Customer Reviews

Judgment Day (Mike Daley)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...THIS job. Nate Fineman is in a mess; he is a 77 year-old legend in the San Francisco legal community who has made himself a "reputation", and a ton of money, defending rich low-lifes when they deal drugs, murder cops and other drug dealers, etc. Nate The Great had it all, but 10 years ago the sudden demise of two dope king pins and a crooked lawyer landed him on Death Row, where he has a date with the needle in nine and a half days. The San Fran Cops wanted his neck for years, and finally got it....

Enter Mike and Rosie, old friends of ours by now, who make a great legal team, have two kids, and the craziest divorce on record. Nate needs all the help he can get, and wants to hire them, along with Pete, Mike's PI brother, for the final appeals. The Law has no tougher job, and it is sure evidence of Sheldon's great skill that he can make us feel the stress. [Sheldon is a corporate attorney, and hasn't actually handled a death penalty appeal]. Naturally, Nate claims innocence [there are no "guilty" men on death row], but he has some rather specific charges about the alleged frame-up, and the part Mike and Pete's Dad [now deceased] played in it. Ouch. Now, I have to be careful, lest I spoil it for you.....

Sheldon takes us on a heck of a ride...tense, fast-paced, draining...that is sure to draw up conflicting emotions about both legal obligations and family loyalties. Several of our old friends are here...Roosevelt Johnson is retired now, but sharp as ever; he was well involved in the original case, hates Nate, but remains honorable. Mort The Sport Goldberg was Nate's original Counsel. He's had a stroke, has good days and bad, but can still turn on the fire. Nick Hanson is involved in everything, always has been, and remains ageless. Rabbi Friedman from "Special Circumstances" is back...he is one of Sheldon's best creations, a model for all clergymen, of whatever faith.

OK, I've said enough. This MAY be Sheldon's best, and I will not ruin it for you.. Start with time left to finish it in one sitting; you will be pulled straight along, and won't be able to stop. It is NOT a polemic on either side of the Capital Punishment debate. I have no idea how Sheldon feels about the matter [bravo Sheldon]; heck, I'm not even 100% sure how I feel. The loudest defender of capital punishment would stop short of executing the innocent, and the most vocal opponent wouldn't want his daughter dating Ted Bundy; this controversy has points on both sides that will not be settled here. But, you will definitely have quite an adventure, and be forced to think at the same time.

First Sentence: The oldest man on death row is eyeing me from his wheelchair.

Attorney Mike Daley and Rosie, in spite of a promise to his ex-wife and law partner, takes on a death-row appeals case. Former powerhouse-attorney Nate Fineman, is due to die in 8 days. He was convicted of killing three men in a Chinatown restaurant shooting, but claims he is innocent and the gun was planted by the police. Now Mike has not only to prove Nate's innocence, but find identify the killer in order to prevent Nate's execution. There is one slight conflict; Mike's late father was one of the officers at the scene of the shooting.

Living in the Bay Area, I do love books set here where it is delightful to read of places I know or have been and people whose names are iconic with the area. But it is also nice, that Siegel gets the geographic and atmosphere right as well. Siegal has a great voice writes realistic dialoque and uses humor well.

It's his characters I particularly like. His people are...people; not over-the-top or infallible. Mike and his ex-wife Rosie work together, are occasionally intimate but can't life together yet they make it work so they are both involved in their children's lives. The contrast between Mike and his ex-cop brother, Pete, is a study in contrasts and adds dimension to both characters.

The story is very well plotted. The element of time counting down is always effective and, although I don't know how realistic they may be, I do particularly like the courtroom scenes. [An attorney friend tells me the courtroom scenes are very well done.]

Siegel is a writer whose books I very much enjoy and was pleased to learn there is a new book on its way.

siegel writes well. plot had potential, but story marred by too many easy coincidences. further, kindle edition badly formatted. and, by the way, no one can tell a sequestered witness what other witnesses have testified.

This is one of the better Sheldon entries in the Michael Daley series. In this one Mike must race against the clock to save a "disreputable" lawyer from a date with the executioner. All the usual characters are back (Roosevelt, Pete, Rosie, Nick Hanson) and it climaxes with Mike hammering witnesses while improvising his strategy in front of the judge. Those familiar with the series will give it five stars!

Well, Siegel you disrupted my 4th of July weekend. I bought your book with plans of sitting around the pool leisurely reading for the long weekend. Instead, I started Friday noon and had to delay dinner as I couldn't put the book down. As guests waited, I raced, with Mike and Rosie, to one court filing after another, in the successive petition filing that makes up Death Penalty litigation. Each chapter left me hanging with either hope or impending doom. I couldn't stop. Shortly after p. 300, I was able to take a break and eat as the characters prepared for the court hearing. But I returned with them, after my dinner, to the exciting conclusion.

While the novel is thoroughly entertaining, and the characters and San Francisco setting reminiscent of John Lescroart's novels, I can't help marveling at the historical roots of our legal system. While Seigel takes no position on the death penalty, he exposes--perhaps inadvertently, as he is not one to use his novels for political purposes--the critical role played by the writ of habeas corpus for an individual seeking relief from government action that would take life. At a time when the vote of but one Supreme Court justice (in the Gitmo case) has upheld, by a thread, the fundamental place of this writ in our system, it is instructive to ponder how Judgment Day would have been different without it.

Well, enough about law. What I really liked is Mike and Rosie. At the end of each Siegel book, I root for them to get back together. But I also come away feeling that Sheldon Siegel must have a very nice relationship with his wife to write so convincingly of the loving relationship of these two parents and lovers.

John M. Poswall, author of the novels "The Lawyers: Class of '69" and "The Altar Boys."

Good story, but then again I'm a big Sheldon Siegel/Mike Daley fan. I give the read only 4 stars because I've never been wowed by death row tales. I stopped reading Gresham after having plowed through "The Chamber". Then again, Sheldon Siegel is a better storyteller than Gresham.

This is one of the few non-preachy legal thrillers set on Death Row that I've ever read. Like the others, notably ones by Grisham and Richard North Patterson, the lead attorneys on this case have a tight schedule to battle against as the time draws closer and closer toward the execution hour. Like the other legal thrillers of this ilk, there are many conversations about what to file with the courts in order to get the execution stayed, and many scenes where the legal briefs are shot down.

What puts this book above the books by Patterson and Grisham is the fact that the lawyers are likable, and not preachy. Rosie and Mike Daley have made a great couple through the first six books by Siegel, and continue to be a winning team here. Their supporting cast is all in play, and the interactions between the characters will make you keep turning the pages.

Nicely done, and a welcome return to the publishing world for Mr. Siegel.

Mike Sheldon is a bestselling author who knows how to keep the reader on the edge of the seat totally engrossed rapidly flipping pages from beginning to end through the wee hours of the morning. Judgment Day was precisely that type of read.

Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez are no longer married, but they are a great team of lawyers in San Francisco representing death row inmate and notorious former underworld lawyer Nate Fineman convicted of murdering competing drug lords and one of their lawyers 10 years earlier. The clock is ticking as the couple has less than two weeks to break a rock solid case against their client and obtain an unlikely stay of execution.

Judgment Day is an engaging story and an enjoyable read. I am glad I read it and highly recommend it to those who enjoy a thrilling suspense novel.

I love this author and was excited that his latest work was available on Kindle. Upon downloading Judgment Day, I found the Kindle version to be VERY difficult to read. There are breaks in sentences, paragraphs are not indented, wordsrunintoeachother, the chapters flow into the next without any break, etc. I am not sure the method used to make an electronic reader edition, but I have read many books on my Kindle and this is my first experience with this poor formatting.

I read one novel by this author and immediately ordered more. It is always nice to find a new auther. Great story line. Hard to put down