The Mercy Rule

Rating:
Summary: Thumbs down for Dismas this time around...
Review: "The Mercy Rule". Although I am an avid fan ofLescroart novels and especially so of the Dismas Hardy character, Ifelt this book let me down somewhat. Slow courtroom drama, and a lot of surrounding "fluff" for a lack of a better word. Still not a bad read (since I just finished reading one of the worst books ever prior to this one), but still not the exciting page turner that I was expecting from this author. Hope the next one doesn't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I undertsand that I have read only 3 of this author's books and I do like his writing. This book has everything in it.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful and engrossing legal thriller
Review: Lescroart is not an author I recommend to people seeking an easy,lightweight and disposable read.His San Francisco set legal tales tend to be quite complex,and multi-layered with an emphasis on issues and characterization as well as plot.
The Mercy Rule is no exception to the pattern.Its centre piece is the trial of Graham Russo,lawyer turned wanna be baseball player,who is accused of killing Salvatore ,his father and stealing his money and vintage baseball card collection.Salvatore was terminally ill with an inoperable brain tumour as well as in the grip of Alzheimer's.Some -including liberal SF District Attorney,Sharon Pratt,see it as a mercy killing-assissted suicide-and refuse to proseecute.The State of Califirnia takes a different view and put Graham on trial.
His defence is entrusted to Lescroart regular character,Dismas Hardy.The trial ,crisply and dranatically presented,is compelling reading but occupies only around 30%of the book and the verdict is delivered with around 60 pages of the book left.The coda sees Hardy digging into events leading up to Salvatore,s death
The build up to the trial is fascinating with the whole issue of assisted suicide and the conflicting views it gives rise to dealy with fairly and impartially.The investigation is complicated by the developinhg relationship between Graham and the homicide detective Sarah Lee who has been assigned to the case and we identify with Dismas Hardy in his desire to be a defence attorney when the main source of income is in borin but financially rewarding corporate law issues

The downside to the Lescroart method is a certain leisureliness of pace and the book ,nearer 500 than 400 pages,does have its longeurs but overall its rewarding and full of inside information on legal processes and political wheeling and dealing,something which seems to be an inevitable part of the legal process in America

Rating:
Summary: OPENING A LESCROAT BOOK IS LIKE MEETING OLD FRIENDS
Review: Lescroat has that ability to make his primary characters believeable and earthy. In the "Dismas" books one feels like they are returning to old friends who have encountered some problems along the way. The only problem is that Dismas always seems to get involved in MURDER! And when that happens you can rest assured that Dismas looks under every stone until he finds the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"The Mercy Rule" was a great 'who dunnit' with quite a few possibilities on the list of suspects but the author holds us in suspense until the enth degree - as we rule out each suspect and turn the pages faster and faster to learn the identity of the true killer.

Even with murder, mystery and mayhem, Lescroat instills a sense of duty, family loyalty and love in his novels and he shows no exception with The Mercy Rule. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: OPENING A LESCROAT BOOK IS LIKE MEETING OLD FRIENDS
Review: Lescroat has that ability to make his primary characters believeable and earthy. In the "Dismas" books one feels like they are returning to old friends who have encountered some problems along the way. The only problem is that Dismas always seems to get involved in MURDER! And when that happens you can rest assured that Dismas looks under every stone until he finds the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"The Mercy Rule" was a great 'who dunnit' with quite a few possibilities on the list of suspects but the author holds us in suspense until the enth degree - as we rule out each suspect and turn the pages faster and faster to learn the identity of the true killer.

Even with murder, mystery and mayhem, Lescroat instills a sense of duty, family loyalty and love in his novels and he shows no exception with The Mercy Rule. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: Good mystery; good characters
Review: The good thing about a Lescroart mystery is not so much the mystery as the characters who intersect the mystery. Murder's the name but the players are the game. Here Lescroart touches on an emotionally charged issue, euthanasia or mercy killing. There's a nice analogy with the game of baseball, perhaps unintentional, which is that in the early levels of the game the adolescent players learn 'the slaughter rule,' allowing a team which has no chance of winning having fallen behind an insurmountable lead, to exit with some self respect intact.

Hence we have Sal Russo, years ago a bright guy married to his sweetheart, knowing all along she is from a different life, years later preparing to die alone, the target of an agonizing tumor complicated by the onset of alzeimers. He is reunited by his oldest son, Graham, who tried his own (and his father's) dream of playing in the big game, only to fall short. Sal dies under mysterious circumstances with a DNR (do not revive) warning in plain view.

That Graham is arrested, then released, then indicted for murder, reflects the indecision the politicians, their constituents and the police have on this painful topic. Do the terminally ill have control over the time that they cross the river, or do we let events rob them of their remaining dignity?

Dismas Hardy is again the reluctant guardian at the gate, not wanting murder as a crime he defends, all the while knowing it's where his true strength . . . and definition lies.

If there is an irritant, it is the tedious relationship he has with his wife, Frannie. So many alter egos of the novelist's heroes love their partner for what they do, yet make life difficult for them because they do it. Kudos as an aside to Lucy Chenier, Elvis Pike's lover, who got up and left.

But with that one comment, a multi-latered book for the reader who wants social issues, murder most foul, great complicated characters and unexpected twists. Not a fast read but a very good job.

Rating:
Summary: A Terrific and Utterly Enthralling Book
Review: This is my first by Lescroart, and I found it to be well-written and easy to follow. The book is based on the issue of assisted suicide, and whether or not Graham Russo helped his father kill himself. The medical examiner's official standing is that it is a homicide/suicide equivocal -- which means that it could be either, there is not way to tell, and no indicators to make him lean one way or the other. This book addresses one of the medical issues that is at the forefront of today's society, but it does it in a way that is subtle and not in your face. Throughout the book, Graham Russo maintains his innocence, thus sending Hardy on a search for the truth leading him to unearth a secret almost twenty years old.

Rating:
Summary: Boring? NOT
Review: This is my first(and possibly last) Lescroart book and though some of the characters are potentially interesting,I found it terribly hard going and started hurrying through it just to get finished.I don't buy the romance between the cop and the suspect anyway-she'd be bounced off any police force!