Customer Reviews

Judgment Calls: A Mystery

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having been a James Lee Burke fan for quite some time, I fully expected to find an intriguing tale, but with JLB overtones. Not at all. Judgement Calls is fast-paced, immediately engaging and definitely the author's own. The dialog is realistic, sharp and often very funny. Burke's Samantha Kincaid is well drawn, an imperfect, thoroughly likable, bright Assistant District Attorney with minor emotional baggage (no angst) and an attitude to which any woman can relate. The other characters are better than adequate; not as detailed as one might like, but their motivations are clearly understood. The story is a gut-wrencher for anyone with teens (and Burke gets the teen attitude down to the rolling-eye sighs!). The story is a little convoluted, perhaps because of the legal details, but it pulls you in and by the end you've got it. I'm glad I started this book on Friday evening, because I was up all night finishing it!

As a loyal James Lee Burke fan, I couldn't pass on the temptation to read his daughter's debut. I knew it would be different from her father's, but I found myself comparing for the first twenty pages or so.

While the prose is lean and gritty--a family writing trait--the inner turmoils are less pronounced and the settings less colorful. Soon, though, I found myself intrigued by this story of an underage prostitute discovered almost dead in the woods outside of Portland, Oregon. I began to care for the female deputy DA as she unraveled the case, as she struggled with her own relational hangups. I turned the pages...and forgot about comparisons.

"Judgment Calls" starts a little rough, reading more like a manual on legal procedures at times, but Alafair Burke knows her stuff and begins to smooth out the ride as the novel progresses. She tells a good mystery, and I look forward to the sequel. Why live in her father's shadow when she can stand admirably on her own! And I'm sure Mr. Burke would agree.

If you've spent any time inside a DA's office you know Alafair Burke delivers the goods. The story is believable and accurate in tone and detail. The characters seem real and the plot is not some far-fetched Grisham-like fantasy that could never happen in a million years. I enjoyed this book a great deal and have recommended it to several friends. Just because her dad is a legendary writer himself doesn't mean A. Burke doesn't earn her kudos. I am eagerly awaiting her next one.

This may be the first novel for Alafair (I love that name!) Burke, but she is no novice at writing a gritty,fast-paced, witty page-turner. It must be in the genes! Protaganist, Samantha Kincaid(a Portland DDA) is entirely likeable & this book leaves you wanting more of her, not to mention her old-flame & current Portland detective, Chuck Forbes. I am pleased to know that this is the first in a "Sam Kincaid" series & I eagerly look forward to the next installment!

Portland, Oregon, Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid, is trying the case of a man who raped and sodomized a young girl who supported her growing heroin addiction with bouts of prostitution. As she is preparing for her straightforward attempted murder trial , it takes some bizarre twists involving child pornography rings, a possible serial killer, and corruption in the DA's office. There is a secondary story involving her on again/off again relationship with her first love Chuck Forbes. Chuck, the son of a former governor, is now detective on the Major Crime Team.

Alafair Burke is former deputy district attorney and is now a law professor at Hofstra School of Law, so she is knowledgeable about her subject matter. The characters were multi-dimensional and well developed. The plot of this story was pretty good, but tended to be slow at times due to the lengthy explanations of the legal process. One annoyance in the book was the liberal use of acronyms. There were too many and it slowed down parts of the story even more. This is a good start to a promising series, but it could have been better if it were better paced.

In her debut novel, Alafair Burke introduces us to Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid in an excellent start to what promises to be a very enjoyable series. And the news is good because the second book in the series is already in the works.

Sam Kincaid agrees to take a case that looks like it could be poison from the start. A 13-year-old prostitute and heroin addict has been raped, severely beaten and left for dead by a couple of men. Even though the girl can positively identify one of her attackers, the fact that she's a prostitute and may have been under the influence of drugs at the time will mean the jury may be unsympathetic to say the least. Sam puts a case together regardless and pretty soon the evidence begins building and the case looks stronger all the time. It's only halfway through the trial that things begin to go wrong and the case doesn't look quite so clear cut after all.

This really is a particularly good legal thriller and the fact that it's a debut novel only makes it all the more commendable. Through Sam we are stepped through the legal procedure as seen from the D.A.'s perspective. This could have been quite tedious and boring, but in this case, the telling was anything but. As for the mystery, I thought it was very well constructed, complete with a clever twist or two at the end.

Alafair Burke is inevitably tagged as "daughter of James Lee Burke" but don't be put off by that. Ms. Burke is worthwhile in her own right....she is not cruising on her father's fame.

Judgment Calls is the first of what will become the Samantha Kinkaid series. Kincaid is an Asst DA in Portland, OR. In this first novel, Kincaid catches a prostitute murder case.

The characters are well crafted as is the plot. The book is fast-moving and full of enough twists to keep you off-balance and guessing until the end.

Well worth reading and following up the other two now out in the series.

JUDGMENT CALLS marks the debut of Alafair Burke, daughter of famous crime writer James Lee Burke. The plot involves Samantha Kincaid, an assistant DA in Portland, who's prosecuting a brutal rape/attempted murder. The case looks airtight, but then a possible link to a serial killer arises, as does the possibility that Samantha's lover (a cop) may have put an innocent woman in jail.

Much of the book details the legal maneuverings around the rape case, and there's quite a bit of description of legal procedures that will be familiar to anyone who has seen a couple of episodes of Law & Order. At times I thought the book dragged, but I enjoyed being in the company of these characters and the final plot twist is genuinely exciting. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Judgment Calls, the debut effort from Alafair Burke, is a book that is difficult to set down. Readers are introduced to Samantha Kincaid, a young prosecutor navigating through the judicial system in search of justice for the teenage victim in a brutal rape case. Ms. Burke, through colorful descriptions, interesting character development, and a tight, riveting plot, takes the reader on a memorable ride from the start to finish of a criminal case from the prosecutor's perspective, a perspective that has not been explored much by other crime/mystery writers. Ms. Burke appears to have a very bright future in this genre and this reviewer is definitely looking forward to future books featuring Samantha Kincaid.

I suppose when you pick up the debut novel of an author who happens to be the daughter of a bestselling author, it's natural to want to compare. But in all fairness, once I opened the book up, I promised myself that I wasn't about to compare Alafair Burke to her legendary dad, James Lee Burke. That way I wouldn't be looking for mysteries of the bayou, or some swamp, Cajun action thriller that the more seasoned Burke writes. I'd be looking for something original, something handpicked, something that came from the head of Alafair Burke. So, does the name James Lee Burke STILL come to mind? Well, get it out of your head, and read something by Alafair Burke.

Alafair introduces us to Samantha Kincaid, known better as Sam. And she's from the Portland area, and she's a Deputy District Attorney. And she works for DVD, (drug and vice division) only to have a serious case on her hands. A thirteen-year old girl has been sexually assaulted and left for dead, and Sam is on a mission to find out who and why. And when she has questions, she gets answers, and she gets trouble. When she seems to get in too deep, her own character and integrity is questioned. To dig deeper would mean more trouble, but it could also produce results!

Alafair Burke isn't afraid to get a little gritty from time to time, yet pulls this off quite nicely. One reviewer remarked that at times it was like reading a manual, and unfortunately he was right on. So despite some moments of dragging just a bit, Burke put together something impressive. And that's not just my opinion either. Lee Child, Michael Connelly and Linda Fairstein agree as well that Alafair Burke is an author worth reading!

So just get it out of your head that this is a James Lee Burke look-alike. Get it in your head that Alafair Burke sure can write!