I found it irresistible not to be consumed by Claire’s story or imagine her any other way than Ashley Judd while reading the book. Perhaps that is why we create the movies; if done well, they give us the means to get even more intimate with our books. They give our characters a face, a voice, a manner, and a means to exist other than in our own imagination. Movies done well do wonders for our reading mind.Of all his books, I think Finder is most comfortable here taking risks as a writer. He build a strong plot around the intricacies of two justice systems – the civilian and the military. Claire, our protagonist, is a stunning lawyer – in looks and quality of work – she is very close to making partner at her firm, when one quiet evening, her life is thrown off balance and her mind is sent into a whirl wheel of confusion from the events she witnesses.The military captures her husband, Tom, in public and accuses him of the murder of 87 innocent people against his superior’s orders some 12 years ago in El Salvador. Tom insists on being framed and Claire, overcome by love and emotion, despite her faint doubts in witnessing him in a different light, commits to defend him. She overcomes a steep learning curve of military law while adjusting to the new circumstances of her husband. Grimes is a highly sought-after expert in military law with strong bitterness for the military which suits the situation perfectly. Together, they partner up to find a way out of this messy maze and defend Tom with a chance to set him free. Of all the conundrums before her, she has the most difficult time adjusting to a small detail – that her husband’s name is not Tom Chapman but Ron Kubik. It is easy to swallow the accusations if she had to, but to strip the name of a person you have known and loved and lived with for years – to know that you have called them by a name which is not theirs – is the most difficult for Claire to comprehend.Generally I do not enjoy reading about military law, weapons, war stories, or the legal system. I find it a tribute to Finder – both for his writing style and his well-researched knowledge on the topic – for making it fascinating enough to keep me entertained to the very end. While the reviews of this book suggest a weak ending to this novel, I was surprised. I must not be reading enough thrillers to know the usual twist and turn – or perhaps I can attribute it to never guessing the ending, never trying to predict how a book ends. It is futile really – either you create the ending that will be, and you rob yourself of reading it in the author’s words, or you are wrong and have wasted your time. Nah. I like my clueless approach to reading. It affords me every pleasure intended by the writer, and every emotion he had hoped to achieve when he set out to write his thriller.
A taut thriller about Special Forces running amok in El Salvador in 1983Most of the popular thrillers published in the U.S. tend to revolve around the CIA, the KGB, Nazis, or, these days, Al Qaeda. High Crimes is a notable exception, centering as it does on the neglected topic of U.S. military intervention in Central America under the Reagan Administration.It’s 1996. Tom Chapman is a loving, family man who runs his own investment firm in Boston and lives with his adoring wife, Claire, better known as Claire Heller, a Harvard Law School professor with a reputation for merciless performances in the courtroom. Then, all too soon, we discover that Tom Chapman doesn’t appear to be the man he says he is. The U.S. Army claims his true name is Ronald Kubik, a former Master Sergeant in the Special Forces, and proceeds to put him on trial for the 1983 massacre of 87 innocent civilians in a village in El Salvador in reprisal for guerrillas’ murder of four Americans in the capital. Claire (of course!) moves to defend him in his court-martial.The suspense in this cleverly plotted and tautly written novel circles around whether Tom is really Ron and whether he really was responsible for the massacre. Finder skillfully keeps the reader guessing nearly until the end. Along the way he works in an unflattering picture of U.S. foreign and military policy in Vietnam as well as Central America and of the stifling bureaucracy in the Pentagon. His characters, every one believable, include former and current Army attorney from the JAG Corps, the Chief of Staff of the Army, a shadowy CIA agent, and a whiny six-year-old girl.High Crimes was the fifth of the nine thrillers Joseph Finder has written since 1991. He was previously (1983) the author of a sensational expose of multimillionaire oilman Armand Hammer’s longstanding ties to the KGB.(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)
Do You like book High Crimes (2011)?
Joseph Finder has yet to fail me as an author of fast passed , intriguing, real life thrillers! Once again, HIGH CRIMES, presents a situation that makes me shudder with possibilities of happenings that boggle the mind. In this story, Harvard Law Professor, Clair Chapman, is called upon to defend the man who has been her husband for three years. She has known him as Tom Chapman, a great husband, and father to her 6 year old daughter, Annie. But the military has arrested him as Ron Kubik, a brutal murderer of 87 innocent men., women and children in an offensive action in San Salvador 13 years earlier. Clair wonders who this man really is, as he has told her a complete past history that does not involve the military in any way. Can she believe anything he says? But the man she knows would never commit such terrible acts of violence! Clair, and defense lawyers used to the military counts, find themselves up against a formidable prosecutor, and a 'take no prisoners' judge. The court marshall scenes and legal actions add great interest and suspense to this 'believe him or not' mystery. Finder puts the reader in a plausible situation that would give nightmares if this were a situation that the reader ever found themselves maneuvering through in their own family. great read!!
—Ronna
I tend to avoid, when choosing what book to read next, the thriller and chick-lit genre as an attempt to escape the likelihood of ending up with something that proves to be formulaic and therefore predictable. Though I’m sure there are novels that manage to break free of this stereotype, these two genres in particular seem to be full of authors who crank out book after book involving the same plots and characters. These books delight a multitude of readers and their authors are able to earn a steady paycheck, and that’s all swell; I’m just looking for a different experience when I sit down to enjoy a book. Joseph Finder’s High Crimes falls within the thriller genre and is no exception to my opinion about the thriller genre.The book is definitely “Hollywood ready” and has strong cinematic qualities -- a fast-paced plot with plenty of twists and turns, snappy banter, and tense courtroom scenes -- and Hollywood even took the bait and brought it to the screen in 2002 with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd cast in the title roles. But I thought the novel read more like a novelization: a poorly written summary of someone else’s movie. Joseph Finder graduated summa cum laude from Yale and got his masters degree at Harvard, and I am astounded at the writing quality of such a highly-educated man. Any writer who thinks he must describe the outfits of each of his characters in each scene in order to be descriptive is not a very good writer.If you're looking for something to read while at the beach or on a flight, you may find that High Crimes is a perfect fit. But for anyone who needs a little character development to help them invest in a plot, you will find none of that here. The characters fall flat, the dialogue is contrived, and Finder doesn’t quite connect all the dots correctly by the end of his mystery. And worse, the conclusion – meant to be the biggest shock of the novel – is absolutely ludicrous.I’ll leave you with my favorite terrible sentence:He brandished a large silver ladle over an immense crockery bowl heaped with lobster, mussels, little neck clams, chicken, shrimp, and innumerable other kinds of seafood mixed with rice, onions, garlic, and about a dozen other things.
—Thuraya
It's an okay courtroom drama, but I found most of the surprises surprisingly unsurprising. And I had the annoying feeling that I know more about the military justice system from watching JAG and a Few Good Men than Joseph Finder seems to know. Finder must have seen A Few Good Men though. At least one of the scenes seemed highly inspired by this movie.I just discovered that High Crimes have been made into a movie with Morgan Freeman in one of the leading roles. Very appropriate. That would have been my choice, and from the descriptions in the book I am sure Finder had him in mind also. I'm going to watch it.
—Kent
