Customer Reviews

Veritas

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

 

 

In Veritas, Lashner's second novel featuring Victor Carl and company, he proves that Hostile Witness, was no fluke. Lashner's characters are multidimensional and memorable. His plot is well-developed with interesting sub-plots and his narrative style keeps the flow of the book moving along at a nice pace. Veritas is well-worth reading but it is not without some flaws. Lashner uses so many characters that it is hard at times to keep track of who's who to whom without a scorecard, so to speak. Further, it took a bit too long to tie together the complex main plot and sub-plots, and some of the decriptive passages went on too long. A little more editing would have made Veritas even more enjoyable for me. Nonetheless, Lashner is one of the better writers in his genre today and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of his books.

First things first-"Veritas" is different from "Hostile Witness",i.e. it's NOT a courtroom drama. Say what you want,but this is a brave move for the author(can you remember another series with novels belonging to different sub-genres?)."Veritas" is Victor Carl playing Philp Marlowe.It's a really good novel with lots of interesting characters(including Beth,who is back working with Victor).The only drawback is that Victors mind isn't as sharp as Marlowes,so it sometimes takes him forever to come to raver obvious conclusions.I liked "Hostile Witness" better,but this one is still good.I admire Lashner for writing noir novel instead of another courtroom drama,but,to be honest, I hope the next one will be the latter.

I read Veritas 1st, then read his first novel, Hostile Witness. I would advise reading Hostile Witness before Veritas since the novels devleop Victor Carl's personality. Both books are excellent reading!
Wm. Lashner is a great writer. He creates an exciting story and also caused me to think about how I would react in the same situation.
I am looking forward to his future books!

I bought Veritas while on an Alaskan cruise because, being a professor of languages, I was intrigued by its Latin title. The beginning, however was disappointingly slow paced. The redeeming feature seemed to be the variety of thought systems introduced by Victor, the lawyer hired to unravel the meaning behind the apparent suicide of a multimillion dollar pickle heiress. New age thought, mob connections, highly moral investigators, a saucy heroine and a mysterious garden finally lead the reader to the middle of the book where the many threads seem to become one story. The ending, like the beginning is twisted and complicated as the reader tries to remember who is who in the complicated bloodline. An emotional letdown occurs when "nothing" happens at the end that is unanticipated.

What made me think during reading this book was that Victor Carl's eyes seemed to permanently recover from his old weakness, i.e., very easy to wet by other people's insult. But in this book, the hero seemed to become a totally different person, more attorney but less humanbeing. The writing was smooth and almost as good as Nelson Demille's "GOLD COAST"(but not his "Plum Island"--which was a nuisance and downride), full of witty sentences that made me smile. The plot was also fine, yet making the hero become a totally different person--althoght still craving success and richness--was a twist that the author should be carefully worked out in his next Victor Carl series. I strongly suggest Mr. Lashner to change to other venues of his 3rd-up novels, because talented as he is, he could write anything, any kind of hero or heroine as he choose and not necessarily has to stick to the complicated-yet-become-more-vague Victor Carl. To have such gifted new writer on the bookshelves is absolutely a blessing to our world readers.

Veritas has all the elements of a truly good lawyer/client story. It does not however, deliver on those promises. I`m sure the author tried to deliver but got blocked, or did not know where to go, and used tired plot devices to make the story work. The absolute absurdity of the story is the only thing that saves it from becoming pointless. I feel that this author is talented but his editors did not require him to use his skills as a writer more effectively. The other thought is that this author is writing of subjects he`s really not comfortable or qualified to write about. I do know someone who will enjoy this novel due to it`s absurdity, and will pass it on.

This novel, what ever name you use, is follow up to BITTER TRUTH and it's hero Victor Carl. I will go on to the third book. I loved BITTER TRUTH, I like Veritas. SOO much info to try to absorb. A little too long and too complicated, could have been edited down to a much more reasonable read. Victor Carl is a good character. Start with the first novel.

I was impressed with Mr. Lashner's first work, and he delivers again with Veritas. Veritas is a continuation of Hostile Witness, with the same central characters - the lawyers, the mafia, and the private investigators. Victor Carl is still chasing the elusive big payout client, and he stumbles into what could be a very lucrative case. Different worlds collide in a very well written work, where Victor Carl is forced to confront exactly what wealth can and cannot do for you.

I "read" this novel as an unabridged audiobook and without having read "Hostile Witness", but I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. Lashner did a great job of making Victor Carl a believable character, who is alternately annoying and appealing. I'm now returning for more of Lashner's writing in Hostile Witness...

This is a much more ambitious book than Hostile Witness. Lashner is clearly trying to move beyond the confines of writing a courtroom procedural. In fact, very little of this book takes place in a courtroom. Victor Carl is becoming an interesting, funny, and complex character. The book's weakness lies in its reliance on the shopworn plot device of a gloomy old mansion whose every closet is rattling with skeletal remains of past sins. Despite this, I think Victor is interesting enough to outweigh Lashner's overused plot line. If Lashner's writing continues to improve (and if he can develop a more original plot line) his next book may be very good indeed.