Customer Reviews

Plea of Insanity

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Plea of Insanity has been a long time coming since Ms. Hoffman's two hits, Last Witness & Retribution, but believe me it was worth the wait. With this riveting tale of horrendous crimes, tense court room drama, deception, greed and pure evil, you will be reading until the wee hours of the night. Julia is sort of tragic, but she has backbone and she is a decent human being who wants and needs to do the right thing, and this very core of decency brings her to the brink of her own destruction. Will she win out over the deception and manipulation that's going on in the biggest courtroom drama since, maybe, OJ's trial? You will not want to miss a minute of this story as it unfolds, and you will be astounded by the ending.

With this third book, Ms. Hoffman has proven she has what it takes and she's right up there with some of the big names in legal, psychological thrillers. Personally, I can wait another couple of years for another of her books. She is now an auto-buy for me.

I have never written a review, but this book needs one. It was GREAT and I don't understand why it hasn't been published in the US. I think I spent $34 + for it and it was worth much more. I've read her others and this is the best.

In Miami twenty-eight year old Miami assistant state attorney Julia Vacanti leads the prosecution team in the highly visible homicide case of surgeon David Marquette. The doctor stands trial in the stabbing deaths of his wife and their two older children, and in the smothering thing of their baby. The defense team admits he killed his family, but plea insanity due to schizophrenia.

While the prosecution tries to prove Marquette knew right from wrong and is just faking a mental illness to elude the death penalty, Julia thinks of her sibling Andrew Citro, who when she was a preadolescent and he a teen was convicted of killing their parents. He remains locked away in an asylum for the criminally insane in New York. Feeling the cases are similar although the prosecutor also ponders if Marquette is a clever serial killer who committed homicides long before his mass murder of his family, Julia contacts Andrew for the first time since he killed their parents.

This excellent legal thriller focuses on the title subject, but does so with a fabulous creative twist as the heroine wonders if schizophrenia is genetic. The gripping courtroom scenes are top rate, but it is the communication between the siblings for the first time in over a decade and a half that grabs the audience. The former brings legal tension and insight into the trial process; but the latter brings greater tension and insight into the fears of Julia. Jilliane Hoffman provides an excellent character driven tale with a profound look at a PLEA OF INSANITY.

Harriet Klausner

Let me say that I am a hard sell when it comes to courtroom dramas. Why? I am an attorney. I know how the law works and often times I am left shaking my head at the unreality of what is happening in the plot line. Jilliane Hoffman does something that no other former attorney turned writer I have seen does: breaks down legal principles in easy to understand words, and then accurately portrays those principles of law.

The characters were in depth. The main character Julia had depth and Jilliane had me caring what happened to Julia. The characters were believable and human. I could easily picture them. While they are stereotypical (especially Rick, the latter climbing state's attorney), they really portrayed many of the real life characters I have met. Even the quirky judge was a perfect example of how many judges suffer from complete God complexes.

The book contains to mystery's.......was the good doctor guilty/insane? And what happened to Julia?

A solid book, by a solid writer. I actually would recommend this book to any first year law student wanting to understand the 4 theories of insanity that you have to learn during first year criminal law.

..."In her three years as a prosecutor, never had her job affected her the way it had today. Never before had a case...rushed back to consciousness the horrible memories her brain had long since purposely displaced. Memories that nightmares were made of..."

Julia Vacanti --- young, beautiful, intelligent, with a promising legal career ahead of her --- harbors a dark past that she has spent years trying to forget. Now that dark past threatens to surface with a vengeance that may ruin her if she cannot find a way to control it.

Dr. David Marquette, a successful surgeon, father and surviving twin of a schizophrenic brother, apparently went berserk one night and slaughtered his entire family. It didn't take the police long to focus their investigation on him as the one who violently stabbed his wife and children. Everything pointed to him as the killer.

Prosecutor Rick Bellido --- handsome, confident, smug --- knows he has a slam dunk in State vs. Marquette. For his own reasons, Rick asks Julia to second chair in the courtroom for the upcoming trial. Julia hopes it isn't just because of their personal relationship, which has become pretty hot and heavy lately. Whatever the reason, she jumps at the opportunity, for this could cement her career.

It really should be a cakewalk. The evidence is solid. It's a high-profile case that the media can't get enough of. Plus, the case against Dr. Marquette will go forward on a timeline that will spotlight Rick and, if handled right, could bolster his bid for advancement come the next election. And lovely Julia will look good next to him at the prosecutor's table. What could possibly go wrong?

Julia, thrust into sudden fame, finds her success coming at her a little too fast. Her experience has never included a murder case. She is thrilled to have Rick's attention, but did he name her as his co-counsel so she would keep the sexual favors coming? Is he merely trifling with her for now? Just having some temporary fun? Or, worse, is he seeing someone else at the same time? Julia learns the answers to these questions too late. Hopefully, she won't make the same mistake in the courtroom.

Meanwhile, the doctor's defense attorney surprises them all with a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. That puts a whole different spin on the state's approach to their case. It also puts Julia in a tough position, one that will send her spiraling down into her most dreaded memories and will threaten to tear apart what's left of her family.

Jilliane Hoffman --- an Assistant State Attorney in Miami between 1992 and 1996, and author of the international bestsellers RETRIBUTION and iggulden WITNESS --- writes with an authenticity born of personal experience. Her courtroom scenes throb with vivid realism. The players in their roles of judge and attorneys pulse with judicial life. PLEA OF INSANITY will keep you on the edge of your seat as the jury brings in their surprise verdict. You will want to be there when they do.

I picked up this book on a whim after reading the back cover's synopsis. I had never read Jilliane Hoffman before but I love legal thrillers so this book really intrigued me. Overall, the story is very gripping. It's definitely one of those "can't put it down" books...at least until the end.

The story surrounds young Miami prosecutor Julia Vacanti, who is trying her biggest case to date: a successful surgeon accused of brutally murdering his wife and 3 young children. Dr. David Marquette is using insanity as his defense and Julia must prove that he is really a cold-blooded killer. However, Julia's past comes back to haunt her and creates doubts as to what the correct punishment should be for the doctor.

The story itself is very entertaining and makes you want to keep reading, chapter after chapter. The characters were very believable and described very well. Hoffman takes several controversial issues such as the death penalty, insanity defenses, etc. and puts it all together in a great read.

My one and only complaint with this book is the ending. I was expecting something much more...a huge twist of sorts. What I got was a very predictable, quick end that made me think Hoffman just didn't know what to do with the rest of the story. Hence the subtraction of 1 star. However, I would still recommend this novel as it I finished all 400+ pages in about 3 days. Had the ending been less predictable I would have given this book a perfect score.

I must give this book five stars due to the fabulous characters, intense subject matter and the focus it puts on mental illness. This is the third book I have read by this author and I have officially added her to my list of "must buys." Rather than writing the typical thriller with little background information on characters and the usual suspects, this one goes into much greater depth. It has murder, romance (although not the main focus), the hot button issue of mental illness as a legal defense, etc. etc. All of the police characters seem real, with fabulous dialogue, great courtroom scenes and a surprise ending. It left open the vague possibility of a series, much like Retribution did (the author's first novel, which was excellent). Here's hoping for more from this author along similar themes and genres.

A very good book! I've read both of Hoffman's previous novels and this third one is another excellent legal thriller that intrigues the reader with an interesting perspective and a unique twist.

The young prosecuting attorney, Julia Vacanti, is a bit flawed and vulnerable with demons of her own to contend with as she prepares for the "trial of the century" and her first big case. She is second chair to an ambitious lawyer who is bound for government office and who needs to win a guilty verdict against David Marquette -- a physician who was found alive, but injured, in his own home though the rest of his family -- wife, two daughters and a son, were murdered. Reminiscent and similar in some ways to recent true crimes, the novel examines the mental disorder of schizophrenia and the defense plea of insanity. The research done by the author is obviously thorough and meticulous and is explained very well through testimony given by the psychiatrists sent to examine Dr. Marquette.

Was this successful Miami surgeon, reportedly a devoted family man, truly suffering from a devastating mental illness, or was he a cunning psychopath? Did he suffer paranoid delusions and did voices instruct him to kill his family or did he study psychiatric texts so that he could accurately mimic someone who was schizophrenic? The defense files a plea of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and the case is finally brought to trial.

In addition to the main plot of the book involving the trial of Dr. Marquette, Julia discovers something about her own family, a secret is unearthed, and she is drawn into confronting long-buried memories from her past.

This is a solid legal thriller that will keep you reading long past your bedtime. Enjoy!

Jilliane Hoffman is the best selling author of Retribution and was an Assistant State Attorney between 1992 and 1996. Until 2001 she was the regional advisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement advising special agents on complex investigations including narcotics, homicide and organised crime. She lives in Florida.

This novel is about a successful Miami attorney, David Marquette a devoted family man with a wife and three small children, that is until one night he snapped and killed them all. The defendant pleads Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. The normally perfect family man and husband seemingly just snapped one evening without reason.

Marquette's experienced defence team put forward the case that it was paranoid delusions and hallucinations caused by schizophrenia that drove him to kill his entire family. However the state suspects that the insanity defence is being used as a cover to disguise murders that were actually cold blooded and calculated . . .

Was no one but me bothered by the sheer unbelievability of this? Here is an attorney who decides that the man she is supposed to be prosecuting is actually innocent by reason of insanity. She has absolutely NO evidence for this, but simply believes he could be innocent since her brother was in a similar case 15 years ago. And then in the middle of court, she goes to bat for the other team. Hello??!! I found this to be quite unbelievable, and if we are to accept that the character did indeed do this because she was "doing the right thing," then I'm glad she was getting psychiatric help at the end of the book.