Customer Reviews

By Reason of Insanity

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Since Grisham and Turow became household names, the legal thriller has been a staple on the bestseller lists. Like serial killers and nukes in the hands of radicals, the fodder for material seems to be without end--as evidenced nearly every day in the headlines.

"By Reason of Insanity" is laced with all the elements that make for a great summer read, whether in the newspapers or latest page-turner. Singer does a masterful job of setting up multiple characters, as well as multiple-personalities. We start with Quinn Newberg, a lawyer representing his own sister who has confessed to killing her abusive husband. We meet Catherine O'Rourke, a tenacious reporter with a troubled past of her own. To complicate matters, we discover there is a vigilante on the loose, a person going by the name Avenger of Blood.

Singer draws these different characters and storylines together, slowly twisting them tighter, until the pages are flying and the revelations mounting. To protect Catherine's life, Quinn relies on the insanity plea, and truly things begin to get crazy. The courtroom scenes are pure Singer--tense, witty, realistic, while never losing the sense of the story and plot. The interactions and relationships are spot-on, and the underlying themes woven in without being forced.

In the last year, I've been underwhelmed by some of the latest legal thrillers from the big dogs of the genre. I'd say it's time a few new names get their day in court...with Randy Singer at the top of that list.

When I read Directed Verdict, I thought Singer was really good. When I read False Witness, I thought he was excellent. After reading By Reason of Insanity, he's established himself as an elite author.

I've come to expect Singer to write gritty, emotional books that mirror reality and he's delivered again. After years of abuse, Annie killed her husband. She doesn't deny it. Her lawyer, who happens to be her brother, doesn't deny it. But the question is, did she understand what she was doing when she shot him. As a reporter, Catherine has covered numerous trials, but Annie's is different. It brings up hurts and a past she's tried hard to bury. After eight years of suppressing her emotions following a college rape, who is she and what has she become?

Well written books involving victims of abuse are never easy to read. It's heart wrenching to even read about characters humiliated and dehumanized by abuse, but it's even more emotional knowing this happens daily. Singer handles these issues with grace, giving dignity to victims who may be reading his books. He's tackled some tough issues in this book--abuse, revenge, renegade justice, and legal ethics to name a few. When the legal system fails, how do people deal with the consequences? How far should defense attorneys go to assure their clients receive `justice'? When is someone truly insane? What is the Bible's view of a child's responsibility for their parent's sins?

By Reason of Insanity offers something for about every reader. It's an intense suspense thriller, with lots of plot twists and turns, but with a gentle touch. The number of surprises really makes it difficult to ever know exactly what's going to happen. A great book for those who like a good mystery with a lot of questions and some great things to ponder. Excellent job from first page to last!

Randy Singer, along with Robert Whitlow, are among my favorite authors of all time. A new novel from either is an event in itself. What I have noticed with Mr. Singer, practically with this and his last novel False Witness is the way the Christian influence within them aren't up in the fore front, like his earlier novels, and alot of the Christian thrillers on the market. But slowly, and surely this influence seeps into the story, much like real life, and we have a profound message that makes one think. In this novel we have visions, incest, murder, rape, and now the insanity plea is perceived by many in our society. A must for all Randy Singer fans.

One of the things I enjoy about my Kindle is the chance to try out books that I wouldn't normally pick up. That's how I came across By Reason of Insanity, and I so enjoyed it. I carried it around with me all the time, and stayed up way too late one night to finish it. I wasn't even familiar with the term inspirational thriller, but the combination of crime and punishment, spirituality and mysticism was interesting, and I was able to suspend my disbelief and ride along with the story.

My favorite thing about the book was that it worked as a mystery--I really didn't know what had happened until it was revealed. But when it was revealed, it all made perfect sense. I know this sounds a little cryptic, but I went into the book without knowing anything, and I enjoyed the unfolding of the story so much, I hate to give anything away.

Randy Singer has written another superb legal/suspense thriller.

Although not as well known as John Grisham and Scott Turow, Singer is certainly in their class. Like those two great authors, Singer is an attorney so he has lots of inside knowlege which adds to his stories.

'By Reason of Insanity' features Cat O'Rourke, a reporter for a newspaper in Virginia. While reporting on a series of kidnappings and murders, she has some 'visions' and passes the information along to her police source. She soon becomes a suspect and eventually a defendant as a serial killer.

This book features a wide range of action including: high stakes gambling, multiple personality disorder (disassociative identity disorder), murder, kidnapping, jailhouse brutality, dreams/visions, and much more. There are numerous twists and turns. For quite a long time, I thought that I had the story figured out only to find out that I was totally wrong.

Even though Mr. Singer is a well known Christian author, his work will appeal to a wide audience. Though there are a couple of subtle spiritual elements, there is certainly nothing preachy in his style. I would recommend this book to anyone. I also encourage those who love a great novel to check out his other books. I have read all but two of his (those are on my 'to read' list) and would endorse any of them.

This was a free download, and it was pretty good for a freebie! I did like Quin as a main character, but Cat annoyed me pretty much throughout the entire book. And while the legal aspect is interesting, if simplistic, the spiritual asides and the death penalty debates are dull and sound preachy to me.
Overall I would never buy this book and probably not this author, but I don't regret reading it. The author will probably get many new fans from this free offer!

and I wouldn't be writing one now for this book either but for a discussion that took place on the Kindle community message board. It's been, oh about two months since I read this book and since then it has been clearly identified as "Christian Fiction". Which is good because when I read it I had no clue. It was offered for FREE in the Kindle store and shot to the top of the Kindle bestseller list as most all FREE books do.

Frankly it's much easier to believe that a person has a "split personality" than it is to believe they are receiving messages from "God". So the basis of this novel goes from the merely implausible to the completely impossible for a secular reader such as myself.

It's a fun and fast read, well written with interesting characters. But in the end the entire work is an attempt to convince the reader to believe in "God". So secular readers be warned and religious readers step right up because this book is for you.

Attorney/novelist Randy Singer brings readers an interesting twist on the legal thriller genre with his latest release, By Reason of Insanity.

Trial lawyer Quinn Newberg is becoming famous as he presides over the defense of a woman who is charged with the murder of her husband. Meanwhile, Catherine O'Rourke, a Virginia Beach reporter covering the trial for her employer, begins having strange visions that make no sense to her. Then she discovers that her visions are the exact details of a series of kidnapping and murders in the Virginia Beach area. The details of what her mind's eye sees is so exact that she soon becomes a suspect when she offers to help. Quinn Newberg is brought in to represent Catherine at trial because of his expertise in the much maligned insanity plea.

This was the first novel of Singer's that I've read and I was privileged to read an advanced reader copy before publication. I was familiar with the author, just never gotten around to reading him. Boy, was that a mistake. By Reason of Insanity is one of the best novels I've read this year. And I've read a bunch. What I liked most about it was the twist of adding the supernatural/paranormal concept of visions to this genre. And the way the two main characters (Quinn and Catherine) separate storylines intersect will not disappoint.

Singer's writing is fast paced, page-turning suspense at it's best. He gives good attention to detail and along with the joyride you just might learn a thing or two about the law.

This may have been my first Randy Singer novel, however, I can guarantee it won't be my last. I've read lots of comparisons of Singer to Grisham. Umph. I say move over Grisham and share the throne before you're removed from it completely.

In Virginia Beach, The Tidewater Times reporter Catherine O'Rourke covers the homicide trial of Annie Newburg Hofstetter, accused of murdering her husband Richard in premeditated cold blood. Her renowned attorney Quinn Newberg uses the insanity defense of a woman pushed over the edge by physical and mental abuse. Thanks to weeping Juror 5, the case ends for now in a mistrial.

Over the next few months The Avenger of God has been kidnapping and murdering Tidewater residents whom the serial killer believes violated the Lord. Cat has some insider information, but when the court demands shereveal her insider anonymous law enforcement source to Detective Jamarcus Webb, she refuses and goes to jail making her part of the story. While behind bars, Cat begins to have distressing visions of these horrific crimes as if she was an eye-witness to the Avenger's vigilante justice. She tells Jamarcus what she "sees" and he thinks she knows too much not to be the Avenger. The police arrest Cat who hires Quinn to defend her even though his approach means he assumes his client is guilty.

Filled with twists, this is a terrific legal thriller that grips the reader from the moment that Juror 5 ends the O'Rourke trial and never slows down as Cat prays that the Vegas legal magician can get her off the hook even if BY REASON OF INSANITY. The story line is fast-paced as Cat continues to get visions of the Avenger's serial killings. Although a romantic subplot between lawyer and client is somewhat muted, it still feels forced yet Randy Singer as he did with THE CROSS EXAMINATION OF OLIVER FINNEY brings up timely jurisprudence issues as he provides a fascinating look at the insanity plea.

Harriet Klausner

I do not like contemporary American thrillers, and Randy Singer's exposition evinces why. I figured out who the diabolical bad guy was about one third of the way in and descended rapidly into boredom from there. No real character development to explain why the murderer became what they were, nor how, just some lip-sync rationale about love toward the concluding chapters. It would have been far more interesting if Mr. Singer had allowed his protagonists, a Vegas lawyer named Quinn, and a court reporter named Cat O'Rourke, to really function as protagonists, like modern Sam Spades who not only get the girl but understands why the girl has gone bad, so that I, the wee humble reader, can grasp what makes the vixen tick, oh no. Instead I get side plots about incest and domestic abuse which shed little light on our horrid criminal, a few poker games and soft prison scenes, nothing of which the literate reader doesn't already know from countless of past narratives, simply to serve as padding for a story about vengeance that is achieved with few obstacles, some diversionary court scenes otherwise competently portrayed, and some Christian morality paranormal activity thrown in for good measure, and the white knight actually redeeming himself at the end, with a bit of rough and tumble and a few brashly broken rules along the way.

This genre is on life support as far as I'm concerned, and what I did not pay out in money I paid out in time taken to actually read it from first page to last. My nose is on permanent crinkle, as in "ew, spare me anymore!"