Customer Reviews

Sullivan's Justice

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Carolyn Sullivan rarely comes up for air in "Sullivan's Justice," Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's latest novel. Sullivan is a Ventura County, California, probation officer, and she has her hands full. First of all, she is assigned to extract information from a feared serial killer named Raphael Moreno, who has been convicted of seven gruesome homicides. Carolyn typically goes into a room with hardened criminals and uses her wiles and knowledge of psychology to get these miscreants to open up to her. Even a tough and experienced professional would be terrified when confronting someone as ruthless as Moreno.

To make matters worse, Carolyn's brother, Neil, is in trouble. His girlfriend, Laurel, has been found dead in his swimming pool and he is a prime suspect. Neil has also been having an affair with the beautiful Melody Asher, an unstable, fabulously wealthy, and pathologically jealous woman. Melody is Neil's alibi, but her desire to retaliate against her faithless lover may be stronger than her affection for him. As the story unfolds, Carolyn finds out that there is a bizarre connection between Raphael Moreno and her brother, Neil.

"Sullivan's Justice" is filled with explicit sex scenes, violence, stilted dialogue, high-octane action sequences, and more twists and turns than a pretzel. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is outlandish, and the ending is way over the top. Carolyn Sullivan is your typical good-looking, brainy, spunky, and reckless heroine who puts herself in dangerous situations time and time again. There is little suspense, and the constant adrenaline rush quickly grows tiresome. As I have said many times, thrillers with fleshed out characters and at least quasi-realistic plot lines are far more satisfying than action-packed novels that make little sense. "Sullivan's Justice" is a clinker.

Awful, awful, awful. Poor writing, an absurd plot, and too many imbecilic characters populate this poor excuse for a thriller. Again and again the characters do things that are unbelievable. Here's an example: After receiving a video of her boyfriend having sex with Melody and learning that Melody (who isn't really "Melody" but a sociopathic liar named Jessica whose story is as stupid as the rest of the book) might be the killer, Carolyn, our intelligence-challenged heroine, goes rushing over to confront Melody. After an inane conversation Carolyn sees that Melody is wearing the same watch that she (Carolyn) received for Christmas from said boyfriend. This helps Carolyn decide that Melody is not a threat. The finale is absolutely ludicrous. Don't waste your time on this.

Carolyn Sullivan is a probation officer for Ventura County. Her artist brother, Neil, is suspected in the murder of his girlfriend and another woman. Neil was with Melody Asher, a spoiled heiress who has perfected the art of lying, when his girlfriend was murdered, but Melody won't provide his alibi.

Work wise, Carolyn is trying to crack Raphael Moreno, a truly gruesome killer. As the story unfolds it turns out Raphael and the new killings are connected all because of a Ferrari.

There are so many subplots - Carolyn's love life; a revelation about Carolyn's father's death; the plutonium; Melody's dad and their relationship; etc. etc. - that it's all just a little much...even for fiction.

Sullivan's Justice is Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's second novel featuring probation officer Carolyn
Sullivan, and it is on a par with its predecessor: it is neither good nor bad but just average. The happy medium may have been okay for Goldilocks and the porridge, but in writing, it is a bit of a letdown.

In this story, Sullivan is assigned to do a sentencing recommendation for Raphael Moreno, who has been convicted of multiple murders including his own mother and sister. Moreno is a nasty character who seemingly has no qualms about using excessive violence. Meanwhile, Carolyn's brother Neil is accused of murdering his girlfriend; his alibi, however, is that he was with another woman, the sociopathic Melody. While some very incriminating evidence does point to him, other clues points to Melody and still other ones points to a serial killer.

As in the previous book, woe upon woe piles upon Carolyn. Besides the issues with her brother and with Moreno, she is snowed under at work, her relationship with her lover Paul is endangered by Melody and she finds out a shocking revelation about her own father.

Rosenberg writes well enough to keep the reader entertained, but the healthy amount of suspense is not enough to hide this books flaws, the biggest of which are reliance on coincidence. Not only is it coincidence that the crime Neil is accused of would be linked to Carolyn's big sentencing case, it is a stretch beyond plausibility that Neil's current girlfriend would also be an ex-lover of Paul.

With a better writer, these sorts of problems may be overcome (then again, a better writer would probably not have these problems), but Rosenberg isn't that gifted. Superficially, she seems okay - that is, she seems to know how to construct this sort of book - but at least this book (and its predecessor) lack any real oomph. I suppose there is virtue in reading an average, three-star sort of book, in that it makes you appreciate the good stuff even more, but I cannot really recommend Rosenberg when there are a lot of better books out there.

I saw this book was free for my kindle one day recently and thought that it sounded right up my alley. I like a good suspense/mystery/thriller since they usually hold my attention the best. I was not disappointed in this one and have ordered the other books in the series to read as well. I will also look for her other books to read. I had a hard time putting it down to do anything else and stayed up way too late to finish it. I'm starting the next one already.

I checked the audio CD version of this book out of the library. The Brilliance Audio unabridged version was well done. However, the story is overly long and overwrought. I wished I had gotten an abridged version. The characters were not very likeable, even the supposed heroine. This was compounded by the unrealistic and contradictory behavior of most of the main characters. The really distressing part, though, was the lack of research and subsequent mistakes on facts which could have been easily determined. A doctor who operates on hearts is not a cardiologist, but a cardiac surgeon. And someone who has been forced to surrender their medical license would not have to go back to medical school, rather, they would most likely be required to complete another residency. As a Roman Catholic, I was insulted that Ms. Rosenberg created her characters to be Catholic but obviously doesn't know the first thing about Christian, much less Catholic, beliefs. I won't be reading another book of hers.

I hate not finishing a book, but I had to make myself read this one to the end. The author's note credits her son with helping her write it and it certainly reads like two people wrote it, two people who didn't compare notes. The plot is so convoluted it's ridiculous; the characters are one dimensional and at the same time contradict themselves at every turn, and the dialogue is stilted to the point that it's nearly unreadable. Probably the worst part of the book is that neither the characters nor the scenarios are believable: the heroine is supposed to be super savvy in criminal behavior, but doesn't recognize from page one to the bitter end that her own brother is a drug addict, the plot revolves around a one of a kind car that the police have in their possession, but nobody can figure out the chain of ownership on it, the bad guys are a combination of hit men, gang-bangers and former mobsters who can't seem to shoot anybody but each other, and both the heroine and her boss survive a fall off a cliff into the pacific followed by being dragged by strong currents to the exact same spot. What a colossal waste of time. I gave it one star because I couldn't do less.

Well, this book still has a religious element to it, but it wasn't quite as harsh as I found Sullivan's Law to be. My only real problem with it was when Carolyn at one point acted like women need men to be whole or complete. Aside from that, I did enjoy the story and found it more satisfying than the first in the series. There were a few weird errors that anyone who knows proper grammer should have caught if they read slowly enough, but it didn't really detract from anything for me aside from having to read a few sentences twice. If you enjoyed Sullivan's Law, give this one a try. As I said, if you can ignore or get past the religious element, it's a good story.

A book doesn't have to be perfect to be good. This book is generally well-written, with a fast-paced plot. Strands of the plot start out so far apart that it's difficult to see how they can come together, but they do. The critique that the ending's ludicrous is misplaced. Stranger things have happened in real life, much less fiction. It's a stretch but it doesn't fall over into being ludicrous.

What's good: the heroine is an appealing everywoman. Hank the cop is an appealing everyman. Neil is an irritating git. Melody is intriguing, mysterious, sympathetic and possibly evil - all at once. So the characters work well enough, aside from the grating Neil. The plot actually makes sense, in a Hollywood way. The pacing is well done. The suspense is maintained throughout. The author is no dummy. A lot of interesting observations are made throughout the book. It's good to read an intelligent author, even if she's just doing a commercial thriller.

The other issue with the book is that some of the plot points turn on fairly dumb moves by Carolyn. On the one hand she's kind of a super-cop, but on the other she does some dumb things. All-in-all the feeling is that her reputation is over-rating her. She doesn't really know what she's doing completely. However, that's okay. She's an everywoman.

What's missing: "Sullivan's Justice" contains the protagonist's love interests, but they don't grip you compellingly and they aren't fully integrated into the plot. The main ones are basically semi-integrated into the plot. Neil's so annoying that his love affairs are inexplicable, until they're revealed to be dysfunctional. The book is fun to read but doesn't really have a luminous emotional core. Over the past year or so, I have discovered a few stand-out thrillers on Kindle e-books, which have more emotional depth. "A Nail Through The Heart" is a compelling story of the struggle between light and darkness in Bangkok. "The Wounded Man" is a Chandleresque noir involving a string of murders and a passionate love affair. "The Scent of Shadows" is a shockingly good urban fantasy with emotional contact. If you like books like "Sullivan's Justice," you might want to check them out.

I purchased this book as a Used Book and received it in Mint Condition. I could not tell it had been read I still think it was a brand new book. Would recommend this seller and will purchase from them again.