Customer Reviews

The Hidden Man

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am an avid mystery reader and I have to say The Hidden Man is the absolutely best book I have read in a long while - in fact I lost several hours of sleep because I just could not stop reading. It was also a delight that not only was the story intriguing, with a lot of sub-plots, but David Ellis is also a gifted writer - very well written. Not matter how many times I thought I had the mystery solved, I was always wrong - David Ellis kept the reader going into the very end. It is not often that I find that I have not "figured" out the climax - Ellis really threw me a loop! The story was exciting, fast-paced with regular glimpses into the main character's past. While reading, I felt like I was one-on-one with the main character, racing to unravel the facts that would save himself, his brother and his childhood best friend.
I highly recommend The Hidden Man - just a word of warning - do not start reading unless you have the time to finish - you literally cannot put this book down!

After Audrey Cutler is snatched from her bedroom in the middle of the night, the lives of her seven-year-old brother, Sammy, and his best friend, Jason Kolarich, are forever scarred by the tragedy. Griffin Perlini, a known sex offender who lives nearby, is suspected of the crime, but the case is never solved and Perlini goes free. After Audrey's disappearance, Sammy's already dreadful home situation turns from bad to worse.

Growing up in a grief-stricken family, Sammy seeks escape through drugs and becomes involved in crime. Jason briefly heads down the same path, but because of his success on the football field in high school and the loyalty of Sammy, Jason is spared from spending time in juvenile detention. Jason eventually escapes the neighborhood and his abusive father by way of an athletic scholarship, leading him to receive a college education and a law degree. Additionally, he marries the woman of his dreams, and they have a beautiful daughter together.

Sammy, who continues to have run-ins with the law into adulthood, is not as lucky. And neither is Jason's younger brother, Pete. Slighter in stature than Jason, Pete is the unlucky target of their drunken father's physical and emotional abuse. Although Jason was fortunate enough to escape this deplorable family situation, he has never forgotten his roots.

But despite being able to leave all the misery, the misery is able to find Jason. Thirty years after Audrey's abduction, Jason is a broken man. Once on a fast track to stardom in a high-powered criminal defense firm, he crashes and burns after his wife and daughter are killed in a freak car accident one night while he was working on a high-profile case. Blaming himself for their deaths, he trades his success and notoriety for isolation and despair and walks away from a promising future to begin a modest law practice.

One day, a nattily dressed mysterious client known as "Mr. Smith" hires Jason to defend Sammy on the charges of murdering a man suspected of abducting young Audrey 30 years ago. The evidence against Sammy is overwhelming, and the trial is scheduled to begin shortly. In addition to paying Jason a huge retainer, Mr. Smith lays out Sammy's defense. He gives Jason his marching orders, including providing an eyewitness who can exonerate Sammy, and expects Jason to fall in line and conclude the trial quickly. But things don't add up for Jason, who is determined to find the truth and is not afraid to stand up to Mr. Smith or a prosecution out to convict Sammy of murder.

When Jason refuses to buckle to Mr. Smith's threats, Pete is imprisoned on a federal drug and weapons charge. Jason realizes Pete has been set up and suspects there is more to the case than proving the innocence of Sammy. Fighting against the odds and against the clock, Jason must first discover the truth about the past in order to save his brother's life and prove his friend's innocence.

In THE HIDDEN MAN, David Ellis has created a likable hero in Jason Kolarich, an everyday man who has scraped his way to the top through hard work and determination yet still remains true to his values. Ellis, the lead prosecutor in the trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, has used his first-hand knowledge of the criminal defense system to craft a thoughtful and surprising thriller that ponders the larger questions of fate, loyalty, redemption, and having the courage to do what is right in spite of the risks and regardless of the consequences.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

In 1980, someone abducted two-year-old Audrey Cutler from her bedroom. Her stunned mother held her seven year old son Sammy tight as if she will never let him go. The police question sexual offender Perlini, but the evidence was not there.

In 2006 Sammy runs into Perlini. Soon afterward the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Audrey is dead. The police arrest Sammy. His high school crony defense attorney Jason Kolarich is hired to defend Sammy. However, the fee for his services comes from an unknown M. Smith who wants a speedy trial and the lawyer believes his defeat as he is told how his client is to plea. Still reeling from the deaths of his wife and daughter in a car accident, Jason tries his best. His inquiry leads to a mass grave of children, but instead of euphoria, his client's financial backers abduct Jason's brother threatening to kill him if the attorney uncovers any other revelations.

This is a terrific legal thriller starring a dedicated attorney who wants to do his best by his client regardless of who is paying for the defense or his own issues. The story line is fast-paced from the onset as armchair lawyers will root for and read in one sitting Jason's efforts to mount a viable defense. Fans will enjoy Jason's idealistic attempts to defend Sammy especially after his sibling is kidnapped. David Ellis has a winner in Jason Kolarich.

Harriet Klausner

A legal thriller that reminds me of the best works of John Grisham, The Hidden Man is even better, simply because David Ellis is a superior writer. He has a great command of language, something that is not often seen in this genre. Ellis also knows how to create a protagonist that is deeply realized and complex. The plot is riveting and engrossing; there were ingenious plot twits at every turn. Every time I thought I had things figured out I was proven wrong! This is the first in a series featuring the fascinating main character, Jason Kolarich. I highly recommend it!

Without going into detail, the plot involves lawyer, Jason Kolarich, needing to put together a competent defense in a short amount of time when a long-estranged friend is charged with murder. However, as the trial looms near, it becomes evident to Kolarich that he will have to unearth some unsettling events from their childhood in order to solve not only this case, but also a mysteriously connected crime that went unsolved over thirty years ago. The Hidden Man is a mystery (I wouldn't call it a thriller, even though the publisher does) whose first quarter and last quarter are both entertaining and fast-paced, although they at times strain credibility. However, the middle half of the book was a bit of a let-down for me. That's because it dangles so many seemingly unconnected pieces of its puzzle in front of the reader for so long a time without much excitement that by the time the author applied "the glue" needed to make all of the pieces fit together, I sometimes found myself, instead of engrossed, being lulled into sort of a "reader's daze." This evenness in the story made The Hidden Man an "okay" read but not a book I'd recommend you rush out to read. Now, in fairness to David Ellis (whose books, A Line Of Vision and Life Sentence, I enjoyed very much) his character devlopment skills are well above average, and so I found myself strongly interested in what happens to the various characters involved in The Hidden Man -- even the bad guys! Further, the main character, lawyer Jason Kolarich, is one that I expect we'll be reading more about in future books by Ellis, and I think that could be a good thing.

I had never heard of David Ellis until I saw this on a New Books shelf in the library where I work,but now I'm a big fan of his.This time he intorduces a
great new character in Jason Kolarich,a young defense attorney still mourning the recent deaths of his wife and daughter.Jason is hired to defend a childhood friend
on a charge of murdering the man who may have kidnapped and killed his younger sister years earlier.Jason finds that things are a lot more compicated than that,
and he's soon embroiled in lies,betrayal,and violence.But Jason's enemies are dealing with a former football star who's as tough as a pitbull.The result is one of the year's best thrillers,well-written,with a solid,fast-paced,suspenseful story
and well-drawn characters.I hope we will see more Jason Kolarich books.Men,action thriller fans,and mystery lovers will love this!Double PlayA Time to Kill: A NovelA Time to Kill [Blu-ray]A Time to KillThe Street LawyerThe PartnerThe King of Torts

I was hoping to have a quick read that didn't require use of a dictionary, complex plot or too many characters to remember. This novel didn't disappoint as it was exactly what I wanted. But I was confused about how the protagonist could describe scenes and conversations of others where he wasn't present...you see, the novel was written in the first person. Another thing was I never connected with the main character. I don't have a visual of what he or his brother looked like. I didn't feel the connection and the sadness or anguish he felt due to the death of his wife and daughter. In the end, it seems he completely forgot about them. In the good news category, the plot kept my attention and I wanted to keep reading. When he finally solved the mystery of who'd been the abductor, I was lost. Not sure the connection was there. It's like he figured it out and the reader should just accept that and move on. I would have liked the author to help the reader connect the dots, even after the fact.

David Ellis really knows how to take his readers on a roller coaster ride and Mr. Ellis was in top form when he wrote The Hidden Man. He really know how to draw a person into the plot and just when you think you have the ending figured out he pulls the rug out. The characters are human and not superhuman which makes the story unfold and scramble before your eyes. If you enjoy part courtroom, part politics and a good story then grab this book find a nook and hang on.

This is my first David Ellis book and it won't be my last. THE HIDDEN MAN is a very good read. A nice mystery with good twists and interesting characters, this book keeps you turning pages. Jason Kolarich, a Chicago attorney is an interesting character, and a skillful attorney but fighting family demons has taken the edge away. He is struggling to get the edge back. He is set to defend a childhood friend for murder of a convicted sex offender and lots of old memories and new enemies come out. Could have done with a little less flash backs but over all a good read. RECOMMENDED.

I'm a huge fan of David Ellis. I've thoroughly enjoyed his previous novels, but I didn't think this one cut it.
Twenty-eight years ago, two year old Audrey Cutler was kidnapped from her home. Last year, her brother, Sammy Cutler, shot and killed Griffin Perlini, her alleged killer. Perlini was a known child molester, but was never convicted for Cutler's abduction. Now, 4 weeks before his trial, a mysterious benefactor has hired Jason Kolarich to defend Sammy. Sammy and Jason used to be best friends, growing up together, and spending every waking moment with each other. After Audrey's kidnapping, Sammy went down a path of destruction and a life of petty crimes. Jason turned onto football, got a scholarship, went through college, and became a lawyer.

As Jason digs deeper, he realizes that to get Sammy off, he must finally solve the mystery of Audrey's disappearance. However, the mystery man behind Sammy's case does not want the past revisited. It even gets to the point where Jason's brother is an unintended victim of this case, and now Jason must help Sammy, solve Audrey's disappearance, and save his brother.

Everything was great until the end. I really liked the suspense-trying to figure out how every character tied into Sammy's case. It was a real page-turner, and I found Jason to be very likeable. However, the story line itself was a bit far-fetched. To me, this wasn't a good work of fiction. Maybe next time!