Rating: 
Summary: Superb writer ala Grisham
Review: An excellent page flipper with great syntax. Although fiction, "The Defense" provides serious food for thought on our justice system which speaks to the issue of attorney victory vis-a-vis true justice. I look forward to his future books.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay To Read But Not To Buy!
Review: Buffa has written a fast-moving, fairly entertaining story that generally holds your interest. The ending, however, is very predictable and one that you are likely to guess about 2/3s of the way through the book. Also, Buffa needs to improve his pacing in terms of providing for the passage of time. In several instances he allows years to go by without sufficient set-up for the reader. My suggestion is that if you have an interest in reading The Defense, get it from the library or borrow it from a friend; do not pay $20 for it!
Rating:
Summary: Fairly good writing style, but ...
Review: Buffa's book has a lot going for it. I confess that I am philosophy major (interested in ethics, no less) working toward law school, so there was a lot in this book that interested me. Though I suspect a lot of readers will find the character of the protagonist's mentor a bit plodding and esoteric, I actually thought the references to Greek philosophy were interesting. While the novel is hardly Socratic philosophy itself, its awareness of the ethical issues surrounding the law and their eventual reprecussions to those who practice the law are well illustrated. I think the author is clearly a cut deeper than Grisham in the legal thriller department, though I think Turow's Sins of the Fathers is a richer book on the whole.The real problem with The Defense is that the ending really is obvious to anyone who watches much television (or reads many mystery novels) and is looking for the ending with any effort. I sensed attempts by the author to try and take the weakness into account, and I found myself increasingly frustrated with the fact that I KNEW the ending would not surprise me. I don't want to suggest people shouldn't read it - I think Buffa has a good future ahead of him - but I do hope he works a bit more on plot construction.
Rating:
Summary: He Didn't Do It !
Review: Credulity. Look it up. It is a theme that runs through D.W. Buffa's first novel THE DEFENSE. That philosophical aspect may be the most important---or the only important part of this book. The story itself---as a story---lacks credulity. Joe Antonelli is the most successful defense attorney in the history of Portland, Oregon. He never loses. That is because he understands the law, and does not attempt to serve justice. He has lots of colleagues that agree with this approach---even his mentor Judge Leopold Rifkin who mouths the virtues of justice but does little to see it prevail. Despite an interesting narrative style and unusual ability to segue through chunks of time, Buffa's plot is easily anticipated. THE DEFENSE would normally be an interesting acceptable page turner. But its opening hoped for "promise" is diminished by a formula resolution. An enigmatic conclusion would have been better---leaving the reader with gnawing ananswered questions.
Rating:
Summary: Close, but no cigar.
Review: D. W. Buffa, The Defense (Henry Holt, 1997) It's hard to figure out which side of me is going to win the battle over how to review this book. One side of me wants to harp on the slowest beginning in history. The other side of me wants to harp on the fact that once I got past those opening chapters, I ended up reading most of the rest of it in one long marathon. After reading the first two interminable chapters of this novel, I was sure that I was going to hate it. I'd give it the fifty page test, toss it in the box of books headed for greener pastures than my ever-messy book room, and give it a two-sentence review along the lines of the infamous one People magazine did for Black Sabbath's Live Evil album. But then I got to page fifty, and kept going. And going, and going and going... The narrator of the novel is Joseph Antonelli, a cocky defense lawyer who's unused to losing cases. An old friend, Judge Leopold Rifkin, asks him to take on what looks like an unwinnable case, a lowlife accused of molesting his stepdaughter. About the only person who really believes he didn't do it is the defendant's wife, and she's the essence of the unreliable witness. How to get out of this mess? From there, the book goes in a number of interesting directions. Unlike most trial-type novels, The Defense doesn't stick with just this one trial, but goes on into the further ramifications of it, years down the road, keeping the main players entwined with the family. Buffa also thumbs his nose at the detective/trial genre in the most wonderful of ways (but I can't go into detail without revealing a major plot twist). Once you're out into uncharted territory, Buffa has you at his mercy. He messes with all the conventions of trial novels in the past thirty years, and he does it very well. Would have gotten a higher rating without those painful first chapters, but it's still a fine read if you can get past them. ***
Rating: 
Summary: Suspense of the highest order
Review: Do you like a mental challenge, do you like sharp and witty dialogue, if so then you are really gonna like this book. I guessed some of the plot but a lot was a surprise to me and as an avid mystery reader it was a pleasant surprise. At first you think you can't stomach the behavior of some of the characters, especially some of the child abuse, but with the twists and turns you find yourself suspecting, feeling sorry for or hating all the characters. You know enough to care about and to understand the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Suspense of the highest order
Review: Do you like a mental challenge, do you like sharp and witty dialogue, if so then you are really gonna like this book. I guessed some of the plot but a lot was a surprise to me and as an avid mystery reader it was a pleasant surprise. At first you think you can't stomach the behavior of some of the characters, especially some of the child abuse, but with the twists and turns you find yourself suspecting, feeling sorry for or hating all the characters. You know enough to care about and to understand the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Enjoyed this immensely. Good, quick read with interesting plot and characters. Did not expect the ending to be what it was - and that's a positive.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but predictable....
Review: Full steam ahead is how I would characterize the beginning of this book. The characters were well thought out and presented to the reader. But and this is a big but... as the book goes on you get the sense that the author was just trying to hurry through the bits with which he had problems. He doesn't do a very good job of covering the elapsed time between events. He also throws in so much irrelevant nonsense you wonder if he didn't change his mind in mid sentence and decide to go on a different track. As far as the who done it aspect I was suspicious around half way through and definite at the three quarter mark. So much for the big finale. So while I had no trouble reading the book while riding the train to and from work I definitely would have put it down had I been able to read continuously for any period of time, it just wouldn't hold my interest. Now after having said that I did find that D. W. Buffa has a fairly crisp writing style which is easy on the mind.
Rating:
Summary: Good book. Look forward to future novels.
Review: Great read; couldn't put it down. However, was slightly disappointed when killer's identity became too obvious toward end of book; it muted what would have been a sensational ending.
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