Customer Reviews

No Defense (Barbara Holloway Novels)

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REVIEW There are times when I'm just plain tired of high powered legal thrillers. You know the type. The featured attorney is either the most eligible bachelor in town or the most drop-dead gorgeous female to ever grace a courtroom. And while defending their clients, they become embroiled in a life-or-death struggle with the real villain of the piece --- barely escaping bullets, bombs, and the like. Sound familiar?

In NO DEFENSE Kate Wilhelm has recaptured the good old-fashioned courtroom drama, the Perry Mason style of suspense, and done it admirably. No fireworks, no superhero stunts, no murderers lurking in dark hallways; just tough investigating, smart deducing and a few courtroom theatrics to heighten the anticipation. It works.

Wilhelm's featured character, Barbara Holloway, is a defense attorney with a passion for seemingly hopeless cases. When her father Frank is approached by a young woman with a mysterious request for legal advice, he enlists Barbara's help to unravel a peculiar puzzle. Lara Jessup's husband has died under mysterious circumstances. Was it suicide or murder? What happened to the documents he was supposedly taking to Harris McReady that night, and what was in them? And what does a large box of papers --- years worth of investigation into this powerful man, Judge McReady, --- have to do with Vinny Jessup's death and the disappearance of Vinny's son years ago?

Even though the Holloways suspect McReady is involved, as well as his powerful in-laws, Thomas and Anna Lynch (who are backing McReady for a Supreme Court judgeship), they soon find that their client was seen at the site of the murder and is the one being charged. It doesn't help that the Jessup's were a May-December marriage and there's a large insurance policy involved. With no apparent defense, Barbara and her team must research the perplexing mound of paperwork to discover why the judge, his wife Babe, and his father-in-law are all so anxious to find the originals of those missing documents and railroad Lara into a plea bargain.

Not only is the blow by blow courtroom narrative fascinating, but the characters that Wilhelm has fashioned are interesting people that add further dimension to the storyline itself. Take Manny Truewater, for instance. A Native American lawyer who shared a practice with Vinny, he knows the history behind the Jessups, the Lynchs and McReady. He moves in and out of scenes, dropping tantalizing details and throwing up a few roadblocks here and there to antagonize the opposition. He's a man with more insight than others realize and who knows far more than he's telling.

Barbara's father is someone you'd love to know; someone you'd fondly describe as "a character." He's the anchor that keeps Barbara from drifting into trouble, the calming influence when the case appears lost, and the inveterate social butterfly who can get literally anyone to tell him anything. Toss in a wiseacre investigator named Bailey, who hates working in the desert heat and never met a meal he didn't like, and you've got a mix of people ripe with personality to add a bit of fun to the lawyerly proceedings.

NO DEFENSE may be a little too laid-back for those who demand larger-than-life heroes, psychotics running amuck, and a body count that could populate Toledo. But then again, if you enjoy grappling with whodunnits that will keep you riveted, Kate Wilhelm is just the ticket.

--- Reviewed by Ann L. Bruns

The beautiful Lara Jessup married Vinnie, a man more than twice her age for financial gain. He takes out a large life insurance policy on himself, naming her his beneficiary. Most of the residents of Bend and Salt Creek believe Lara married Vinnie for his insurance money. However, Lara and Vinnie know she wed him out of love, gratitude, and protection against her abusive ex-husband.

Vinnie dies in an apparent accident. However, the autopsy reveals a bullet to his head was the cause of death. They feel Vinnie committed suicide. On the night of his death, Vinnie was supposed to deliver important papers to Judge McReady, but none are found on his corpse. The Judge and his powerful father-in-law put an inordinate amount of pressure on Lara to give them the documents or be charged with murder. Lara turns to attorney Barbara Holliway to represent her in a case in which all legal avenues appear to convict her client.

NO DEFENSE is more than just a finely written legal thriller that will elate the sub-genre audience. The tale concentrates on the hopes and dreams, strengths and weaknesses of individuals. The story line is a superior character study that few authors can do as well as Kate Wilhelm can. Already a fan favorite, this may be Kate Hollaway's best appearance as the complex tale has crossover appeal to fans of contemporary fiction as well as the mystery crowd. Readers who miss this excellent legal procedural story will have NO DEFENSE when it comes to refusing to read an excellent work.

Harriet Klausner

"No Defense" brings out the best in Kate Wilhelm's style of courtroom drama. The reality of the criminal courtroom in her series is really not the time in court (punctuated by unexpected admissions of guilt or anguish by witnesses or defendants, that you see in TV courtrooms) but the planning, strategy and negotiation that goes on before the trial starts, during the trial, in and around the offices of the defense and the prosecutor, and the location where the defendant is held until the trial is concluded.

Without the hystrionics, Wilhelm's courtroom may be a little too colorless for both, as well might her main character, Barbara,
who has no quirky behaviors or hidden secrets. Barbara's main relationship in life is with her attorney father - another reason why the series may be too boring for those who like the addition of sex and violence.

Nevertheless, the straightforward telling of a murder case that may have been a suicide was difficult for me to put down, and the final actions and reactions that reveal the murderer, and a lot of the town secrets, kept me guessing up to the final pages.
Throw in some terrific writing about scenic Oregon (most of us will learn for the first time about the desert in the eastern part of the state), and a bit of comedy connected with Frank Holloway's budding career as a writer, and you get a terrific tale that you will really enjoy.

A talented, award-winning novelist who can outcraft the "attorneys who are also novelists", Wilhelm will quickly become a favorite for you.

If you like mysteries, then you should read about Barbara Holloway, super sleuth/lawyer who rescues another victim of shady proceedings. This one barely had any defense when Barbara is called upon to defend the wife of a man who was killed in an accident. Only, after an investigation, the man was discovered to be murdered and the spotlight of suspicion turns upon his wife. Barbara has to find evidence that the wife didn't do it ~~ and she takes you along on a journey of investigating what really happened that night on the mountaintop!!

Once again, Kate Wilhelm takes you along for a ride. She draws you into the story ~~ just look at the first sentence in the book ... "The rising sun is veiled with desert haze, rose-red streaks extending north and south against a royal blue that only gradually turns maeve." And there you go ... hooked into the story with its backdrop against the desert and the mountains.

Wilhem is a master writer ~~ everyone should try reading one of her Holloway books and once they do, they're fans for life. Wilhelm doesn't disappoint her readers!!

The shmuck in the first review for this book who says it's a weak book,and that if you really want to read a good book read "Dark Redemption" just happens to be the author himself. You gave yourself away by location "Wisconsin".

Combine a suicide which might be a murder, a young widow with a big insurance payoff, an old unsolved disappearance/murder, a rich family which controls the county, and a federal judge with secrets and you have the ingredients for a first-rate mystery. As this story unfolds and Barbara Holloway, a no-nonsense lawyer, comes onboard to protect the interests of the widow, we know that something dark happened and we know that more than one person is hiding knowledge of just what happened. Not until near the end, however, does the author unveil the explosive secrets. This novel will grab your attention from the beginning and the suspense will sustain you 'til the denouement. It is, in a word, excellent.

You just can't get any better than Kate Wilhelm if you want a good page turning lawyer suspense book! This is one of many that I've read, and I am always looking for more. Truly a great writer.

A lawyer's worst nightmare is having an innocent client with no defense. It's easier to get a known criminal off or with a reduced sentence by admitting to a lesser charge, but to prove a person did not commit a crime when only mitigating charges can send him to jail for something he did not do is common and almost impossible to prove or disprove.

I do believe that the state of Oregon is populated with transplants from Tennessee who name the places after the towns they left behind. Strawberry Mountain could be Strawberry Plains north of Knoxville, and everybody knows that Lookout Mountain is in Chattanooga. They even have a town named McMinnville after one in Middle Tennessee.

These mountain people with their ranches and gun-justice as different from those in the East. The western part of the United States was full of outlaws, cowboys, bank robbers, those who bought their own justice. These legal maneuverings took place in conference rooms, hallways, anywhere except the courtroom where the judge is supposed to be impartial and dispense justice fairly. It never works that way. Most judgments are decided on in private conferences and already in written form before the perpetrator ever gets to stand before his judge.

This story is no exception. From start to finish, you know that the accused is not guilty of her husband's murder, which she thought had been a possible suicide. Her lawyers take her on an emotional joyride before making sure she goes free. But, that's the way lawyers enjoy doing things. It makes them feel like saviors and deserving of the high costs they exact for play-acting in and out of court. Criminal lawyers bluff their way by blackmailing the other side, and sometimes the judge. Judges love to grandstand. It's all here in much detail. In the past, I worked for some lawyers and know first hand how the judges use and abuse them, sometimes just for the fun of it. Once, I was told by the police chief that "don't you know, there is no justice." I do know that smalltown judges hate big city lawyers, and will do anything in their power to see that they lose the case. Now, that's not justice. It's not what our Constitution stands for, nor what the accused is guaranteed under the laws of this land. In the West, they make their own laws, and always have.

Kate Wilhelm likes to write about legal matters; she did write a science fiction classic, WHERE LATE THE STREET BIRDS SANG, and THE GOOD CHILDREN destined to be made into a movie. She is from Oregon and uses that background for the subjects she knows.

I am an author and I love thrillers. My biggest disappointment in today's world of adventure fiction is the inability to find a mesmerizing adventure constructed with poetic and living prose which allows me to feel the southern Louisiana heat, smell the toasted bagels in a Manhattan deli or wince along with the facial expressions of a lawyer caught ambulance chasing in the hospital room of a critically injured patient. While a better yarner than Turow, this author's works lack the sort of living color which fiction demands. I recently discovered an author who accomplishes this and a thriller in which he does it. The author is Gary Wickert, and the book is DARK REDEMPTION. I didn't find it yet on Barnes & Noble, but it has just been released and it is available on Amazon.com. If you like this author's storylines, but want to be riveted to and made love to by the prose which are the building blocks of any piece of fiction....READ 'DARK REDEMPTION'.