Life Sentence [Hardcover]

David Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2003

Line of Vision, David Ellis's debut, garnered resounding praise. "Expertly written [and] intricately plotted," hailed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "A surprisingly fresh take on the legal thriller" (San Francisco Chronicle), it inspired words like "seductive" (BookPage), "spellbinding" (Publishers Weekly), and "stylish" (Kirkus Reviews).

In Life Sentence, Ellis brings us a second legal thriller, again evocatively set in an unnamed Chicago, in a Byzantine world of big-city politics full of payback and promise, ambition and disgrace. Jon Soliday is legal counsel to a powerful politician-also his childhood best friend-who is running for governor. The two have shared political success and undying loyalty. They also share a dark secret from the summer of 1979: a party that resulted in the death of a teenage girl. Soliday was implicated but, through his friend's political connections, escaped legal trouble.

Soliday remembers little from that night, but carries an uncertain guilt he can't shake. Now, as the players from 1979 fall prey to an unknown killer, Soliday is himself accused of murder. And as the puzzle unfolds, the people he most suspects are those he has entrusted with his defense-his ambitious defense attorney and his oldest friend.

A man's past, both what he remembers and what he fears, has never felt so crushing-and may well leave him without a future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An innocent man falsely accused of murder is a staple of suspense fiction. In Life Sentence, David Ellis provides a briefcase-full of fresh variations on this familiar theme, crafting a tale that delivers many delights and only a few disappointments. Like his first book, the Edgar-winning Line of Vision, this is a legal thriller, but the setting is refreshingly unusual: the narrator, Jon Soliday, is the chief legal aide to a powerful state senator in an unnamed city that's obviously Chicago. So there's plenty of bare-knuckle political intrigue even before Jon finds himself the main suspect in a murder.

Ellis's prose is sharp, clear, and intelligent, and his cast of characters is vividly varied. The complex plot setup is occasionally clumsy, with loose ends left lying around in the open for too long. But by the end, Ellis has gathered them all in masterfully, not once but several times, as we see the key facts of the case--several murders, a cryptic blackmail note, a long-ago party that ended in tragedy--through completely different lenses, each creating a fresh perspective that points to a completely different culprit. Right up to its socko surprise finish, Life Sentence is an intellectually and emotionally satisfying thrill ride from a promising young writer. --Nicholas H. Allison

From Publishers Weekly

Ellis follows up the success of his debut legal thriller, the Edgar Award-winning Line of Vision, with an equally intricate and intelligent murder puzzle that feels like it's 100% plot, laid out with clean precision. First-person narrator Jon Soliday, workaholic legal counsel and best friend to state senator Grant Tully, lands in the middle of three homicide mysteries (and an oblique blackmail attempt) in the first 75 pages. First, his protege Bennett Carey shoots an apparent home intruder-in the back. Then, on a mission for Senator Tully, Soliday consults with attorney Dale Garrison on an election issue. Garrison is murdered shortly after the meeting, and Soliday is fingered as the likeliest suspect. Complicating the case is a decades-old secret: in 1979, a teenage Soliday and Tully, on a drunken tear, were involved in a murder that remains unsolved to this day, and the investigation of Garrison's death threatens to blow it open. Ellis couples clear, direct prose with abundant legal detail. Soliday is a laconic and mysterious hero, adding another layer of suspense. The lack of an obligatory love interest is notable. Soliday is divorced and lives with a pair of pampered pugs; brittle ex-wife Tracy blows into the story occasionally to offer moral support but nothing more carnal. What kind of a hero is this Soliday, a successful 30-something with no apparent loved ones? And how reliable a narrator? It's all highly entertaining and full of satisfying twists.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Putnam; 1st edition (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399149791
• ISBN-13: 978-0399149795
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #743,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Legal/Political Mystery, April 11, 2005

By 

Nancy C. "napilinan" (SAN DIEGO, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life Sentence (Paperback)

This is my first David Ellis book and I was not disappointed. It took me a few pages to get into it, but then I was hooked! Like most mystery readers, I try to figure out "whodunit" but only managed to predict part of the ending. Now that's a good read! I will be reading more of David Ellis.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW, FANTASTIC LEGAL THRILLER, February 26, 2003

By 

D. LEE "dml48221" (Palo Alto, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Sentence (Hardcover)

Ellis' second novel is better than his first, and that was good. The novel is narrated by Jon Soliday, a longtime friend and now employee of Senator Grant Tully, son of retired Senator Tully. Twenty years ago in 1979, when he and Grant Tully were kids, they along with other juveniles (young men) were involved in a situation where a woman ended up dead.

Although Jon never had any specific recollection of what happened that night (drugs,sex,rock and roll), he becomes the focus of the investigation into the death of Gina Mason. Lawyers are hired, favors are called in, stories are constructed, magic is worked and the investigation into the death is closed. However, Jon Soliday never forgets and although he believes that he could not have been involved in her murder, there is so much about that night that he does not remember.

Present day, Soliday is helping Senator Grant Tully with his campaign bid for state governor. During the course of the campaign, Soliday is framed for the murder of another Tully aid. Soliday is arrested, charged and faces trial. He is represented by Bennett Carey who is a friend of sorts but much more. At the conclusion of the "trial" everyone comes out a loser.

It is hard to say more without spoiling this utterly magnificant, detailed and finely constructed piece of fiction. The surprises are endless, the writing is tight, the plot is well thought out and everything flows together in such a way that all the reader can say at the end is WOW!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book By An Outstanding Author, July 8, 2010

By 

J. B. Perkins "J.B. Perkins" (Albany, New York United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Life Sentence (Hardcover)

This simply is one of the best books I ever read, and I read ALL the time. The story follows Jon Soliday, who is unjustly accused of murder. You know he's being set up but not by whom or why. What follows is a complex story that brings together tragic events of the past with the situation that is currently taking place. There is a series of twists and turns that keep you interested every second. I am rarely surprised at twists that occur at or near the end of the book, but this one took me totally off guard. Much of the story being told in the first person, the reader gets insight into the thoughts and feelings of Jon Soliday which helps you understand how some of the events were able to be accomplished. I believe that this adds significantly to the depth of the novel and the enjoyment of reading it. David Ellis is up there with Scott Turow and Richard North Patterson, which is the highest compliment I can think of.