Customer Reviews

I Right the Wrongs: A Novel

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

 

 

Gordon Seegerman, the underachieving public defender in mythical Santa Rita, California (it's really Oakland), continues to want to lay low and spend as much time as possible preparing his Barry Manilow cover band for its next performance - in Las Vegas, for Barry himself. But, as in the wonderful "Misdemeanor Man", events conspire against Gordon and his lack of ambition.

Marcus Manners, the local high school athletic hero, is arrested for stealing a rival team's mascot. The fact that there's a little mysterious pot in the car shouldn't cause too much trouble in this basic `misdo' case. But Gordon draws an insane judge. The illumni of the rival school, many of whom are involved in the local legal system, are not interested in letting things slide. And then the wife of the mascot's owner is killed. Thus, Gordon is thrust again into the spotlight - much against his will.

Dylan Schaffer has written another marvelous story; not only is it chock-full of sly, acerbic humor, there's a deftly plotted mystery. It would be a mistake to think of this book as simply a funny legal mystery - while there's humor aplenty, Schaffer touches on a number of darker issues as well: racism; corruption, and the difficulty of dealing with ageing family.

This is a terrific second novel - I hope there are many more Gordon Seegerman stories to come....

I really enjoyed reading this book. I read in bed at night before going to sleep and my fiancee kept looking at me sideways as I laughed out loud. The plot is good, the writing is clever and the characters are totally believable. Seegerman is a great protagonist and his hilarious quips alone are worth the price of the book!

What can I tell you? Same cast of characters, same extremely cool writing. This guy has me hooked. He didn't use quite as much humor in this book as in its predecessor, because it wouldn't have been appropriate for the story and perhaps because he's mirroring reality yet again.

Do you know what's difficult about writing mysteries? You have to put clues out in the open where the reader can see them, along with perhaps a few red herrings, but ideally the reader won't realize what he's seen and what the solution is until you tell him. Then he said "Ah ha!" and "Of course!" and you admire the author for making you feel a little bit silly.

Schaffer's hit upon a solution to the dilemma. As you read, you don't always know where the clues are. His subplots are not window dressing, they're not an afterthought, and they're not filler. Life's not as simple as figuring out whodunnit, lots of things are happening to the protagonist at once, and every scene can also be attributed to character development. The typical mystery author's focused, as is the reader. Schaffer is focused as well, but on a number of things simultaneously. It makes him extremely readable. But now I have to wait while he writes the third installment. Damn. I hate waiting.

{March 2006 Update - The author sent me an email because of these reviews. Is that cool or what? It'll be a long wait, because he's writing other stuff instead. Fine by me. As long as he's writing, I'm a happy reader. His site, in case you care, is at [...]}

If you have any desire to get a sense of what it's like to actually be a public defender, Dylan Schaffer's books are a must read. While the main character himself in this book and in Misdemeanor Man may not be typical of public defenders, the courtroom action is dead-on.

I Right the Wrongs is in turn funny, touching, and engaging. Schaffer has a writing style that truly grabs the reader. My only criticism, is really not. I can't pick up one of Schaffer's books when I don't have the free time to actually read it non-stop, because I generally lack the willpower to put it down.

I can't wait for the next chapter in Gordon Seegerman's career.

I was born and raised in Oakland so this grabbed me in alot of ways.It was funny ,not predictable, and well done.

The author has a great ear for dialogue. The conversations between characters are realistically choppy, swervy, etc. And yet I never got lost (as can happen when people are TOO realistic w/ their dialogue).

The plot was nicely revealed as well.

And I love that his hero is sort of a schlub. A good guy, but not perfect, sort of ordinary. He looks stupid on television--the way a real human being would. At first I was worried that this schlubby guy would end up being unadmirable, the sort of slacker who screws up at his job. But he isn't; he doesn't. He just doesn't take it too terribly seriously.

Lots of fun. An engaging, absorbing read.