Rating: 
Summary: A stick figure plot on 1600 Pensylvannia
Review: If you are willing to jettison incredulity over unconvincing characters, and jump straight into plot, this thriller may not disappoint. The plot is certainly thick with suspense,and Washington DC connaisseurs in particular might be thrilled to recognize many local references. Meandering through the passages of the White House and Old Executive Office, vividly described in the first voice of the main character, the reader almost gets a virtual tour of rooms and offices rarely accessible to the general public : "Lucky for both of us, we have first-floor office - whcih means we also have the shortest walk to the West Wing..." "The second floor of the West Wing houses some of the best hig-powered offices, including the First Lady's personal office and the one imnmediately to my right...." "Instead, we stop at the closed door of the main conference room....where Kennedy's staff weighed in on the Cuban Missile crisis..." (Little wonder that some reviews of the novel report a vicarious sense of proximity to the White House. After putting down the novel, and fresh with the images of its unmistakable setting, I was persuaded, after fourteen years of working within a one to two block radius of the White House, to consider joining one of the public tours offered daily.) The novel centers on the relationship of a young White House staffer, working in the office of the White House Counsel (the President's legal adviser), and the First Daughter. The latter's quixotic, if also mentally disturbed persona, makes for the most memorable character in the novel. The plot ably combines a succesion of suspense-raising developments, each adding a new layer to a growing mystery -- a late night exchange of funds in the proverbial brown envelope witnessed by the two main characters; the mysterious death of another White House staffer; the curious relationship of the President's daughter to an old family friend who is also one of the White House aides; and an ex-convict's logged visit to the White House. Given the scope of the plot and its political implications in real world, you might be surprised to discover that characters you would otherwise expect to figure prominently - like the President and First Lady - appear only episodically. Other than requiring almost 500 pages of perserverance, this thriller is mentally undemanding. In retrospect, I thought of better ways I could have spent my July 4th weekend. The engaging mystery did not dispel my sense of a plot animated by cardboard characters who seemed out of place, not only in the real world, but also in the microcosm of this thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice cover
Review: Did the writer have anything in mind when he wrote this? Yes, there's a first, middle and last page but no real substance. The best part was the last page and I could finally write this! Oh, yes, the book has a nice cover!
Rating: 
Summary: Read it. Now. Seriously.
Review: I started reading this book when I was bored- I wasn't expecting to get anywhere with it, it was supposed to fill some empty time. Once I started reading, I instantly got hooked. Some books start out real slow, developing the characters for what seems like forever. This book started right out with the plot- within 30 pages, the conflict is introduced.
I noticed some of the reviews said the characters were unrealistic... I personally never noticed that. Sure, looking back it may be true, but while you read this book you're so busy enjoying it you probably won't even stop to think about it. I liked the characters, especially Nora, even if she was a bit off.
I can't help but also compliment Meltzer's knowledge of the White House. He has a way of really making you feel like you're there....
Then there's the ending... woooohoooo I really wasn't expecting that to happen...... you really have to read it. I got so attached to the characters that... well... [sob].
OVERALL this book has great characters, setting, and plot (although it dragged on just a weensie bit). I stayed up all night reading it- no joke- and if you can, you will too. So read it. now. seriously.
Rating:
Summary: The First Counsel Review
Review: Im not a large reader, and I despise reading regularly like some. Well this book actually got me hooked farther into the reaches of the government. I usually judge a book by its cover, and yes I dont read 18 Century books, even before 1960 I wont read books that far behind (because they are dull and lack today's spice). Yes anyway, the scandle Nora (one of the main characters) and the boyfriend uncover is excellent, the motive seems exactly like it would be played out inside the government. Cover-ups, drugs, sex, its pretty much here and I really enjoyed how Brad Meltzer involved it all to wrap it up. I give this book 5 stars, because of the excellent way the author brings the characters to life, the plot, and the scandles.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT MELTZER'S BEST EFFORT, BUT STILL GOOD
Review: I liked Meltzer's other books better. I had a lot of trouble getting past the nutso first daughter. Kept thinking "Chelsea Clinton" and who would want to date her? Lot's going on in these pages but I didn't feel it meshed the way it should have. Still, I whizzed through this book because BM compels you to read further. TENTH JUSTICE is his best effort.
Rating:
Summary: extremely entertaining white house thriller
Review: Michael Garrick has achieved his lifetime dream. He works in the White House, has good friends, and is slowly moving up the ladder of success. But the thing that brightens his day the most is that he is now currently dating the presidents daughter, First Lady Nora. Michael and Nora are on their first date when they finally lose Noras goons that were trailing them and have found a quiet place to eat when they see Michaels boss, Edgar Simon standing in the bar talking to a man (They're in a gay bar) and walk out the door. Not sure what their respectful associate is up to, the duet follows the powerful man where they see him depsoit a large manilla envelope within the tree trunk. Looking inside the envelope, they find $40 thousand dollars in cash. Sensing that someone is watching them, the two run for it until they are pulled over by the cops for speeding. They search the car, and when they look in the glove compartment, Michael finds that Nora has taken $10 thousnd from the envelope. Instead of blaming her for taking the money, Michael tells the cops the money is his. What results is a whirlwind of twists and turns of unbelievable conspiracies, until the heart-stopping conclusion. Filled with strong plot and a new twist on the world of legal thrilelrs, The First Counsel is a notable fiction, and will appeal to people who are tired of the same old legal thriller. Those who eagerly wait for the next John Grisham or David Baldicci will find a new must read author in Brad Meltzer.
Rating:
Summary: Defies suspension of disbelief
Review: No one expects deep insights into reality from genre fiction, but some rules do apply--like the characters and their actions ought to be somewhere within the realm of conceivably possible, and the resolution should actually resolve. This book fails on both scores. The premise turns on (at least) two absurdities: (a) a Counsel to the President, thirty years married, stupid enough to hang out in a gay bar. A few weeks before an election, no less. Uh-huh. Like everyone in that bar, he knows, belongs to his political party? Like none of them would delight in gossip? Yeah, right. (b) An assistant to said counsel, smart enough and mature enough to have made it to the inner sanctum by age twenty-seven, who-with two years of White House experience under his belt-nevertheless acts with the prudence and judgment of an eighth grader lost in puppy love? E.G., when accused of a serious, serious crime, he keeps to himself that his one-date girlfriend (who could be corroborated at least in part by a D.C. cop) can attest his innocence--because he wants to "protect" his one-date girlfriend? Said "girlfriend," not to mention, having put his life and reputation in danger and acted extremely irresponsibly on that one date? And whom he continues to protect despite her obvious derangement-and her doing things like drugging him (without his knowledge) for fun? And the resolution is just silly. The authorities believe the protagonist to be a murdering black mailer. He proves that two people he's apparently killed really had something to hide--and somehow this gets him off? Isn't having something to hide consistent with being blackmailed--like, kind of absolutely by defitnition? Can you blackmail someone who DOESN'T have something to hide? Thus, the only evidence of the protagonist's innocence is not only entirely consistent with his being the blackmailing murderer the FBI believes him to be, but presupposed by it! Yet the FBI accepts his story immediately, ignores the massive evidence the bad guys framed him with, and apologizes? Hey--if p presupposes q, and q is true, that supports, not refutes, p. I'm puzzled by all the reviewers who say Meltzer's knowledge of the White House is excellent. How would they know that? They would have to know at least as much as he, and compare his rendition with their knowledge. So we have lots of reviews here from White House insiders? Maybe so--but I've had three close friends and a first-cousin in the "inner sanctum" over the last twenty years, and none of what I know from them sounds like this.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent First Novel...
Review: I read the first of Brad Meltzer's novels after I read his first issue of DC Comics' Green Arrow, and it's awfully good. There are a few slow sections early on, but there's much that needs to be set up so it's understandable. Once we understand the way the White House counsel's office works and who the major players are, things kick into high gear and don't stop 'til the final page of the final chapter. Good, good stuff, and The Tenth Justice is even better.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a very disappointed Meltzer fan.
Review: The characters in this book are both good and bad. (Nora is Awesome; everybody else is stupid.) My problem with the book is it's such a downer. If I want to learn that drugs are bad and will ruin my life, I can get that out of my science book. I'm reading fiction cause I want to have fun.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book. Lame Ending
Review: This book really took hold and wouldn't let go. Couldn't put it down. The exasperating situation of being framed and having nowhere to turn was really felt throughout. The characters were likeable. Overall a fun fast read, until... the end. Maybe I didn't want the suspense to end. The last 40 pages when the chase is wrapping up and the conspirators were revealed, I just lost interest. The suspense and build up was great, the action sequence at the end was bland. I say 6 out of 10 because I did enjoy the story for about 90% of it's pages, but the end was just too flat to say it was a great story.
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