After Dark

Rating:
Summary: Good, but...
Review: Now, don't get me wrong - this book has more good things going for it than bad, but the whole thing just seems a bit off to me. There is a lack of focus, for one thing. Whose story is it? Tracy's? Abigail's? Matthews? Charlie's? I also figured it out about 1/3 of the way through the book but I was written well enough that I gladly stuck it out to see if I was right. (I was, but my theory about the motive was a tad bit off). This is not Margolin's best work ('The Burning Man' gets that honor) but it is a good enough read for a long holiday weekend.

Rating:
Summary: HARD FOR ME TO RATE!!!
Review: "After Dark" is about Tracy Cavanough finding her best friend dead and then Justice Robert Griffen being killed with a car bomb. Are the two killings related? Abbie Griffen, wife of Robert is charged with the murder of her husband. Tracy has just been hired by Matthew Reynolds, the best defence attorney there is. Together they set out to prove Abbie is not guilty. But, is she? Has she snowed Matthew Reynolds? You think it is all figured out then, Bang, you are off again with a new twist. It was hard for me to rate, I nearly gave it a three, but is a little better than that, I guess. I got lost during the first several pages because so many names were thrown at me. I also thought the description of some things went into to much detail. Such as what makes up a piece of metal, or how a picture can me made one time and looks like another time. All in all it was fair.

Rating:
Summary: A SUPERIOR Legal Thriller
Review: After being completely blown away by 'Gone, But Not Forgotten' I knew I had found an author who had an amazing gift for intense storytelling...and although not quite as intense as 'GBNF' 'After Dark' has all the markings of an incredible whodunnit. I have to admit, by the time I figured it out (and that was only after Margolin let me in on it) I was totally surprised at the ending. That doesn't happen much these days, but 'After Dark' did it for me (my wife didn't seem surprised, but I sure was) and certainly deserves a lot more than to be just another run-of- the-mill legal thriller. Grisham on his best day hasn't written as good as this. From the opening pages where you get to know the characters, you end up feeling for them, developing small but very realistic bonds that make their problems more like YOURS. Just a fantastic read, and very much worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: A PEFECT NOVEL
Review: I had not read Margolin before I read After Dark. This book was a great read, had great character development and I was sad it had to end...The only great joy I received was knowing I found a new author to read with many books yet to read or listen too..His story telling is superb and he hides the ending well enough that even if you think you know...it twists you around to doubt your own conclusions..then surprises you...
I could be more detailed about the charaters...but why enjoy this book like a well wrapped gift be surprised and enjoy this gift of a book!!!

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful plot overcomes plodding prose
Review: I listened to the unabridged book on tape of this book everywhere I went for the last few days. It had great courtroom tension, changing suspects and lots of suspense. This was a good thing because more than once the dialouge was so stilted and cliche that I found myself wincing.

This is fundamentally a book about lawyers (for better or for worse). Every key character is either a lawyer or has a life that is entwined with the legal system. It isn't always a pretty picture. Almost all of the characters come off as some sort of obsessive personality. Interesting, yes; sympathetic, not really.

Still, you keep wondering who killed the supreme court law clerk and, then a month later, the Oregon Supreme Court justice. Are the killings related? There are more than a few great theories and line between the obvious and the sublime is very sketchy.

Bottom line: an entertaining read that will tickle your thinking process without challenging it too hard.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is my 3rd book by Mr. Margolin and all three are awesome! Very superb writing and can't put down books. Now, I'm reading my 4th one, Burning Man, and even my father-in-law, said it's a good book, so here I am giving my reviews because I want to let other readers to know, that you will not be disappointed. Reading his novels, is like watching a movie, and my imaginations just go wild. After Dark, just one of those who-dunnit books. So there, hopefully other readers can find this review helpful... Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Hard to improve on
Review: This one combines the best elements of the "cozy" and "suspense" styles of mystery-writing. The protagonist is Tracy Cavanaugh, a recent law school graduate who clerks for a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.

During her last days at the Oregon Supreme Court, one of Tracy's clerk colleagues is murdered. That murder is followed shortly by the murder of the justice who employed the murdered clerk. The murdered justice's estranged wife, herself a brilliant prosecutor, soon becomes the prime suspect. At the same time, Tracy's year of clerking is up, and she goes to work for renowned defense attorney Matthew Reynolds, who is defending the accused wife.

This is definitely a better novel than "Undertaker's Widow", which was the first Phillip Margolin mystery I read. Most of the primary characters are well-drawn and memorable. The plot is unpredictable but doesn't stretch credulity. The last 75 pages give the plot several twists before the ultimate solution is revealed. The book is captivating and well-written throughout.

This book provides one more example of the foolishness... several years ago, to change the rating system from a 10-star maximum to a 5-star maximum. This book is a cut above Hazel Holt's "Mrs. Malory, Detective in Residence", to which I gave 4 stars. It is also a definite cut below Elizabeth George's novels, all of which deserve 5 stars. I will stick with my contention that only real literature deserves 5 stars, and this isn't real literature. But it's about as good as genre mysteries ever get.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This one combines the best elements of the "cozy" and "suspense" styles of mystery-writing. The protagonist is Tracy Cavanaugh, a recent law school graduate who clerks for a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.

During her last days at the Oregon Supreme Court, one of Tracy's clerk colleagues is murdered. That murder is followed shortly by the murder of the justice who employed the murdered clerk. The murdered justice's estranged wife, herself a brilliant prosecutor, soon becomes the prime suspect. At the same time, Tracy's year of clerking is up, and she goes to work for renowned defense attorney Matthew Reynolds, who is defending the accused wife.

This is definitely a better novel than "Undertaker's Widow", which was the first Phillip Margolin mystery I read. Most of the primary characters are well-drawn and memorable. The plot is unpredictable but doesn't stretch credulity. The last 75 pages give the plot several twists before the ultimate solution is revealed. The book is captivating and well-written throughout.

This book provides one more example of the foolishness... several years ago, to change the rating system from a 10-star maximum to a 5-star maximum. This book is a cut above Hazel Holt's "Mrs. Malory, Detective in Residence", to which I gave 4 stars. It is also a definite cut below Elizabeth George's novels, all of which deserve 5 stars. I will stick with my contention that only real literature deserves 5 stars, and this isn't real literature. But it's about as good as genre mysteries ever get.

Rating:
Summary: Phillip Margolin is a Wonderful Novelist!
Review: This was my fourth Phillip Margolin book and he seems to not disappoint me anywhere over the course of his four books. I have loved everyone of his. AFTER DARK looked really enticing from the back of the book and it sure was! A couple, two teenagers, are out on Lookout Point having a romantic evening. The next day they are found missing and later found murdered. The cops have two suspects, two poor brothers, who are jealous of the couple because they are rich. It is up to the defense attorney and the cops to find the truth. Later the two brothers are acquitted. Did the Court release two innocent men or two guilty murderers? Read it and find out!

Rating:
Summary: obsessions
Review: though obstensibly about capital punishment, this cleverly plotted novel really focuses on two psychologically damaged characters. workmanlike,uninspired prose.