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False Convictions

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In "False Convictions," Tim Green starts the action in autumn of 1989, when Dwayne Hubbard, a black man carrying a knife whose DNA matches the blood type of the victim, is beat up by thugs and then detained by police for the brutal murder of Cassandra Thornton, a popular blonde bombshell who went to the same school as him. Fast forward twenty years later, and gorgeous attorney Casey Jordan, who runs a legal clinic for underprivileged women, is contacted by billionaire Robert Graham to participate in his charity program aimed at freeing wrongfully convicted people, called Project Freedom, in exchange for annually donating one million dollars for her clinic.

The first case Robert wants Casey to look into is that of Dwayne Hubbard, suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his case. At the time of Hubbard's conviction, the son of D.A. Rivers, Nelson Rivers, was Cassandra's boyfriend. After further research into the matter, Casey begins to suspect that Rivers put Hubbard in jail to cover up the crime of her son. Graham partners Casey with Marty Barrone, a lawyer engaged to the judge's daughter, and introduces her to Jake Carlson, a prominent TV reporter.

Casey visits Dwayne in jail, who affirms his innocence. Casey soon realizes that the DNA on Dwayne's knife, aside the fact that it happened to match the victim's blood type, was never fully tested against the DNA of the victim. Casey travels to the warehouse where evidence is kept, but officers tell her they got rid of the knife due to age of the case. Casey's suspicion is aroused when she notices that the boxes of evidence from older cases are still present.

Determined to do the DNA test, Casey learns that right before the murder, Cassandra was raped and swabs were taken from her to be stored at the hospital. There, Cassandra encounters another obstacle as the hospital's lawyer tells her an authorization from the judge is needed, before she can see the swabs. Soon, Casey's main quest becomes not only convincing the judge to re-open the case, but getting Nelson River's DNA sample to compare against the victim's.

At first, Green's plot appears deceptively easy. However, the action gets increasingly more complicated as Casey realizes that her involvement in Dwayne's case is really a part of a bigger story and that some characters around her have ulterior motives. Overall, this was an entertaining mystery. The characters are well-developed, and Green frequently keeps you guessing as to where he's going with the story. The book itself is pretty short, so it was a quick read. Recommended for the mystery lovers out there.

The author of this book, Tim Green, is a practicing attorney and former NFL defensive end living in New York. That sounds like an interesting combination. Since he has also written more than a dozen novels, when I was offered the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance.

The novel begins with a deceptively simple plot. Twenty years ago, a black man was convicted of murdering a pretty white college student and now a well-known attorney is attempting to prove him innocent. Casey Jordan is an ambitious lawyer who runs a legal clinic for underprivileged women. She is contacted by billionaire philanthropist Robert Graham to participate in his charity program that attempts to free wrongfully convicted people, called Project Freedom. In exchange for her help, Graham agrees to donate $1,000,000 to her clinic.

The case Graham wants Jordan to look into is that of Dwayne Hubbard who vehemently claims his innocence. In her interview with Hubbard, Hubbard describes the victim this way:

"The dead girl?" Hubbard asked, raising an eyebrow. "I knew who she was. Everyone did. The queen bee of the East Sider's. Country club kids. Not that her family belonged -- the dad flipped burgers at Mickey D's. You wanted to wipe that smile off her face and watch her freckles turned purple? All you had to do was sing the big Mac song: 'Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.' Rich boys didn't care about that, though. She was VIP. Tall and blonde and built for speed. Dude had to have a fat roll of cash and a sweet ride before he even thought about running with her."

Hubbard claims that in addition to him being innocent, he was also attacked by some white man during the time of the crime and stabbed one of them with a knife. Later analysis of the DNA on Hubbard's knife was found to match the victim's blood type. However, the blood was never fully tested against the DNA of the victim, and when Casey Jordan gets involved in the case and goes to the warehouse where evidence is kept, Hubbard's file is mysteriously missing.

Once Jordan is finally able to secure the evidence she needs, it appears that nearly everyone involved in this case has something to hide. The more that she investigates this case, the more cover ups Jordan encounters. She is soon teamed up with a TV news journalist, Jake Carlson, who wants to interview Robert Graham for an article about the Freedom Project. She also receives help from Marty Barrone, an inexperienced local lawyer who helps her with the local politics.

What I liked about this book was that there were plenty of plot twists. What started out as a straightforward attempt to free a wrongly convicted prisoner quickly turns into a labyrinth of lies and deceit. Although I never quite connected with the lead characters in the book, the plot surprises make this a quick and entertaining read.

A charity organization known as the Freedom Project, which is dedicated to freeing wrongly convicted prisoners and is run by billionaire and philanthropist Robert Graham, hires defense attorney Casey Jordan to revive the case of Dwayne Hubbard. A black man convicted of brutally murdering and raping a college student 20 years ago. Casey believes this will be an open and shut case since she has DNA evidence that proves his innocence. Everything is not as it seems.
I always enjoy and get a lot of satisfaction from Tim Green's novels. Suffice it to say this one didn't hit the big mark for me. It was a good story overall and provided plenty of suspense and mystery but somehow the ending didn't sit right with me. I'm not going to spoil it but I think one of the villians deserved a harsher punishment than the other.

Following on the heels of his well received Above The Law, Tim Green spins another suspenseful tale reminding us that oftentimes little is as it appears to be.

Once again starring feisty, tough but beautiful attorney Casey Jordan FALSE CONVICTIONS takes us into the worlds of billionaire Robert Graham who believes money can buy anything and is willing to spend plenty to get what he want, and to a prison where an indigent African-American, Dwayne Hubbard, is serving a life sentence for the horrible rape/murder/mutilation of a 17-year-old girl some 20 years ago.

When Casey receives a call from Graham asking to have dinner with her she doesn't hesitate a second before dropping other plans - The Freedom Project, a charity that uses DNA to prove the innocence of those found guilty, is dear to Casey's heart, and she believes Graham may be interested in helping it. As she says, "Robert Graham isn't just some billionaire. He's a philanthropist." Right?

The promise of a million dollar pledge to Casey's legal clinic in return for her legal services is something she can't refuse. So, she heads for Auburn, NY to free Hubbard. Casey gets a lot of flack because of a recent movie made about her in which she's portrayed by Susan Lucci, but even more disturbing than flack is the niggling suspicion that someone is blocking her efforts. Suspicion grows closer to reality after she meets and compares notes with handsome TV journalist Jake Carlson who has been assigned to do a piece on Graham. Carlson is good at his job; he knows how to pander to a rich man's ego, so much so that during the interview Graham became red-faced and teary-eyed from telling humorous stories about eating ketchup sandwiches as a child and building toys out of used Popsicle sticks...."

A believable story? To many but not to Jake and soon Casey has more than doubts - corroborated when both have to run for their lives.

FALSE CONVICTIONS is a taut, fast paced thriller that keeps readers on tender hooks until the final pages.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Dallas attorney Casey Jordan works with the not for profit Freedom Project, who handle wrongful conviction cases. Billionaire Robert Graham, founder of the Freedom Project, offers Casey one million dollars annually for use by her legal clinic if she works a couple of well known cases a year. Casey agrees.

In 1989 in Auburn, New York black man Dwayne Hubbard was convicted of the murder of a white female college student; DNA analysis proves his innocence and implies a massive conspiracy by all those involved in the original prosecution. At the same time that Casey proves Dwayne did not commit the murder that he went to jail for, TV reporter Jake Carlson investigates Graham. He brings some concerns to Casey, who partners with him into looking at the philanthropist's business transactions and other past dealings.

The third Jordan legal thriller (see Above the Law and The Letter of the Law) is a terrific tale because the audience sees deep inside the heroine's soul as her passion for the law and helping the impoverished ring genuine. Thus Casey is lucid in her belief that Graham is wasting his money on the Hubbard case, but it is his cash though she still questions him why. Fans will enjoy the exciting False Convictions though some might question the fascinating climatic twists.

Harriet Klausner

I am a big fan of Tim Green - this guy knows how to write a thriller and False Convictions rates right up there. Green has brought back Cassey Jordan and she is a delightful mixture of sarcasm and idealism - she is fighting for the underprivileged and is approached by Robert Graham - he has lots of money and is asking Jordan to investigate a murder which happened in 1989 and where Dwayne Hubbard was jailed. Although she has her reservations, she agrees.

As she digs deeper and deeper into the old case, she realizes that perhaps Hubbard was falsely accused. At the same time, journalist Jacke Carlson is invetigating Graham and asks Jordan for help. While Jordan tries to save the life of an innocent man, she is wondering more and more why Graham would be so interested and involved in such a case - all the while being pushed by Carlson.

Carlson and Jordan actually are a good couple - they are interesting and i found myself involved in their theories and investigation. There are lots of twists and the plot moves at a great clip - which, to me, is incredibly important in a thriller.

Some of the events felt a tad contrived, but I didn't really care because I was so heavily invested in the storyline. From the first sentence, you can feel as though nobody is truly who they appear to be and Graham, while I could not get a handle on completely, I kind of knew had some deep dark secrets.

This is a wonderful thriller - I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say it was perfect.

I absolutely, positively enjoyed this and every other book Tim Green has written. If you enjoy suspense you'll love this book.

Attorney Casey Jordan runs a legal clinic for the underprivileged women, when she is contacted by the wealthy and powerful millionaire Robert Graham to ask her to participate in his pet charity "The Freedom Project." The Freedom Project aim is to gain the freedom of prisoners who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. In exchange for Casey's assistance Graham will donate a million dollars to her clinic. The 1st case they want Casey's help with is one involving a black man named Dwayne Hubbard who was convicted of raping and murdering a small town beauty queen in almost 20 years ago.
As Casey begins to research the case she discovers a cover-up, corruption, and then it appears something more. As she digs deeper, it becomes apparent that she has gotten involved in something more than she anticipated and that her reputation and life could be in jeopardy.

This was a very good read, with several plot twists and an unexpected yet gratifying ending.

It is unique perhaps to find someone who, during the course of his college education, was successfully trained for two careers. Author Tim Green attended Syracuse University and was an All-American football player. In 1986, the Atlanta Falcons selected him in the first round of the NFL draft, and his professional career covered eight seasons. However, his off-the-field accomplishments easily match his football skills. He majored in English literature and studied with award-winning writer and Syracuse professor Tobias Wolff. Syracuse taught him football and writing, and following graduation, he has been successful in both endeavors.

Green's writing career has included a nonfiction account of his NFL days, THE DARK SIDE OF THE GAME, and a series of books for young readers set in the world of professional sports. He is best known for more than a dozen legal-themed suspense novels, the last five having reached the New York Times bestseller list. While playing in the NFL, Green also managed to attend law school as well as work in radio and television journalism. His experience is the foundation for the plot and characters of his thrillers, in which legal and media themes abound. And FALSE CONVICTIONS is his latest effort. Characters who have appeared in his previous books show up on the pages of this engaging and entertaining novel. Readers again follow Texas attorney Casey Jordan and investigative TV reporter Jake Carlson in an interesting series of plot twists that have as their blueprint current headlines in print and visual media.

Very few fictional courtroom attorneys devote their careers to simply earning lucrative fees. They usually want more; they want justice. And Casey Jordan is no exception. She has established a law office that handles many cases for the less fortunate of society. When she is offered an annual stipend of one million dollars by Robert Graham, a wealthy businessman who has founded the Freedom Project, Jordan accepts the opportunity. Graham immediately sends his private jet to Fort Worth, Texas, to bring Jordan to upstate New York in an effort to establish that Dwayne Hubbard was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a female college student in 1989.

In addition to his wealth, Graham is an unabashed self-promoter. With his cooperation, Carlson is granted an in-depth interview to promote his efforts to free the wrongfully convicted. Sometimes people are just too good to be true, and Carlson suspects that about Graham. FALSE CONVICTIONS takes several interesting plot twists and turns as the "White Knight" Graham turns out to be hiding some skeletons in his closest. Furthermore, Hubbard's wrongful conviction --- one that appears to be part of a small-town conspiracy involving local political power brokers --- is far more complicated in scope and impact, and Jordan finds herself the target of a criminal investigation. The lawyer is forced to go on the run, seeking exoneration (a common plot in legal fiction). And Green handles all these plot lines with skill, providing excitement and entertainment for the reader.

FALSE CONVICTIONS has the basic ingredients for a thrilling courtroom novel --- a victim of injustice, some romance, political intrigue, and a good villain or two. It also contains a few plot twists that readers may find a little difficult to swallow, but that is the joy of a good suspense novel. It is those intriguing twists that separate fact from fiction and make writers like Tim Green frequent visitors to bestseller lists.

Casey Jordan, an attorney made famous by scandalous cases and a Lifetime movie, is tapped by billionaire Robert Graham for the well-funded Freedom Project. The deal seems simple enough: Casey will serve as the defense attorney on a few high profile cases a year in exchange for a $1 million annual donation to her legal clinic. Robert and his team cater to her every request as she takes on her first case involving a 20 year old rape and murder of a college student. Dwayne Hubbard, according to his mother and Robert, was given a quick and shoddy trial and wrongly convicted.

With Casey on the hunt to overturn the verdict, TV news journalist Jake Carlson arrives in town to interview Robert and report on the work of the Freedom Project. Given the opportunity to interview Casey instead, Jake shares his doubts about Robert and his intent to uncover Robert's not so virtuous dealings. Unphased, Casey gets the DNA evidence that proves Dwayne's innocence, masterfully "convinces" the judge to throw out the old verdict and prepares to return home in a blitz of publicity over a job well done. Or was it? Casey finds out soon enough that even hard facts may be misleading and is thrown into a tailspin attempt to discover Robert's true intentions, with Jake by her side.

"False Convictions" is Tim Green's third novel featuring Casey Jordan, but it was my first introduction to both the author and the main character (I would have never guessed that it was a third novel since it held up so well on its own). Despite the instant plot giveaways courtesy of the title and the cover art, the novel was very fun to read and kept me sufficiently entertained on a long plain ride. Casey's character was appealing in her struggle to champion the rights of the underprivileged and right whatever wrongs were inflicted upon them. The plot could have been more fleshed out, but Green stirred in just the right amounts of suspense, romance, sexual tension and intrigue to keep the pages turning.