Enemy Combatant [Kindle Edition]

Ed Gaffney (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A man charged with the brutal act of terrorism...

A lawyer sworn to defend him...

A courtroom spinning wildly out of control...

In the trial of the decade, attorney Tom Carpenter was just a spectator. Until, to his own astonishment, Tom finds himself thrust into a case primed to explode…

The whole world thinks Tom’s new client is guilty of the worst act of terrorism since 9/11—except for one shadowy figure, who feeds Tom astounding inside information. But just as the trial is about to break wide open, Tom receives a chilling threat. Suddenly Tom cannot trust anyone, and his family must run for their lives. The only way to survive—and the only hope for justice—is for Tom to crack a terrifying conspiracy so vast and so powerful that anyone who believes it has already been marked to die….


From the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ed Gaffney took ten years of work as a criminal lawyer, added an overactive imagination, and came up with a new career as a novelist. This has led to an unexpected number of requests from his softball teammates to appear with Terry and Zack in future books. Ed lives west of Boston with his wife, New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann, their two children, and their anxious, but ever-loyal dogs, Sugar and Spice. He is the author of Premeditated Murder and Suffering Fools, both featuring Zack Walker and Terry Tallach, and is currently at work on his next legal thriller.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 365 KB
• Print Length: 370 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0440243742
• Publisher: Dell (February 26, 2008)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0014XDMCU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,316 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting legal thriller, March 6, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enemy Combatant (Mass Market Paperback)

In Phoenix, the jury selection in the case against Hispanic Muslim Juan Gomez accused of being a terrorist mass murderer is an injustice as the public defender appointed to represent the indicted does nothing. In the gallery watching the proceedings, a disgusted attorney Tom Carpenter opens his mouth that the proceedings are a travesty as no objections to obviously biased people have occurred. The judge assigns Carpenter to represent the seemingly already convicted Gomez.

During the trial Carpenter finds justice is not blind it is dead in this case as everything is set for the prosecution to gain a conviction. In the courthouse bathroom a hooded attacker holding a gun to his head warns Carpenter that if he is overly zealous in his defense, meaning acquittal, his family will pay the price. When he sees the same person working for the defense, Carpenter realizes he needs to learn who his adversary is and what he really knows as he begins to believe that the bathroom incident was a warning to protect his family not a threat.

This interesting legal thriller raises the question whether justice in American can be blind when it comes to a radical fundamentalist Muslim. The story line is fast-paced from the moment that Carpenter opens his mouth in court and never slows down as the audience is captivated by his defense of his client, who fascinatingly he does not like. Although the support cast on all sides of the courtroom and elsewhere seem more caricature than developed, readers will appreciate this entertaining thriller in which entitlement to a lawyer is not entitlement to a reasonably good defense.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Ed Gaffney = Grisham on crack!, March 2, 2011

By 

Ghenghis (Monvolia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enemy Combatant (Mass Market Paperback)

Not at all what I expected, and a very pleasant surprise.

Howdy Ed, you are my favorite new author. Tightly paced, sometimes frantic courtroom sequences with balls!
Gaffney manages to intertwine a very touchy topic of domestic terror and personal challenges with flashbacks
filled with humor and caustic wit. I mean in one moment our hero Tom Carpenter is being chased by crazed
killers from a secret gubment agency, and then he transitions quite adroitly to a story about his grandpa
whooping his butt in marbles or something when he was 10. Its all quite entertaining cause you never know
where the story is headed next. 5 Tankers

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enemy of the State?, February 5, 2009

By 

Ray J. Palen Jr. "Ray" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enemy Combatant (Mass Market Paperback)

Ed Gaffney's latest novel, "Enemy Combatant", is short-listed for Best Paperback Original Novel by the Edgar Awards. At best it is reminiscent of John Grisham and at worst it plays like a cliched cloak & dagger epsiode of "24".

The premise involves an attorney from Arizona who ends up being assigned the task of defending an alleged terrorist who may have been behind the biggest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. What the attorney, Tom Carpenter, quickly finds out is that the alleged "enemy combatant" he is defending might be innocent and the truth behind the real attackers hits closer to home than he could ever imagine.

The courtroom scenes are well-written (Ed Gaffney is a former criminal lawyer) and full of suspense. The book loses steam when the action moves outside the courtroom and at times became so far-fetched I forgot I was reading a legal thriller. Also, the cover of the paperback depicts the White House which I found very misleading as all the action takes place in AZ and the alleged terrorist attack took place in CO. The President is nowhere to be seen in this novel.

Overall, a quick and enjoyable read but could have been great if Gaffney had sustained the courtroom suspense throughout the entire novel.