Deadlocked [Mass Market Paperback]

Joel Goldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

As a heat wave stifles Kansas City, a death-row inmate is served his final meal, makes his final confession, and uses his final breath to proclaim his innocence. For fifteen years, Ryan Kowalczyk denied having slaughtered a young couple in their car as their three-year-old lay sleeping in the back seat. But when his friend Whitney King, who also stood accused, turned against him, his fate was sealed. Attorney Lou Mason understands the pain of being orphaned, so when the victims' now-teenage son asks for his help in suing blueblood King-who got off scott-free - Lou can't turn him down. Coincidentally, Kowalczyk's mother wants to hire him for the same purpose. And things get even more interesting once Lou discovers that four of the jurors on the original case died violently...while the rest have disappeared. Now, with each sweltering day that passes, it becomes clearer that someone will do whatever it takes-from making death threats to carrying them out-to stop Mason in his tracks. The deeper he probes, the greater the danger-until the past and present collide in an explosion of deceit, corruption, and murder.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A legal thriller written the way criminal law should be practiced: from the gut....One of the premier crime novels of the year."

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786016086
• ISBN-13: 978-0786016082
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #935,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm in my fifth decade as a fourth generation Kansas Citian. I spent twenty-eight years as a trial lawyer and plan to spend at least as many as a writer. I started writing when one of my law partners complained about another and I suggested we write a murder mystery, kill the SOB off in the first chapter and spend the rest of the book figuring out who did it. So I did. Read the rest of the story on my website at www.joelgoldman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific investigative thriller, November 14, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadlocked (Mass Market Paperback)

Death row inmate Ryan Kowalczyk tells Father Steve that he does not believe in God or why would he be here when he is innocent. Ryan's co-defendant Whitney King turned state's evidence insisting that his accomplice killed Graham and Elizabeth Burns fifteen years ago. While Whitney was acquitted of the crime, Ryan was convicted. Witnesses to the execution include attorney Lou Mason, police officer Harry Ryman, Nick the eighteen years old son of the victims and Ryan's mother Mary. Ryan's last word to his mother is "innocent".

Afterward Nick shakes Lou as they discuss the mutual deaths of their parents when they were both three with the former insisting adults hide the truth behind the façade of an alleged accident. Lou wonders if that happened to him. The next day Mary hires Lou because she believes her son is innocent and wants the governor to exonerate Ryan. Nick hires Lou to prove that Whitney was involved. Lou uncovers shocking information that makes him wonder if the state committed a wrongful death (obviously this is not Bush's no mistake Texas). Now someone wants Lou dead to end his investigation.

The latest Mason case is a terrific investigative thriller that makes a clear plea on the use of capital punishment; one error is one too many as there is no way of correcting a DEADLOCKED mistake. Lou is at his hardboiled best making inquiries into the Burns murders while also questioning the deaths of his own parents. The story line is action-packed yet challenges the use of one person turning state evidence as enough for a conviction (even the bible says two witnesses). Joel Goldman makes a strong argument for sanity in death row cases before others are DEADLOCKED inside a fantastic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You gotta Love Lou, January 28, 2005

By 

Glorificous "anonymous" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadlocked (Mass Market Paperback)

It's simple, folks. If you've read any of the other Lou Mason novels and liked them, you'll like this one. Everything that makes Lou such a great character is here. That wise-cracking, foot-in-the-mouth guy who somehow manages to get in way over his head is back at it again. And if you haven't read any of these books yet, this one is as good as anywhere to start. Try it. You won't regret it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves Silver Screen Treatment, July 15, 2005

By 

Patience (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deadlocked (Mass Market Paperback)

Goldman's first three Lou Mason thriller/mysteries were well-plotted page turners, but the author has really found his stride in this latest opus. The characters are well-developed, and Goldman creates in the Lou Mason series something too often missing even from prize- and award-winning books: the reader CARES about these people! Warning: don't start this book in the evening, or you will find yourself still reading at 4 a.m., as did a good friend of mine! My law student daughter and my octegenarian mother both said they could not put the book down. Can we spell multi-generational appeal? My only distraction while reading through the intricately woven and believable plot was imagining which actors and actresses would be best suited to portray the convincing, multi-dimensional characters. If ever a book screamed for film treatment, DEADLOCKED does so! The ending was truly satisfying, and left enough mystery to provide fodder for to-be-hoped-for sequelae.