Try Dying (Ty Buchanan Series, Book 1) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former trial lawyer Bell (No Legal Grounds) starts this engaging whodunit series kickoff by plunging successful young L.A. attorney Ty Buchanan into deep mourning for his fiancée, Jacqueline Dwyer. Apparently, wife-murderer Ernesto Bonilla shot himself on a highway overpass and his body landed on Dwyer's car, killing her. Buchanan, in the grip of intense grief, is further burdened when a scruffy man accosts him at the funeral and demands money in exchange for the truth: that Dwyer survived Bonilla's fall, only to be murdered. When the police dismiss this explanation, Buchanan risks his career and his life to get to the bottom of the mystery, crossing paths with a variety of powerful movers and shakers and ending up a murder suspect himself. Readers will enjoy Bell's talent for description and character development, even if the overall setup of a white-collar worker scouring the mean streets is familiar terrain. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Attorney Ty Buchanan is prepping a potentially career-making case involving repressed memories (he's defending a doctor who, after publicly criticizing a repressed-memory expert, is now being sued for defamation). When his fiancée is killed in what appears to be a freakish coincidence, Ty is shattered. And when he learns that Jacqueline might have been murdered, he risks his career and his life to find the truth. Bell, an attorney turned prolific novelist, has created in Buchanan an appealing and series-worthy protagonist (he's already working on the second Buchanan novel), and the tale equally balances action and drama, motion and emotion. Readers who pride themselves on figuring out the answers before an author reveals them are in for a surprise, too: Bell is very good at keeping secrets. Fans of thrillers with lawyers as their central characters—Lescroart and Margolin, especially—will welcome this new addition to their must-read lists. Pitt, David

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Center Street (October 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599956845
• ISBN-13: 978-1599956848
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #182,441 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...a dynamic start to a new series, filled with colorful characters and elaborate plots, November 19, 2007

By	C.J. Darlington "TitleTrakk.com Co-founder & ... - See all my reviews

Ty Buchanan's beloved fiancé has just died in a freak Hollywood style accident, instantly spinning his world off its axis. Maybe someday he'll recover. Maybe someday he'll make sense of his emotions and get on with his life without Jacquelyn. Only someday doesn't come, and Ty watches himself become a man he never dreamed he'd be. An attorney sworn to uphold the law, he's soon breaking it to find out the truth about Jacquelyn's death. Was it really accidental?

In the vein of Brandt Dodson's Colton Parker series, Try Dying is a no-nonsense crime novel with a legal bent rather than a private investigator or cop angle. Cinematic in feel due to Bell's expert use of snappy dialogue, there's also a nice peppering of movie references, no doubt coming straight from Bell's own love of classic films. Even Ty Buchanan is a namesake derived from characters in two movies, Tyler Durden in "Fight Club" (1999) and Tom Buchanan in "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958).

In a recent interview Bell reveals: "I haven't been happy about some of the trends in contemporary, secular suspense. And I think the audience out there is getting tired of the gratuitous elements. I believe you can write page-turning suspense without that, like some of the great crime novels of the 40s and 50s. I wanted to offer that, because I see the need for it."

That's one of the great things about Try Dying. Life is painted in all its edgy glory, and the underbelly of LA is as much a character as Ty. Yet through it all Bell manages to show us this world without rolling us through the gutter. He's accomplished exactly what he set out to accomplish--to craft an action-laced thriller devoid of smut. Many an author has decided you can't portray life as it is without swearing, gore, and sex, but Jim proves you can. A very small quibble is I was a little confused a few times by the novel's extensive cast.

Even though Try Dying isn't Christian fiction per se, Jim freely portrays Biblical principles, such as forgiveness in a priest's heart even though he's paid a stiff price for a molestation he didn't commit. In some ways I found the Christian take-away value more poignant than you find in much of today's "Christian fiction". It's clear the priest and a basketball playing nun have a real relationship with Jesus, and they become Ty's confidants. Hopefully they'll be involved in the next Ty Buchanan novel, Try Darkness, and continue to shine light into Ty's world.

Truth is truth, and Bell makes sure to weave it through all of his books. Ty's journey is a harrowing one, filled with enough beatings, explosions, and bad guys to rival the best crime fiction has to offer, but morality isn't left in the dust. Try Dying is a dynamic start to a new series, filled with colorful characters and elaborate plots.

--Reviewed by C.J. Darlington for TitleTrakk

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bell enters a new genre with a great new series, December 4, 2007

By	Bill Garrison (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

James Scott Bell's TRY DYING features young, hot-shot lawyer Ty Buchannon forced into a life or death struggle after his fiance tragically dies in a traffic accident. Or was it an accident? A gang-banger shoots his girlfriend then goes to a highway overpass where he kills himself. His dead body falls on an oncoming car, killing Ty's fiance. Or did it kill her? Maybe she was alive and then killed after the body fell into her car.

At his fiance's funeral, a homeless man confronts Ty to tell him his girlfiend might have been murdered. Then the homeless man knocks him out and robs him. Now Ty is obssessed with finding the truth. He starts out doing little things like contacting the police who investigated the accident and the attractive reporter who was on the scene. Ty begins to find answers and they lead him to Rudy Barocos, a self-help guru that specializes in showing former gangsters the straight and narrow. Ty is also working a high profile case of repressed memories and child abuse. Grief from his fiance's death has overwhelmed him and Ty is shocked at his own behavior and how far he will go to learn the truth.

This novel marks a departure for Bell, who has made a name for himself as a writer of legal inspirational thrillers. With TRY DYING, Bell has switched genres and publishers. Through Centerstreet publishing, he is writing a mainstream suspense novel that is gritty and supsensful but doesn't have all the bad language or extreme violence found in so many other novels today. This is not a Christian, or inspirational novel, but two of its supporting characters are a priest and a nun. You will find more spirituality in this novel than you will in most all other suspense novels. I applaud Bell for this new step in his career and can't wait for the next book in the series.

I enjoyed TRY DYING and believe Ty Buchannon is a great character with a lot of potential. This novel is told from a 1st person point of view, so the reader learns a lot about Ty and his view on the world. I found this novel to be missing strong secondary characters that are so common in other Bell novels. By writing fron Ty's POV, if he doesn't get close to a woman, then the readers don't either. This novel had a lot of potentially strong female characters, but none really stood out. Since this is a series, I see the potential for some strong relationships to develop in the next novel or two.

This is a great book to give to someone as a gift to interest them in Christian suspense fiction. I recommend it to all Bell fans as well.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Noir At Its Best, November 13, 2007

By	Deborah "Books, Movies and Chinese Food" (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Gritty. That was my first thought when I finished reading this book. The other was, wow this could totally be made into a movie. It reminded me very much of the movie Collateral starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. The way the setting was described along with the action sequences and just the mood in general made me feel like I was in a slow moving but suspenseful film noir. There's a lot of mystery and suspense in this book that keeps you guessing til the end. Things that appear to be unconnected somehow have a thread that ties everything together. I love all the characters in this novel especially the non traditional priest and the basketball playing nun. Really can't wait to read more about them. This is a book you could pass on to anybody who is a fan of the genre and they would not be disappointed. I would compare this book to be on par with John Grisham just without sex or cursing. Like I've said before it has been proven that you can write an excellent story without having to resort to filler material. There were several places in the story where I could see another author just throwing in a sex scene or placing a few f-bombs to add space. But the story does not need it at all. Instead what you get is action filled drama, several intense scenes of violence and a story that keeps you reading from page one. This book shows that Christian fiction is not just clean romance novels. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. Top notch writing, Mr. Bell, top notch.