Seventh in the Victor Carl, Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer, series.Carl finds himself defending his First and Only True Love, Julia, against a charge of murdering her husband.This is a plot that stands or falls on Lashner’s ability to write about obsessive love--and he mostly fails.There is practically nothing to this plot, and Lashner’s trademark twists are not terribly interesting. Starting with the previous book, Carl’s internal monologue about himself and his motives, which in the earlier books gave depth and texture to the plots started wearing thin, and with this book, it’s downright boring. What you realize is that through 7 books, Carl has not really developed. In each book, he seemingly has some revelation about himself that almost always seems to have disappeared by the next one. And so he continues to be ever grasping after money--big house in the rich suburbs, nice Jag, cute wife--and it’s now old.At the end of the book, Lashner says that he and Carl are going to take a couple of years off, and I agree--they both need a rest. When a new Victor Carl comes out, I’ll probably buy it, but rather warily--Lashner may not know how to take this series to the next stage.Well, it was terrific while it lasted
I have had this stupid cold/sinus thing for a few weeks now and yesterday I felt tired and blah. So I grabbed this book off the mound and laid down and covered up. Turns out it was just what the doctor ordered. It was easy, fast, and did hold my attention. The main character Victor Carl is a lawyer who has been secretly meeting with his married ex-fiance. Carl makes a lot of bad decisions throughout the book. The book could have been 200 pages instead of 400 if this lawyer had made a couple good decisions. He somehow allows himself to get mixed up with a Russian mobster and his Cadizian hitman, an ex who obviously is hiding things, and the police who are not interested in his innocence. This did not make a lot of sense, but it is the perfect book for one of those blah days when you don't feel well.
Do You like book A Killer's Kiss (2007)?
Not great literature but fun--a book about a Philadelphia lawyer has two good points right off the bat. I was disappointed the bad woman got away with it, but it was predictable because this wasn't great literature and she possessed the only significant feature in a light weight murder mystery by a male author--the hotness factor.
—Mom
I really love Victor Carl. He wants to be the tough, strong, serious defense attorney. But he is unable to do that because he is a smart mouthed schmuck who continually finds himself in scrapes with the law. The beginning of this series finds him accidentally defending the mob of Philadelphia. It was not a place he wanted to be but alas, it was the only source of income. He has migrated from that scene but is still tethered to the undesirable side of society...in this case drug selling.As always, he finds himself a little worse for wear at the end of this one.
—Jennifer
I haven't read a mystery in a while, so I was ready for a change of genre when I picked up this book. I liked Lashner's style quite a bit. There are multiple characters, but he avoided introducing new characters that seem unrelated halfway through the book. The crime, clues, suspects, etc. all seemed logical, and the solution was unexpected and suprising but not in the way that it is unrealistic. I hate it when a mystery writer pulls a solution out of thin air right at the end and very few of the clues tie together logically. Lashner did not do that. I would read another Victor Carl (the main character) mystery, but not for a while. Mystery is not my first genre of choice.
—Becky
