Customer Reviews

Ties That Bind

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

TIES THAT BIND is a vehicle for Phillip Margolin's reintroduction of Amanda Jaffe, last seen in WILD JUSTICE. Jaffe is still adversely affected by the events that befell her in that novel and is making efforts to deal with them. Daniel Ames from THE ASSOCIATE also makes a cameo appearance, but this is primarily Jaffe's book. Jaffe is an interesting character, but in TIES THAT BIND, she tends to get lost among the more interesting people and events around her.

There aren't a lot of sympathetic characters in TIES THAT BIND. The bad guys are really bad and as is often the case, they're more interesting than the white hats. Jon Dupre, a violent pimp accused of murdering Senator Harold Travis, is a world-class scumbag. It's difficult to let your sense of justice rise to the occasion and see him acquitted of a crime for which he might be wrongfully accused. However, the evidence against him looks strong and, while in police custody, he kills his court-appointed attorney. To paraphrase Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly, he wouldn't miss a lick if he rode the lightning, even if it was for the wrong crime.

There accordingly isn't a lot of tension for any sort of race against time to find the real killer. On top of that, Travis is an extortionist and a murderer in his own right, so his death is not going to elicit any particular sympathy, one way or the other. When Jaffe is requested by the court to take over his defense, it looks like an uphill battle for her. When she begins to investigate Dupre's alibi and claims of innocence, however, she is pressured --- violently --- to drop her investigation and let justice take its course. What is interesting here is what the investigation ultimately uncovers, which is a conspiracy that has existed for decades and that links Travis to a mysterious group of public officials and drug lords. As Jaffe nears the surprising truth, she brings danger closer to herself and those she loves, even as the truth that she and her client is seeking comes from a totally unexpected source.

Margolin's plot doesn't always hang together perfectly. The method by which the surprise ending is effected, in particular, is somewhat of a stretch and requires some suspension of disbelief, though it is ultimately quite satisfying. Overall, Margolin remains an exciting writer of great economy with the ability to keep readers turning pages as fast as they are capable of reading. TIES THAT BIND ultimately continues Margolin's unbroken string of riveting, spellbinding novels that are almost impossible to put down without finishing.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

When Portland, Oregon defense attorney, Amanda Jaffe, is asked by the court to defend Jon Dupre, a drug dealer and owner of an upscale escort service, her first instinct is to just say no. This case is a slam dunk for the prosecution. Dupre is accused of not only murdering a U.S. Senator, but of also stabbing and killing his high-profile, big named attorney right in the jailhouse conference room under the watchful eyes of a guard. No other lawyer will touch the case, for obvious reasons. Dupre claims he's innocent and being framed. He says his attorney came at him with the shiv, and he was only defending himself. Amanda finds one aspect of the case intriguing. Dupre's arms and hands are covered with defensive wounds that add some credibility to his story. But the obvious question hangs in the air. Why would his own attorney try to murder him? As she begins to investigate, Amanda stumbles over a connection between her client's case and some of Portland's high-powered elite that goes back thirty years. And the deeper she digs into the past, the more she comes to realize that these men will do anything to protect themselves, their secrets, and their way of life. Finding justice for Jon Dupre won't be easy, and has placed not only her life, but everyone she loves in harms way..... Buckle your seatbelt and pull it tight, Phillip Margolin is about to take you on a roller coaster of a ride. This is an action packed thriller filled with twists, turns, and more than a few surprises. Unfortunately, the story line never really rings true, is awkward at times and a bit over-the-top. When it comes to the climax and implausable ending, you definitely have to be willing to suspend disbelief. Mr Margolin's cast of too many characters tend to be one dimensional and uninspired. It's really hard to empathize or care about these people, and you almost need a scorecard to keep track of who's who and what's what. Ties That Bind is an entertaining, fast read, easily finished in one sitting. Nothing memorable. A good book for a long plane ride.

Recovering from her run-in with "The Surgeon", lawyer Amanda Jaffe still has nightmares of the traumatic experience, but she returns to work, only to defend a man accused of killing a U.S. senator.

Amanda believes her clients innocence, and when he tells of having evidence that will link the senator to South American drug lords, she knows she must investigate.

The deeper Amanda becomes involved in this case, the deeper she throws herself into danger, as she will be forced to face a world of sex, escorts, lies, murder and a political conspiracy that has involved high-ranking judges, and public officials for over thirty years.

As the powerful men behind the plan close in on her, Amanda makes a shocking discoveryone that has a direct path to the presidency.

Ties That Bind is another powerful shocker from master thrill writer Phillip Margolin. Combining legal thrills with the dark underside of the political world, Ties That Bind grabs you from the first page and holds you captive with each murder, plot twist and shocking discovery. As with all Margolin novels the writing is clean, the plotting razor sharp and the pace super-fast, and of course a surprise ending.

Phillip Margolin, a lawyer-turned-author, remains one of my favorite authors, he never strays from what he does best; writing great thrillers. Each new novel is action packed and full of thrills and Ties That Bind is no differentits intricately plotted with twists galore so expect to see this at the top of the best-seller lists.

Nick Gonnella

Ties That Bind brings back Amanda Jaffe who is still affected by the events that befell her in Wild Justice.
The bad guys are really bad and as is often the case, they're more interesting than the white hats. Jon Dupre, a violent pimp accused of murdering Senator Harold Travis, is a world-class scumbag. The evidence against him looks strong and, while in police custody, he kills his court-appointed attorney.
There accordingly isn't a lot of tension for any sort of race against time to find the real killer. On top of that, Travis is an extortionist and a murderer in his own right, so his death is not going to elicit any particular sympathy. When Jaffe is requested by the court to take over his defense, it looks like an uphill battle for her. When she begins to investigate Dupre's alibi and claims of innocence, however, she is pressured to drop her investigation and let justice take its course. As Jaffe nears the surprising truth, she brings danger closer to herself and those she loves, even as the truth that she and her client is seeking comes from a totally unexpected source.

See book summary above.

If you can keep up with the plot and all its characters you'll find this to be a very rewarding thriller. There are some twists and turns you won't see coming, along with thrills and suspense.
This is an average novel by Margolin, which still makes it good.

Recommended.

This is my first book by Margolin and it was fantastic. I've now realized that I should have read Wild Justice first to understand some of what Amanda is going thru and why. However, this is an excellent stand alone book in my opinion.

The characters and plot were well developed. The conclusion was logical and made sense give the facts that were laid out for the reader and there is a twist at the end that, for me at least, was unexpected.

I will be back for more of Margolin's excellent work.

I used to love Margolin books but the last book he wrote I actually went back to see if I had been mistaken about the quality of his other books. I wasn't, he was the author of many books I had loved. So, I figured he was having an off book. However, this book confirms it for me, he does not write anywhere near with the depth of character and plot that he used to. This book is fair, but not good. Amanda Jaffe lacks any reality and it seems that Margolin, like several other authors, is just trying to hook onto a series character to sell books. This character holds no spark or interest. I actually did not even finish this book.

During the past several decades it has become the lamentable fashion--(undoubtably instigated by idiot editors) to begin novels with action-packed flashbacks, usually often having almost nothing to do with the novel, presumably to catch the interest of readers browsing in bookstores. In practice, this loathsome practice only confuses readers.

Margolin takes this foul practice to the extreme. Typically the first quarter of a Margolin novel consist of unrelated, unconnected, flashbacks. Perhaps the excuse of introducing the main characters up front would be a mitigating argument--but in practice, dozens of new characters are thrown at the reader, who has no way to tell which are "main" characters and which are throw-aways. By the time a reader has identified a main character as such, the reader probably cannot connect that character with the corresponding background material told in a flashback 200 pages earlier. For example, "Ties that Bind" features three dozen or so characters, including at least 3 judges, at least 3 prosecuting attorneys, 3 prostitutes, nearly a dozen policemen/women, and various thugs. The defendant, at various times, has 3 different defense lawyers.

This front-loaded style is arguably lazy--instead of carefully crafting opportunities to introduce characters and background within the story as appropriate, Margolin just jumbles character development and background material together in random order, so that he can then tell the main story with minimal interruptions. The only saving grace is that Margolin is a very gifted story teller.

As a generalization, reading the dust jacket text ruins good novels, but for Margolin novels, it is essential for the reader to have access to a summary, or at least an annotated cast of characters, to consult as necessary in order to avoid becoming hopelessly lost. Unfortunately, audio-book readers are left out in the cold-- without a cover to read, and practically speaking, unable to go back and re-read earlier chapters. Audiobook readers are advised to keep an annotated cast of characters handy, and to avoid listening to this novel when there are other distractions (e.g., when driving).

"Ties that bind" is probably the most egregious example of Margolin's front-loaded style. In fact, Part 1, consisting of Chapters 1 through 9, is essentially a dustbin of unconnected flashbacks. The story actually begins at Part 2 Chapter 10, when Harold Travis a Senator, running for the Presidency is killed. We know from earlier background material that he has brutally murdered a prostitute. Jon Dupre, the prostitute's pimp, is the accused. Amanda Jaffe is his defense attorney and Tim Kerrigan is the prosecutor. Other important or potentially suspicious characters include Jack Stam (the chief prosecutor, and Tim's boss), William Kerrigan (Tim's father), Hugh Curtain (Tim's friend), Harvey Grant (a judge, Tim's friend), J.D. Hunter (an FBI agent), Maria Lopez (assistant prosecutor) Ali Bennett (Dupre's assistant, a prostitute, and a friend of the murdered prostitute), Stan Gregaros (a policeman), and Pedro Aragon (a drug dealer, who supplied Dupre).

The Von Street Glee Club (which we meet in the first flashback, which began as a group of college kids dealing drugs on campus, who have grown up to be the pillars of the community) is the nexus of a spider-web of shadowy connections, influence, and friendships behind the scenes. These are "the ties that bind".

Given the above caveats, "Ties that Bind" is nevertheless a superbly written novel, full of interesting character and plausible, often surprising, plot twists. One of Margolin's finest---and that is saying alot.

There are times I really wish for half stars . . . this one is worth 3.5.

It is rare in reading a mystery of this nature that I'm actually surprised by something, and Margolin got me twice. Won't reveal what events surprised me, but there were just a couple of "twists" that were not completely predictable.

Add that to an interesting plot, a satisfying ending, likeable (if flawed) characters and appropriate development of both story and characters, and I'd have to classify this as a winner.

I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a quick escape from the ordinary.

First off, I'm going to start with the good stuff. In Ties That Bind Phillip Margolin writes another fun, attention keeping lawyer as detective thriller staring the damaged Amanda Jaffe. Here, not only must she deal with a political conspiracy, a possibly innocent yet dangerous client and a possible corrupt District Attorney but also a brutal group of men who aren't scared to use the horrors of her past against her. Margolin weaves together a lot of sub plots to come to his satisfying and actually surprising conclusion. Rarely anymore am I surprised by the ending of a book, with hundreds of mysteries behind me, it easy to suspect everyone. This time Margolin actually set me up pretty well, and threw a curveball past me.
On the negative side, and this isn't a criticism of Margolin alone, the legal thriller genre is quickly becoming more thriller than legal. These lawyers turn writers currently seem unable to end a book in a courtroom. In this novel, Margolin continues the trend with very minimal courtroom scenes and not all that much lawyering happening. Now granted, a good thriller has its place, and this one was pretty good, but I didn't start reading the likes of Margolin, Lescroart, Bernhardt and Freidman for your typical psycho stalker meets beautiful lady story. I like the courtroom maneuvering and the legal process, and yes, even a verdict. Hopefully once again we can get some books with verdicts.