Customer Reviews

Ties That Bind

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

 

 

I just want to start of by saying that some people take writing a review a bit too seriously. When I read reviews on Amazon it is to get a feel for people's reaction to a book, either they loved or hated it. I am tired of reading detailed synopsis on books or of people criticizing the authors just because they did not like the book. Either you like or you hate a story. A quick overview of the book with an honest opinion is all that is needed.

With that said, I want to say that I loved this book. Philip Margolin is one of those authors who has yet to fail pleasing me. I buy his book without reading what it is about. This book is no exception. The story revolves around Amanda Jaffe, a lawyer who asked to represent a pimp who is accused of killing a US Senator. Amanda is a character from one of his previous books where she is kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer. This book not only gives us the usual twist and turns of a whodonit but it also focuses on how Amanda is learning to live with the traumatic experience of being tortured by a psycho. For anyone who has had something very bad happen to them, this book is good in describing the emotions of a person who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Good book, great ending, quick read....THE END!

Margolin does it again. A great mystery/thriller with characters that were easy to care about and a story line that kept you guessing until the end. The plot was solid and the story fast paced.

A great read!

Since she was kidnapped and tortured on an earlier case, lawyer Amanda Jaffe has lived with flashbacks and panic--to the point where she's considering abandoning her career in criminal law. Being a court-appointed attorney to a pimp accused of murdering a senator and his lawyer is close to Amanda's ultimate nightmare. But as she investigates, she starts to wonder if some horrible miscarriage of justice might not be taking place.

Prosecuting attorney Tim Kerrigan should be happy. He's got a beautiful wife, a wonderful daughter, a Heisman trophy, and a father and friends pushing him for more--like becoming U.S. Senator and eventually even President. Tim has a problem with his self-worth, but his powerful friends are willing to make accomodations--and push him as far as he wants to go. But first, he's got to secure what should be an easy conviction in a death penalty case. Of course, there is the little matter of the blackmailing prostitute.

As Tim and Amanda explore the case they share, each begins to learn that there are powerful currents hidden beneath the surface. Amanda picks up vague hints of some sort of cabel--the rich and powerful take care of themselves and others, and stop at nothing to preserve their power. They might even have sent a lawyer to kill his own client--the man who is now her client. But if they are that powerful and that willing to kill, is her own life safe--or has she stepped into her worst nightmare?

Author Phillip Margolin writes a fast-paced and tight thriller. Although the paperback version is four hundred pages long, I tore through the book in a single afternoon, devouring the story as quickly as I could. The powerful cabel, the fears of the primary protagonists, and their feeling of helplessness they learned that the cabel's reach is long indeed added power to the story. I did have some problems with the characters--both Amanda and especially Tim whined a bit much for my taste, but Margolin's powerful writing kept them from becoming completely unsympathetic. One horrible editing error--where Tim's wife first reports that Tim is alive and then claims that she doesn't know whether he is alive or not did jar me out of the story, but not for long.

If you like conspiracy-theory types of stories, you won't go wrong with TIES THAT BIND.

Margolin writes short chapters (58 in 387 pages)in this average page turner. If you have seen the movie "Starchamber" with Hal Holbrook and Michael Douglas you know what will happen in this story of the morally compromised DA and the threatened criminal defense attorney.

This is the fourth Philip Margolin book I have read. Margolin spins interesting yarns with some creative twists that I do enjoy, but I classify Margolin as a "B" writer at best. His characters are one-dimensional stereotypes of the standard characters in the mystery/thriller genre. The books end neatly, but I feel no satisfaction for the characters in the outcome. There is also a graphic gratuitous nasty and sadistic thread in most of Margolin's books. Ties That Bind is typical Margolin as it follows a beautiful attorney, Amanda Jaffe, who is in recovery from an encounter with a psychotic sexual sadist in an earlier book. She finds herself defending a pimp accused of multiple murders (of a U.S. Senator on the fast track to be President and then his Attorney). This leads to Amanda uncovering a group of sociopaths (known as the Vaughn Street Glee Club) in high places that have Portland in their web and the Presidency in their sights. Amanda then goes through a new series of perils as she is stalked by a typically evil group of thugs who seem mostly concerned with sexually humiliating her. The other main character is Tim Kerrigan, a former college football hero and Heisman Trophy winner, who is the Prosecutor in Amanda's case. Although outwardly a role-model, Tim is plagued by guilt, self-doubts, and unhappiness with his marriage. Acting on these issues results in Tim being dragged into the Vaughn Street Glee Club conspiracy with a Faustian choice then set before him. Ties That Bind did entertain me and Margolin's ability to frame a plot saves the book from being a stinker. In the hands of a more talented writer (who also avoids the nastiness described above) it could have been great. Although I am giving it three stars, 2 ? would be a more appropriate rating.

Margolin is getting carried away by 'too much sex, gore, and sensationalism'. His first books were interesting and somewhat true to life. Since I live in Portland I am quite certain this kind of thing happens, to a minor degree, but sounds to me like Portland is the crime center of the nation if we take this book literally. Our politics in Portland and Oregon are rotten but I don't think
life is as morbid and ugly as Margolin would have us believe.
Tone it down a bit ........ we will still like your books without all the sex, violence and foul language portrayed in this one. You went beyond the limits of decency and good writing in this one.

The plot is just too convoluted to be appreciated. There are too many characters, many of who don't really add much to the story. So many of the people we meet are involved in the conspiracy at the heart of the book, that one wonders who is left who is honest and can be trusted. Some of the people, mainly the accused murderer and his moll, are shady, disreputable figures, and to make them the protagonists of the story doesn't ring true.

Not a very good read.

I have been a fan of Margolin for a while, and his stories keep getting better. If not for some not quite right discriptions of Portland life I would give this 5 stars.