1990), returns with a new wife, a child, and his old job with the prosecutor's office. Pushing 40, Dis thought he'd paid his dues during his previous stint as a D.A., but now he's back at the low end of the totem pole, prosecuting small-time drug dealers, hookers, and other losers. He needs a case, a real case, to relaunch his career. It comes in the form of a hand in a dead shark's stomach. The hand is soon connected (figuratively, of course) to a recently murdered silicon-chip king. Here the novel turns Turowesque, with the plot bouncing effortlessly between the courtroom and the intraoffice battles among prosecutors. The ending Lescroart uses is becoming a cliche in crime novels, and astute readers will see it coming early on. Still, the writing is excellent, and the dialogue crackles. The Dismas Hardy series seems on the edge of a breakthrough to mass popularity. This could be the one that does it. ~--Wes Lukowsky
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In his third appearance, San Francisco bartender Dismas Hardy returns to the practice of law to star in a gripping courtroom drama that may well be Lescroart's breakthrough novel. After the severed hand of a murdered billionaire is discovered in a dead shark's stomach, Hardy ends up on the DA's team prosecuting the victim's Japanese mistress. She produces an airtight alibi just as the trial begins; Diz loses his job, and, in a bizarre twist, is hired to defend the second person accused of the crime, Andrew Fowler--who is not only his ex-father-in-law but was also the judge in the first trial. Diz's involvement with his beautiful ex-wife and the needs of his very pregnant current wife complicate his life, while doubts about his client's innocence and the antagonism demonstrated toward Fowler from both the prosecution and the bench put him at a disadvantage in court. A seemingly unimportant bit of testimony provides the clue that reveals the killer's identity and motivation. As always, Lescroart ( Dead Irish ; The Vig ) creates compelling, credible characters and, despite one or two unlikely coincidences, holds reader's attention through every step of the plot. 50,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Dismas Hardy appears again in Lescroart's (The Vig) San Francisco-based thriller. Married, with an infant girl and another child on the way, he now works as an assistant district attorney, handling routine cases and climbing the bureaucratic ladder. The murder of a high-powered Silicon Valley executive thrusts Dismas into the media spotlight. When the original suspect, the dead man's Japanese mistress, is exonerated, the authorities turn to another of the mistress's clients, a respected judge and Dismas's former father-in-law. Dismas switches from prosecutor to defender to prove the judge's innocence. Many characters from The Vig reappear here, and Lescroart provides excellent background through his descriptions of San Francisco and enough plot twists to hold the listener's attention. Reader David Colacci does a workmanlike job; recommended for all audio collections.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
YA-- From the moment a severed hand wearing a serpentine jade ring is found in the belly of a white shark, this murder case is emotionally, politically, and judicially tainted. Even after junior Assistant D. A. Dismas Hardy is forced into relinquishing the case to his superior, the ambitious Elizabeth Pullios, he finds himself in progressively more complex relationships with a seemingly unlimited string of murder suspects. First, the high-class Japanese mistress of the wealthy victim is caught trying to sneak out of the country with a note in her dead lover's handwriting promising her a million dollars. Then the powerful judge with the impeccable reputation hearing the case is found to be footing the bill for the mistress's defense. Finally, it is revealed that the possessive daughter of the victim had had a very unusual relationship with her father. YAs will devour this hefty book with its short chapters that fluidly move from pointed courtroom dialogue to ongoing investigation to complex personal intrigues, all driven by Hardy's idealism.-- Jessica Lahr, Edison High School, Fairfax County, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The shaggy lawyer/bartender of The Vig (1991) tries his hand at blockbuster courtroom drama--in an engaging crossover novel written with both eyes firmly on Scott Turow. At first, Dismas Hardy doesn't see any connection between his new job as an assistant D.A. and the severed hand he found inside a shark captured by San Francisco's Steinhart Aquarium. But when the rest of the body belonging to computer zillionaire Owen Nash turns up murdered, and Hardy is deputized to deal with Nash's daughter Celine and his lawyer Ken Farris, he expects his friends in court--especially Judge Andy Fowler, his first wife's father--to recommend him for the prosecution of May Shinn, the Japanese call-girl Nash had recently asked to marry him. No such luck: he's assigned second seat to experienced homicide prosecutor Elizabeth Pullios--and then, before the case can even come to trial, the fireworks begin: Andy Fowler is unexpectedly assigned to hear the case; Hardy forces Andy to resign from the bench when he learns that he posted May's bail; May produces an airtight alibi; and the D.A. abruptly throws out the case and fires Hardy for knowing that Andy was another of May's clients with long- term romantic designs that give him a perfect motive. Reeling from the range of his entanglements in the case--he discovered the first evidence of foul play; the judge-turned-defendant is his ex-father-in- law--Hardy escapes to Hawaii with his pregnant wife and her daughter, but ends up, inevitably, as Andy's counsel, defending his first criminal case against fire-eating Pullios and an outraged judiciary determined to make a meal of their fallen colleague. As in Presumed Innocent, the courtroom battles, once they're joined, are so keen that you almost forget there's a mystery too. But Lescroart's laid-back, soft-shoe approach to legal intrigue is all his own. (First printing of 50,000)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
