Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another book featuring Andy Carpenter!, June 18, 2005
Wisecracking but lovable Andy Carpenter is at it again in David Rosenfelt's fourth book, Sudden Death, featuring this lawyer and sometime detective.Along with a group of friends who haev helped him before Andy is up to some of his old tricks when called upon to defend a would be murderer. And while its been three months since his last high profile case, Andy is once again up to the occassion not only employing all of his skills but his wonderful sense of humor and take on life. But Andy really needs to be tournament tough for this trial as it may be his hardest one yet.
In the home of Kenny Schilling, a quarterback for the Giants, police find a missing and very dead quarterback from the Jets. While Kevin
Schilling maintains he is innocent, things may not be that way at all. And as if Andy doesn't have his hands full with his canine rescue partner Willie, his somewhat interesting lawassociate and his not too hardworking and crossword puzzle secretary, Andy's long standing girlfriend and private investigator is thinking of leaving New Jersey and taking a job in the hometown where she grew up.
In the tradition of characters like Myron Bolitar from the
Harlan Coben series and Patrick Gennaro from Dennis Lehane's
series, David Rosenfelt takes his rightful place next to
these men in the fast paced world of suspense sprinkled with
both humor and pathos.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging, low-key murder mystery., May 31, 2005
David Rosenfelt's "Sudden Death" features Andy Carpenter, a wisecracking defense attorney who has taken on a high profile case. Kenny Schilling, a star running back for the New York Giants, has barricaded himself in his house with the dead body of another football player, Troy Preston. Kenny claims that someone else killed Troy and left him to take the rap. After arranging for Kenny's surrender, Andy agrees to defend him, and the battle is straight uphill.
Andy is the first person narrator and he is a sweet and funny guy, similar to Ben Kincaid in the early William Bernhardt books. Unlike Ben, Andy is a multimillionaire who doesn't need to work for a living. Andy's lover, Laurie, is also his investigator, but she is seriously thinking about returning to the small Wisconsin town where she grew up. Andy loves his home in Paterson, New Jersey, and moving to Wisconsin is not an option for him. He spends much of the book worrying that he will lose Laurie.
"Sudden Death" features nasty mobsters, courtroom wrangling, media hype, and, on every page, Andy's one-liners. Rosenfelt has a gift for spare writing and deft characterization. Marcus, Andy's fierce bodyguard, who grunts rather than speaks, can frighten the most hardened criminal with his stony stare. Tara, Andy's beloved golden retriever, would be the one true love of his life were it not for Laurie. Edna, Andy's secretary, sidles in to work when she feels like it; her true passion is crossword puzzles. "Edna is to crossword puzzles what Gretzky was to hockey."
As the case against Kenny becomes more watertight, Andy digs into his bag of tricks to cast suspicion on some nasty New Jersey gangland types. This would be a brilliant idea, except for the fact that Andy is quickly targeted for death. Rosenfelt's ending is both far-fetched and predictable, but "Sudden Death" is so entertaining that it scarcely matters. David Rosenfelt's easygoing and amusing writing style makes this novel a pleasure to read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid 4th book..., August 30, 2005
I have always enjoyed David Rosenfelt's books. His lead character, Andy Carpenter, is emmensely entertaining. Though much of the material throughout the book feels like it has been said or done before, Rosenfelt has a way of making it still very enjoyable.
This latest novel, Rosenfelt's fourth of the Andy Carpenter series, follows Carpenter as he is defending a star athlete, fictional Kenny Schilling of the NY Giants, from a murder charge. It appears that a man that the defendent got in a heated argument with was murdered. It doesn't look good for Schilling as he was found with the murder weapon, blood on his clothes, the victim in his house closet all the while Schilling is holding police at bay with a pistol. Now Carpenter has got to figure out how to make Schilling look innocent as well as actually be innocent. On top of that, Carpenter has to deal with the possibility that the love his life, his girlfriend and private investigator Laurie, will move back to her hometown and leave him along in Jersey.
The book has its usual twists and turns. The biggest reason that I have liked Rosenfelt's books, besides the humor element, is how he is willing to take chances with his characters. Rosenfelt is willing to sacrifice a character (whether it be through death, or some other means) to further a story or heighten the stakes. It is effective and has proved jarring. This book was entertaining and became thrilling and I will look forward to the next one.
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