The Jury Master [Hardcover]

Robert Dugoni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2006

In the tradition of Scott Turow and Brad Meltzer, this debut novel introduces a bold and entertaining new voice to the legal thriller genre. As he fights for his life, an attorney gets closer to the explosive truth about who he is, how little he knows, and who is really the master of his fate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The most impressive thing about this gripping legal thriller is what it doesn't do. Dugoni, a lawyer who coauthored a nonfiction book about an Idaho worker brain-damaged in 1996 by cyanide fumes, opens his debut novel with a wrongful death attorney in San Francisco, David Sloane, about to make his closing remarks defending a corporation in a similar case. Sloane, who has won 14 cases in a row, hates his arrogant client and must face an obviously hostile jury. But instead of devoting many chapters to the case, Dugoni quickly moves into some unexpected and very interesting territory: a recurring childhood nightmare Sloane shares with former CIA agent Charles Jenkins, apparently a complete stranger. Meanwhile, unstoppable West Virginia police detective Tom Molia investigates the suicide of a top adviser to the president, and what he finds draws Sloane and Jenkins closer to the truth behind their shared terror: an international conspiracy 30 years in the making. All of Dugoni's characters have a fresh and believable edge, and there is plenty of action in far-flung settings. One looks forward to Sloane's return. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In this rapid-fire fictional debut, a personal friend of the president has turned up as the victim of a not-so-apparent suicide--but not before mailing a package to David Sloane, a golden-tongued corporate lawyer with a mysterious past. It doesn't take long for unknown baddies to kill (a) a kindly old woman, (b) an eager rookie cop, and (c) two beloved dogs, thus making matters personal for Sloane, rumpled police detective Tom "Mole" Molia, and ex-CIA operative Charles Jenkins. Neither plotting nor prose can be accused of subtlety or originality, and readers looking for legal action or psychological depth best look elsewhere. Still, the action keeps coming, so omnivorous thrill seekers who favor Martini and Grisham may want to give Dugoni a look. The jury's still out, though, on whether he has the potential to play in their league. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044657869X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446578691
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A writer turned lawyer turned writer.
Robert Dugoni was born in Pocatello, Idaho and raised in Burlingame, California. Growing up the middle child in a family of ten siblings, Dugoni jokes that he didn't get much of a chance to talk, so he wrote. By the seventh grade he knew he wanted to be a writer.

Dugoni wrote his way to Stanford University, receiving writing awards along the way, and majored in communications/journalism and creative writing while working as a reporter for the Stanford Daily. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and worked briefly as a reporter in the Metro Office and the San Gabriel Valley Office of the Los Angeles Times.

Dugoni attended the UCLA law school and practiced law for 13 years in San Francisco. His longing to return to writing never wavered, however, and in 1999 he awoke one morning and made the decision to quit law and write novels. On the 4-year anniversary of his wedding day, he drove a u-haul trailer across the Oregon-Washington border and settled in Seattle to pursue his dreams.

For the next three years, Dugoni worked daily in an 8 foot by 8 foot windowless office in Pioneer Square to complete three novels, winning the 1999 and 2000 Pacific Northwest Writer's Conference Literary Contests.

Dugoni's first novel, The Jury Master, followed and became a New York Times bestseller. Deadly Pleasures mystery magazine chose The Jury Master as one of three "Best of the Best" debut novels of 2006 and the Seattle Times likened Dugoni to a young John Grisham, calling The Jury Master, "A riveting tale of murder, skullduggery and treachery at the highest level."

Dugoni's second novel, Damage Control, reached number 8 on several national independent bookseller's lists. Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal called Damage Control "a page turner" with "a fast moving plot and a few twists that will surprise even seasoned thriller readers."

Wrongful Death, Dugoni's second novel featuring Dugoni's popular protagonist, David Sloan, received critical acclaim. Kirkus called it, "An entertaining thriller about a hotshot lawyer with good guys to like, villains to hiss, and windmills to attack.." And Booklist wrote, "Mixing the suspense of a Grisham legal thriller with the political angle of a Baldacci. Dugoni is knocking on the A-list thriller door."

June 2010, Dugoni released his third in the David Sloane series, Bodily Harm, which the Providence Rhode Island Journal wrote branded Dugoni as "The undisputed king of the Legal Thriller."

Dugoni's fourth in the series, Murder One, will be released June 2011 and Publisher's Weekly has called it "the best yet in the series." Others are calling it a cross between Presumed Innocent and Basic Instinct.

In addition to writing novels, Dugoni teaches the craft of writing throughout the United States and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences and for many companies. For more on Dugoni and his novels, visit his website at www.robertdugonni.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just silly., July 26, 2007

By 

JoeV "Reader" (Arlington Hts, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Jury Master (Mass Market Paperback)

Billed as a stunning debut and legal thriller, this book is neither. It is filled with caricatures - highly successful attorney, (and an ex-marine), with a near genius IQ; his girl Friday, a young attractive single mother with a heart of gold; street wise, sarcastic yet tenacious homicide detective; an ex-CIA agent who lives as a hermit; and self-important, over-zealous political types, (there are more but I won't belabor the point), - all involved in a predictable plot which degenerates into a Freud meets The Amazing Kreskin psychological farce. Every trick in the book is used to keep this story "moving" including short chapters ending at (in)opportune moments to keep the reader hanging on, lame wise-cracking by the protagonists during moments of crisis and of course, flashbacks. To top it all off it is painfully overwritten - eye-glazingly so - at over 400 pages this would have been a chore to finish at half that length. I paid a buck and a half for this book and felt cheated. Pass on this one.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, March 20, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jury Master (Hardcover)

David Sloane is at the top of his game professionally. He's a wrongful death attorney in San Francisco who can take a no-win case and turn it into a winner.

But David Sloane's personal life is not as successful. He's single, doesn't have a family and is a workaholic who has begun having a reoccurring dream about his childhood that terrifies him.

Sloane receives a package from a personal friend and advisor of the President of the United States who has apparently committed suicide. The package and its contents set into motion a series of events over which people die and Sloane's history will be revealed--if only he can stay alive long enough to figure it out.

The story alternates between Sloane, Detective Tom Molia and Charles Jenkins and Alex Hart. While the different groups of people are necessary to the story line, the transitions are numerous and occasionally interfere with the plot movement.

Armchair Interviews says: Even with the over abundance of scene transitions, Robert Dugoni's debut novel is non-stop action. The information needed to break the case is provided slowly but with such intensity that you don't want to put the book down. The question is always, what's going to happen next?

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spin Doctor for the Thrill Reader, March 14, 2006

By 

Laurel Barton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jury Master (Hardcover)

The Jury Master is fashioned to stun the reader with its deft narrative and fluid action. This book was written for those who desire a plot which moves beyond the contrived formula of authors like Grisham. It does not over tip the scales of believability nor does it force the reader to be fluent in legalese. Sloane is gritty enough to be compelling. Dugoni's writing is effortless...definitely for Cleary or Lescraort fans.

BRAVO to Dugoni for spinning a yarn which can bind you to your chair from cover to cover without insulting your intelligence or replicating what has come before him...I will be buying copies of this for anyone vacationing this coming summer.