Customer Reviews

The Burning Man

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have read other Margolin books but this one is the best I have read. It started a little slow and the main character, Peter Hale, made mistakes a lawyer should not make reguardless the field of law he is in. Hale has been sent to Oregon because he has messed up where he is. He is caught up in the middle of a murder case involving a mentally retarded man. Did the man murder the woman? All things point to him doing in at first. But there are many differnet things involved. As Assistant DA who will stop at nothing, legal or not. A brother-in-law, who is also an attorney, that just does not seem right about the case. If the retarted man is convicted can Peter safe him before he is sentenced? Who really is the killer? You will be surprised, at least I was. A book I did not want to put down. I wanted to read faster and faster to see if Gary, the retarted man, would be saved. I could not believe he would be convicted. I thought if I read faster the crime would be solved faster, I guess. Was there an undercover cop? If so which one. If you like legal mysteries you will like this one.

Young and arrogrant, Peter Hale was sent to a back-woods town for a lesson in humility after fumbling a major case for his father. Driven from his life of priviledge where nothing but the finest would do ~~ Peter takes on another case and this time, learns a lesson about human nature. He took on a case of a mentally-retarded man who is accused of killing a young college co-ed. This same man was also caught just a few weeks prior as a peeping tom at the local college. This man is also a brother-in-law of Peter's former college classmate ~~ another reason why Peter took on the case.

This book is full of twists and turns that Margolin is famous for ~~ and his writing captivates your attention from beginning to the end. Margolin shows human nature at its worst and shows it at its best ~~ and though you thought you have it all figured out ~~ he surprises you again. It's a fun and fast legal thriller ~~ perfect for summer reading. I had a blast reading this book and so did everyone who I loaned this book to!

7-7-03

Reading a book was usually challenging for me to do, I could never get myself motivated and ready to read a book such as The Burning Man. This book took a few pages for me to get into it, but after a while I found myself not being able to put it down.The book was a well-written murder mystery, with many different twists in it.
It starts out with Peter being a lawyer in a big time company, which is his dad's law firm. After an incident with his father, Peter thinks he can win the case for his dad's client. Soon after that though his father disowns him in a way. After the stunt he pulled his dad basically disowned him. Peter's first couple nights that he was in the small town of Whitaker were lonely; he wanted a woman around so he tried to meet a few girls since he was in the college town. He finally got to meet with whom he would be working.
His name was Amos Geary, but soon he left him when he met his friend Steve who was a lawyer in the small town also. Peter got a chance to erase his past when he was offered a case that involved a murder suspect. The murder suspect was Gary; he was the son-in-law of Steve. Gary was also mentally handicapped. For some reason Steve wanted Peter to take over this case, which shows why later in the book. Gary was the only suspect, which seemed to be strange at the time. With Steve's wife Donna helping Peter on the case it seemed to open up different leads in the book. With two drug addicts who show up through out the book it seems they could be involved with the murder. Steve was trying to get a big loan for apartments, which would serve as a place for people to stay if they were to represent the Olympics. When plans fall through with the loan, and also new evidence appears it makes for a twist like you could never believe. Though out the story Peter and everyone involved with helping Gary wasn't sure if Gary's brain could think of such a thing as this. In a small town like Whitaker it showed that secrets between high people may pay off in the beginning but with a small atmosphere things will leak out.
The experience I had with this book was good; in other books I could just have put them down and not worried about it. But, this book was different having many different plots to each character made the book more interesting and suspenseful. With many different characters it was hard to keep track of who was who. The author though made a back round for every character and a description of them that helped in the realistic aspect of the book. This was a realistic book I thought for being a fiction book. The case was real and what happens though out the book with people and what they end up doing just seems it could happen anywhere. The language was good at points with swearing happening at the high points in the book, it seemed to fit what would be said in a real situation. This book along with being a murder mystery and a legal thriller, it also had kind of a love story between it. The nice thing about the love aspect of it, it keeps you thinking till the end of the story when it all comes together. All the points in the book don't tie together right away which makes it a good thriller.
If you like books that keep you on the edge of your seat, and keep you wondering though out the book this is the book for you. If you are someone who reads books and tries to figure out the ending before you get there this is definitely the book for you. This will leave you guessing the whole time. I recommend this book to anyone who just wants a good book to read. Take it from me I don't read much and I wanted to read the whole thing. That should give a hint on how good this book is.

This is one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. It had characters that kept my interest. The storyline was fast paced and never boring. The reader was superb. I highly recommend. I will listen to this more than once. This book is a keeper in my book.

One of the outstanding legal thriller writer ... go grab a Phillip M. Margolin book and immense yourself with some good twists. The characters and thought provoking messages still lingers around for a while.

This is not what you would call great literature but it is an entertaining read. I remember reading about a case very similar to this in the news a few years ago. I thought the characters were very well developed, especially Gary, the mentally challenged boy. Some of the attorneys in this book are cast in a very bad light, so the story might not appeal to lawyers. The romance was a little syrupy but still palatable. One of the key characters is set afire in his jail cell....thus the title, Burning Man

THE BURNING MAN is my first Philip Margolin read, and I was impressed. Mr Margolin has the mastery of Character to take a flawed, almost contemptible hero, and enroll us, no more than a quarter into the book, into rooting passionately for him in his perilous coming-of-age from spoiled yuppie to (as his father challenges him) "being a man." The story, too, is handled with much skill, taking us through the atmosphere utter cynicism that is the sine qua non of the modern crime thriller, to a near tear-jerking ending. Writing endings for novels, as EM Forster observed, is extremely difficult, and THE BURNING MAN's is not without blemish. The extended exposition in the last pages is legitimate, in fact has become almost part of the foundation for good crime-mystery writing: But in his untangling denoument, Mr Margolin goes a bit far afield, bringing in virgin information in the last pages, which always has the effect of repelling the reader out of the Story, even - sometimes especially - if at the last minute. But we only notice the flaws because they stand out so much in a background of otherwise seamless, page-turning storytelling. If the next Margolin novel I read - and that will be ASAP - comes even close in quality to THE BURNING MAN, Mr Margolin will rank in my ledger up with Thomas H Cook as the best among crime thriller novelists.

I had never read a Phillip Margolin novel before. I found this book on my bookshelf realizing that my Mom had lent it to me several years ago and I had not read it. Long story short, I am so glad I came across it and decided to read it after it being on loan to me for several years. This title was an easy read and the story presents us with an interesting plot. A young lawyer, Peter, who works for his father's law firm is given direction to call for a mistrial on a case that he and his father are working on together, when his father suffers a heart attack. Instead, looking to be in the spotlight, Peter continues to conduct the court case unbeknownst to his father who is lying in the hospital recovering from his misfortune. Long story short, Peter is totally unprepared to conduct a case of this magnitude and winds up losing everything for his client. When his father comes out of the hospital and becomes aware of what Peter has done, he fires him from the firm and also disinherits him. Peter is sent away from the big city, Portland, to a small outlying area of Oregon called Whitaker. It is here that Peter tries to earn back his father's trust and respect, working as a lawyer in this "country" locale. It is also here where the story gets really good. The author gives us some terrific characters and some very interesting situations. You won't be able to put this one down! It reminded me so much of "The Firm," and truly it was every bit as good. Since this author is new to me, I have already purchased another one of his titles, "Heartstone" and I can't wait to get to it. Margolin, I can promise you is one of my new faves. I encourage you to read "The Burning Man" you will totally enjoy it.

Phillip Margolin is becoming one of my favorite authors, his characters are developed well but not to the extent they are boring. He establishes good continuity and makes you feel that you are part of the story. If you enjoy legal thrillers this is the book for you.

I am still searching for an author who can take over this genre. Phillip Margolin's "Burning Man" fell way short of expectation. The book was very trite and very predictable, with to many Grishamish charatcers. Margolin throws all the typical ingredents in the book stirs them up and you get the same results, just another blah lawyer novel.

Since William Coughlin's death and John Grisham writing movie books, there is no writer in this genre to be the leader. Margolin is worth another read, but if your looking for something inspired and different this is not the book to be reading.