Customer Reviews

Keep and Bear Arms

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is a great read and why it didn't make the best seller list is something I don't understand. It combines drama, nostalgia, current concerns, rural America, small town living, Christian values, Middle Eastern heritage, and the changing landscape of the American legal system, for openers. The story is told in a fast-paced manner that makes it almost impossible to put the book down. The author is an attorney who understands the court system well.

The setting is east-central Illinois, an area of the USA where I dwelled for 23.5 years as a Professor of Geology at the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign. I can vouch that the author's description of the landscape, the people and their mindset ("They realized that the high schools senior prom was the high point of their life."), the limited quality of life (a restaurant described as a place with "every wall cluttered with cute little sayings painted on wooden plaques"), the obese law enforcement officers and their level of intelligence, the courtroom décor in the county courthouse, the campus of the nearby flagship state university, the local architecture, the farm machinery, the flatness of the place, and the poor road and weather conditions, is real. Be assured, I saw it through my own eyes and could not have described it better. The dysfunctional perceptions of the local people described in the novel ("Generations of inbreeding had strewn the town with cousins or closer relatives no one mentioned. They all looked similar") also is shown to extend to the nearby state flagship university to a certain degree.

The story is a classic case of mistaken identity interwoven with local prejudice which amplified quick conclusions and obtaining wrong evidence by law enforcement. Their actions were based on long-term prejudice and a rush to judgment. The plaintiff in a firebombing murder case in a rural county courthouse is an immigrant from the Middle East whose own perceptions of the American legal system perverted it to suit his own needs and tastes. Remarkably, he had a range of successes in his quest to test the legal system. In the process, he alienated every attorney and law enforcement officer in the area who came to know him too well as someone who was not one of them and needed watching. In short, the plaintiff was an outcast just because he came from somewhere else.

Having been wrongly accused by both local and federal law enforcement, the plaintiff's mysterious connections retained a well-known lawyer from another part of the state. The client-attorney relationship was difficult and more than once (perhaps 10 times?), the attorney thought of dropping the case. He persevered however, with the help of an ex-wife (now a law professor at that flagship university) seeing constitutional issues at stake. Faced with a hostile judge, country prosecutor, national attention, and community, the case spirals on through a series of unusual and procedural twists and turns. It also involved side plots perpetrated by the local equivalent of the Aryan Nazi movement with a strange overlay of biblical justification, to the strained relationship of the defense attorney and his ex-wife.

In the end fundamental questions can be raised about the legal systems in rural America, and the changing pattern of law enforcement after 9/11. They provide a sober conclusion with as many questions as well as answers as the novel ends.

A truly great read and highly recommended.

Haven't finished it. I just can't seem to keep interested. Sorry to the author, but I was disappointed.

It takes a special person to write a book on a topic which is likely to cause some debate. Case in point is Mr. Auler's thriller Keep and Bear Arms.

A book with a topic that certainly digs into our own personal beliefs, and challenges our preconceived prejudices. Robert keeps our minds entertained and our hearts learning to open, and perhaps become a bit more understanding.

Excellent writing and understanding of legal system are what is offered in a book that I humbly suggest was a bit short, and the authors grasp makes you want to read more.

Edgy, dark and a perfect late night read.

Check this book out!

This book has a very interesting story but more importantly it has a very thought provoking message about justice in our court system. It looks at guilt and innocence in ways seldom seen or talked about.

I'm normally in bed at ten, but I stayed up until almost one o'clock last night finishing Keep and Bear Arms. The last hundred pages compel you to continue reading to find out the dramatic ending.

A not very likeable naturalized U.S. citizen, born in the Middle East and suspected of terrorist leanings, is in the crosshairs of the post-9/11 state and federal justice systems. Accused of a heinous murder of a judge, the defendant is subjected to an entire legal system that now seemingly believes "guilty until proven innocent".

The court room scenes are highly charged and very real. It gives one pause to consider what happens when everyone presumes guilt. This is a must read for liberals and conservatives alike.

Benjamin Blue - author of the mystery/thriller novel Storm Killer

I've read quite a few courtroom thrillers from the likes of Turow and Lescroart, and Bob Auler's "Keep and Bear Arms" was right up there in characterization, suspense, and interesting topics.

But Auler's tale was different... and all the better for it. He told it from the point of view of a big-city liberal defense attorney, Carl Hardman, who's trying a terrorist case in a small conservative town with a mildly corrupt old-boy-network legal system. Sort of like "My Cousin Vinny", but Hardman ain't new at this: he's a washed-up 50-something lawyer who's not even happy about defending an accused terrorist, but who wants to make sure the guy isn't railroaded into a lethal injection.

I liked Hardman - he's real, sympathetic, and driven. He struggles with problems beyond the case, like an ex-wife, an eleven year old daughter he doesn't get to see as much as he needs, and the hots for his client's sexy wife. Auler also does a nice job building out a strong characterization in Brother Bill, the leader of a far-right protest group.

"Keep and Bear Arms" tells how an unlikeable Lebanese American is accused of fire-bombing an old judge, right in the middle of a courtroom. The FBI jumps in and calls it terror. Hardman is sucked into his defense. The far-right gets upset that a big-city lawyer is gonna cut a deal and plots their own mischief. Hardman is fighting with his nasty client. And all the time he's struggling with his convictions about how he's going to defend somebody who he already thinks is guilty.

Auler spins all his characters through twists on the same dilemma--one we should maybe ask ourselves every now and then: how do we put aside our own "gut level" beliefs and prejudices and follow the rules, especially when we have the power to climb above the law? Some of his characters are able to surmount this challenge, and some aren't--and it's not the ones you'd expect.

This was a fantastic legal read, and it really made me think on the deeper issues of how the rule of law keeps us human. Thanks, Bob, and keep writing!

Mr. Auler paints a collage of mystery and charm in a quiet mid-western locale. It explodes with a punch of intrigue, mystery and 9/11 paranoia the likes of which I haven't enjoyed for a very long time. Then, he dropped me on my head in unexpected twists. It was wonderful.

I applaud Bob with writing a book that makes you question todays legal system and keeps you thinking after you have finished reading the book. Once I got to within 100 pages of the end, I could not stop reading it and I just had to finish the book.

You really get into the characters in the story and he keeps you guessing until the end. It really makes you think about the rights you have and if you are truly innocent until proven guilty.

Having read MANY legal thrillers, this one really sets itself apart from the rest. Very well written and you get caught up in the book from the beginning.

I am hoping to see another book from Robert Auler in the future! This is a MUST read!

It's brilliant. Bare bones recall of intimate legal database and the weaving of the Midwest countryside...very juicy stuff. visual, detailed with gritty sayings and a catharsis of someone who has paid their dues. A hero to all professionals surviving day to day with controversy around them. This is a story of "learning." Learning to stay with the ethics that drives any professional doing their job day by day. As Dr. King said " the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." cc

This a very good story ripped out of todays headlines by a legal expert who can turn a localized (read medium sized midwest town) setting to a national one. Great first book with what we hope will be more to come!

Bill Ackermann