Customer Reviews

Alibi

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Deane University economics major nineteen years old Jessica Nagoshi is the daughter of a billionaire Japanese businessman. Her boyfriend is final year law student James Matheson who also attends Deane. Their relationship is concealed especially from her family.

That secret is out in the open when she is found brutally murdered on her father's estate in Boston although James lies to Boston homicide detectives Lieutenant Joe Mannix and Detective Frank McKay by denying they were dating Soon afterward his alibi collapses when his best friends interviewed by the cops connect him to the victim and her murder. With John Nagoshi pressuring the District Attorney's Office for a resolution and ADA Roger Katz hammers the cops, James is being accused of murdering his girlfriend in a crime of passion. His legal mentor Boston attorney David Cavanaugh would prefer to stay out of the highly charged case especially with Nagoshi using his affluence and influence to hang James, but knows he cannot; he represents his student. His team finds several viable suspects especially the deceased's brother and James' friend who set up the alibi to deliberately collapse.

In his third legal thriller (see UNDERTOW and GOSPEL) Cavanaugh is terrific as he works a case he never expected in his wildest dreams. The rest of the cast is solid especially the cops, the accused in jail, the other suspects, the legal team including David's girlfriend and John; the only character stereotyped is the ADA whose ambition rivals Lady Macbeth as he cares not for the truth if it is in his ruthless path. Starting as a police investigation that effortlessly switches to a legal thriller, ALIBI is a strong whodunit filled with plausible suspects particularly David's pro bono client.

Crack Boston attorney David Cavanaugh is back in this third legal thriller by Sydney Bauer. The story opens with an intruduction to the beautiful and rich Jessica Nagoshi, daughter of John Nagoshi who controls a multibillion-dollar empire. She and her brother are being groomed to eventually take over when their father retires.

Unfortunately, Jessica is found murdered in the greenhouse on her father's vast estate. Up and coming Deane University fourth-year law student, and secret lover of Jessica, James Matheson is arrested for the heinous crime. Because David considered James somewhat of a protege, he reluctantly takes the case.

It soon becomes apparent the case will be one of David's most challenging. The media is having a field day with the death of the beautiful heiress presumably at the hands of the handsome athletic Matheson. Further complications arise when ADA Roger "The Kat" Katz orchestrates the players in a case he is sure he will win, one that will take his career to a whole other level.

David also soon realizes there are unseen forces controlling much of the investigation in ways he never would have anticipated. He gathers his team together, including girlfriend Sara Davis and several others, and the battle begins.

The early part of Alibi centers around Detectives Joe Mannix and Frank McKay as they try to gather evidence and find the perpetrator, and the insidious Katz as master manipulator.

Over due course, the novel segues into the dynamic trial. Along the way, betrayals and counter-betrayals keep one wondering who really is behind the killing. As clues come to light, so rises the number of suspects. Is the killer closer to home than anyone would imagine?

Alibi quickly grabbed my interest and I literally stayed up night and day to finish the book. Every time I set it down, in moments I would pick it back up. It is one of the best legal thrillers I've read in a long time. David Cavanaugh fans will not be disappointed.

Alibi

I must say that I pride myself on being able to figure these things out. This book, I could not. This is a credit to the author. The clues were there, and the story jelled. It was absolutely clever, however. The thing that set this legal thriller apart from many of the others is Bauer's incredibly effective character development. The reader really likes the people in this book, especially the defendant, the kid who helps out the defense, the defense attorney, his assistant in the case, and most notably one of the investigating cops, Joe Mannix. Like I said, terrific characterizations. Lots of suprises and twists and turns. The ADA was the guy from hell. I would hope if one of these really existed (no sense of a quest for truth) he would be ousted. As someone who works in the legal system, I would be totally embarrassed if he were not.

This is the second of Bauer's books I have read. I liked the plot and conclusion better than the first but I liked her writing less though I am not sure why-seemed repetitive or something-it did not stop me from reading to the end. David Cavanaugh and his girlfriend Sara and law firm saved the day and thwarted the evil ADA Katz again and there was a plot twist that I did not anticipate but enjoyed. The elite fictional law school setting was interesting. As in her first book, the courtroom drama made the first half of the book seem like a long introduction to the real story but read carefully.

I always read other reviews when buying here and read a very negative review of this book based on the style and values. The reviewer thought for example that some of the main characters spoke in an unrealistic and stilted foreign way. I thought that was done to make the characters seem like the pompus asses being portrayed and not because the author is Australian and unfamiliar with American speech. What I really want to say here is that when I read mysteries and legal thrillers, I am reading them for pleasure and willing to suspend disbelief. Often the lead detective or lawyer is like David Cavanaugh larger than life, smarter and better than everybody else and always able to save the day and/or figure out what happened when no one else does. It is debatable whether there could be a real Lord Peter Wimsey, Miss Marple, Harry Bosch, Evan Delaney, etc but fun to suspend judgement and enjoy their stories. Sometimes we should just enjoy a story and forget about style, values,etc. Sydney Bauer writes a pretty good story.

Is it just me or does the dialogue in this novel "feel" wrong? If the novel were set in Australia, where the author currently resides(not sure where she previously resided), I may not have noticed. As the book is set in Boston, I expect American english, not what at times sounds like Shakespearean english, for lack of a better term. For example, the use of contractions is inconsistent and I'm unsure if it's intentional or not. Quite frequently, the author uses "I am" vs. "I'm", "I will" vs. "I'll", etc. The effect is unnatural dialogue to this American English speaker which seriously detracts from readability. Also, the vocabulary of the Deane students sounds completely out of place, even for the Ivy league: "It was he who failed to notify us of your presence, if that is what you are asking, at least until after class, when we made haste to prevent you any further inconvenience." I know folks who attended the Ivy League and I've seen them on TV. No one in America talks this way unless they want to be ridiculed and/or assaulted.

Another issue I have with the novel is one of my pet peeves as a reader - Men speaking from a woman's perspective(see James Patterson's "The Lake House", a horrid read) and vice verse. The abundance of male characters in key roles provides the author plenty of opportunity to demonstrate her grasp of the male psyche. However, she fails miserably with her overly sensitive portrayal of most of the male characters. Many of the males in this book wouldn't feel comfortable for long in a group of typical American men where the overtly sensitive are often ostracized. I suspect the author writes with her ideal male in mind and attributes his characteristics, in varying degrees, to her male characters. I wanted to laugh as two male characters, in separate instances, displayed obvious discomfort with talk of sexual conquests and the terms used in describing them. While many men don't feel the need to "kiss and tell", very few will make clear they are uncomfortable around such typically male back and forth. Most of the men in this book appear most interested in global corporate greed, the injustices to 3rd world workers, the feelings and problems of their male friends and how wonderful their significant others are. When women ponder what a man is thinking, or how he's feeling, they tend to make assumptions which are much more complicated than the boring truth. In truth, the average male is thinking about his next beer, getting laid and finding someone to make him a sandwich, not necessarily in that order. The author, despite her background as a journalist and television executive, apparently has no more insight into what makes men tick than most women. For the record, reading James Patterson describe his narrator's choice of shoe and dress designer, not to mention the look and feel of her bra and panties, is no less irritating/disturbing.

To conclude, I haven't finished this book - I'm having a hard time concentrating on the plot as I'm constantly annoyed by the writer's style to the point that the plot has become secondary. I'm an avid reader and this is the first review I've ever written.