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stevem0214's review
5.0
Great as always. I haven't read a Dismas Hardy book in a while and I need to catch up. I love any series...it's like catching up with old friends. I think for courtroom drama John Lescroart is the tops. I like that the character seem like regular humans instead of being unbelievable characters. In this book a dark history of a prominent family threatens to come to light, but like all of us, no one is tougher on us...than us. Great story!
whaney's review
3.0
Always enjoy the Dismass Hardy books. This one was good, but not great like some of the others.
jmgio29's review
4.0
Awesome legal thriller. I loved the characters. This is the first book I have read by John Lescroart - and I liked it enough to pick up an older novel. This was a great, fun read. I enjoy legal thrillers and this is on the top of my list.
martyfried's review against another edition
5.0
Another interesting story with a good mix of humor and outrage. Maybe it could use more T-shirts, but it had a few good ones. OK, lest you think I'm crazy, I'm talking about his partner who likes to wear humorous T-shirts a lot, seemingly only once for each one. For example, there was one good one in this book that said "Haikus can be easy./But sometimes they don’t make sense./Refrigerator."
This book was similar to many other ones in that an innocent person becomes entangled with the police and arrested; things begin to look really bad, and there is danger that they might be found guilty. Then Hardy pulls one out of his hat and gets them off. It also demonstrates a problem I've seen in a lot of books, which probably happens in real life too. Once the police find someone they like for a crime, they stop looking for alternative suspects or facts. They start using a faulty logic where they start with a false premise: this person is guilty. Therefore, they interpret all new information in that context, and ignore anything that doesn't fit. At worst, they start leading witnesses by coloring their testimony to match their view of the facts, until an innocent person becomes a monster. This is one of the reasons I oppose the death penalty.
This book was similar to many other ones in that an innocent person becomes entangled with the police and arrested; things begin to look really bad, and there is danger that they might be found guilty. Then Hardy pulls one out of his hat and gets them off. It also demonstrates a problem I've seen in a lot of books, which probably happens in real life too. Once the police find someone they like for a crime, they stop looking for alternative suspects or facts. They start using a faulty logic where they start with a false premise: this person is guilty. Therefore, they interpret all new information in that context, and ignore anything that doesn't fit. At worst, they start leading witnesses by coloring their testimony to match their view of the facts, until an innocent person becomes a monster. This is one of the reasons I oppose the death penalty.
ncrabb's review against another edition
2.0
Well, to put it succinctly, the book didn’t get interesting for me until the second half.
Maya Townshend is a straight arrow if ever one existed. She is a devout Catholic as the book opens, attending mass at least twice a week. Even though she’s an adult, she dresses as though she were a Catholic schoolgirl. She’s married to a successful man, and they have two kids. Her life is very much together. But it hasn’t always been.
Early in the book, San Francisco cops accuse Maya of murdering the manager of her coffee shop. The two first became acquainted in college, and she hired him at an extravagant salary, looking the other way while he sold pot at her store. Hmm. A little pot with your coffee. Makes sense in a twisted way. Despite her efforts at being miss sweetness and light, Maya has a rather gritty past, and as Hardy investigates her more fully, much of that grit floats to the surface.
I have to confess the first half of the book bored me hard-core. Things got better when you got to court and watched Hardy mold a defense that seemed initially impossible. Slog through the early stuff, and you’ll find the later portions worth your time.
Maya Townshend is a straight arrow if ever one existed. She is a devout Catholic as the book opens, attending mass at least twice a week. Even though she’s an adult, she dresses as though she were a Catholic schoolgirl. She’s married to a successful man, and they have two kids. Her life is very much together. But it hasn’t always been.
Early in the book, San Francisco cops accuse Maya of murdering the manager of her coffee shop. The two first became acquainted in college, and she hired him at an extravagant salary, looking the other way while he sold pot at her store. Hmm. A little pot with your coffee. Makes sense in a twisted way. Despite her efforts at being miss sweetness and light, Maya has a rather gritty past, and as Hardy investigates her more fully, much of that grit floats to the surface.
I have to confess the first half of the book bored me hard-core. Things got better when you got to court and watched Hardy mold a defense that seemed initially impossible. Slog through the early stuff, and you’ll find the later portions worth your time.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
3.0
In the world of legal thrillers [a:John Grisham|721|John Grisham|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198174022p2/721.jpg] usually gets all the hype, but [a:John Lescroart|10521|John Lescroart|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] and [a:Robert Tannenbaum|321603|Robert Tannenbaum|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] are much better writers. [b:A Plague of Secrets|5802612|A Plague of Secrets|John Lescroart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255830129s/5802612.jpg|5974591] is Lescroart's twentieth book in his Dismas Hardy series; that's pretty impressive.
I like this series, set in San Francisco, partly because it's set in San Francisco, but also because the recurring characters & their lives are interesting. After twenty books in the series, I really care about these people, they feel fleshed out and real to me. Additionally, Lescroart has avoided the trap of making his series character massively irritating ([a:Patricia Cornwell|1025097|Patricia Cornwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1240500961p2/1025097.jpg], I'm looking at you). I don't know why so many series writers turn their characters into people I wouldn't want to spend ten minutes waiting on a bus with, but they often do. I'm glad Lescroart hasn't.
This isn't the best in the series, but it's a good read - tightly plotted, good character development, lots of suspense & a surprise ending. What more could you want from a thriller?
I like this series, set in San Francisco, partly because it's set in San Francisco, but also because the recurring characters & their lives are interesting. After twenty books in the series, I really care about these people, they feel fleshed out and real to me. Additionally, Lescroart has avoided the trap of making his series character massively irritating ([a:Patricia Cornwell|1025097|Patricia Cornwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1240500961p2/1025097.jpg], I'm looking at you). I don't know why so many series writers turn their characters into people I wouldn't want to spend ten minutes waiting on a bus with, but they often do. I'm glad Lescroart hasn't.
This isn't the best in the series, but it's a good read - tightly plotted, good character development, lots of suspense & a surprise ending. What more could you want from a thriller?
cjhubbs's review against another edition
4.0
Nothing profound here, just a solid legal thriller from one of my favorites. The Hardy/Glitzky pairing, while unlikely, is a fun one; always enjoyable.
jcheidel's review against another edition
3.0
To me, the definition of a "guilty pleasure" book is that it can't make me feel too guilty. It must be a pleasurable page-turner that holds my interest but doesn't insult my intelligence. It can't require mental gymnastics or arouse too much moral indignation, but it also can't let me just read on autopilot. By this definition, A Plague of Secrets if a wonderful "guilty pleasure" book. Nicely written, interesting characters, sufficient plot twists and turns. I can't say that I love mysteries with a "rabbit out of the hat" ending, but perhaps if I had read a little bit more closely I wouldn't have been quite so surprised. Anyway, if you're looking for something to read when you want to rest your mind a bit, but not too much, this is a great choice. I'll go off and look for more Lescroart books.
jennseeg's review against another edition
3.0
Police crime procedurals/mysteries are my guilty pleasure. I've been looking for a new series and I think I've found it...even though I started with book 13! Love that this book was set in San Francisco so it felt like "home turf." I also enjoyed the story. I listened to this on CD during my commute the last two weeks. The only thing I didn't love was related to the fact that it was an audio recording. The reader made all the women sound so pouty, petulant and whiny when he read their lines, though I don't think they were written that way. I'll have to read the another one in this series to see if the women are truly portrayed in such a way.
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