Rating: 
Summary: Engaging who dunnit that'll keep you guessing
Review: I picked this up in paperback at an airport. I have not read Freedman before and wasn't familiar with the book - it just caught my eye and I had some time to kill.Freedman's strength is a complex plot line that will likely reveal a few surprises in the final pages. He gives the narrator (former prosecutor Luke Garrison) a great back story - which makes it easier to get absorbed in the book. You won't always agree with the decisions Garrison makes, but you'll probably appreciate the dilemma that forced the decision. The moral angles in the story were sometimes overplayed, but in all I felt that it added a dimension to the story that over novelists frequently omit. There are times when you feel Garrison (the narrator) is looking to the reader for approval; once or twice is OK... but after a half dozen similar pleas, it gets old. Freedman does sacrifice his secondary characters - they are little more than caricatures to move the story along. But in Luke, Nora, Riva, the sherriff, and Louise you get characters who have more at stake than is often apparent. I enjoyed the story, and it certainly passed the time. I'm eager to pick up The Disappearance based on other reviews here... I would certainly recommend Above the Law as an entertaining thriller that will keep you guessing up to the final chapter.
Rating:
Summary: selfish reasoning to make a wrong into a right
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I will have to read more by this author. In the beginning there is a small story, that, while interesting, wasn't necessary to the main story. The DEA has staked out a compound used by drug dealers in a remote area of the state in an effort to catch the leader of the drug dealers. Information from a snitch within the group has it that a big deal is coming down and the leader, who they have been trying to catch for years, will be present. Something goes wrong and the leader, who they do catch, escapes and then is found dead, shot by an unknown assailant. Luke has been called in by the local DA to investigate and prosecute the culprit. The local DA, Nora, is an old college friend from years ago. The DEA gave the sheriff short notice about what was going on and his nose got bent out of shape as a result of being put on the sidelines. There are numerous twists and turns to the story that will keep you wondering who dunnit until the end. I highly recommend the book. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: selfish reasoning to make a wrong into a right
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I will have to read more by this author. In the beginning there is a small story, that, while interesting, wasn't necessary to the main story. The DEA has staked out a compound used by drug dealers in a remote area of the state in an effort to catch the leader of the drug dealers. Information from a snitch within the group has it that a big deal is coming down and the leader, who they have been trying to catch for years, will be present. Something goes wrong and the leader, who they do catch, escapes and then is found dead, shot by an unknown assailant. Luke has been called in by the local DA to investigate and prosecute the culprit. The local DA, Nora, is an old college friend from years ago. The DEA gave the sheriff short notice about what was going on and his nose got bent out of shape as a result of being put on the sidelines. There are numerous twists and turns to the story that will keep you wondering who dunnit until the end. I highly recommend the book. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: good courtroom drama
Review: If you like courtroom dramas, you'll love this book.
The only irritating thing about reading this novel was all of the glaring typos. It's amazing that it was published in such a state! Nonetheless, I enjoyed the storyline and stayed up late into the night to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing ...but poor plot
Review: In many novels now J.F.Freedman has demonstrated what a great writer he is. Particularly the Dissappearance, introducing us to Luke Garrisson, was an "edge of the seat" one. The great writing continues in this book. The first thirty odd pages about the hostage situation are captivating and seem to lead into a very good novel again...only it isn't. These pages bear no relation to the further plot other than to establish that Luke is a hero. That could have been done a whole lot quicker and without wetting the appetite with some very interesting characters. Unfortunately, this weakness continues in the rest of the book. A "situation" with a FBI action against drug smugglers ends totally wrong. DA Nora Ray and her sheriff friend invite Luke to come help prosecute the FBI agents involved. This leads to a very different situation for Luke, professionally as well as privately, but he solves it neat ly in the end. The telling of this story is excellent with very good development of the characters and interesting dialogue. What a pity the plot is so flawed..otherwise it would have been a real good read.
Rating: 
Summary: A spirited, involving, theatre-of-the-mind story.
Review: J.F. Freedman's Above The Law is a spirited story with vegetarian narrator Dick Hill providing the involving tale of a drug enforcement administration's investigation of a killing.
Rating: 
Summary: This book has many flaws
Review: My wife got me this book for Christmas so of course I read the entire thing. Freedman is obviously a good writer but this was a pretty bad novel. Luke Garrison is a prosecutor assigned to try a case of a botched DEA raid in remote Muir County, CA. He tries the lead DEA agent for a murder and the plot goes from there. Here are the problems I had with this novel. First, it is about twice as long as it should be. Skip the opening 30 pages. They are like a short story that adds nothing. Second, Garrison and his investigators interview all the witnesses, talk about what they interviewed about, question the witnesses in court, then talk about it some more. All of the facts are repeated several times. Also, Freedman seems to be slightly out of touch with reality. His character names are sometimes silly, (nora, riva, a child named bucky, an Indian nanny named Joan.) Also, who would hire a nanny in the remote Muir county when they didn't have one in busy L.A. Someone who needed to move the plot forward I guess. If you are a fan of this author, then maybe you've learned to live with the lack of quality of some of Freedman's novels. But I'll stop with this one.
Rating:
Summary: This book has many flaws
Review: My wife got me this book for Christmas so of course I read the entire thing. Freedman is obviously a good writer but this was a pretty bad novel. Luke Garrison is a prosecutor assigned to try a case of a botched DEA raid in remote Muir County, CA. He tries the lead DEA agent for a murder and the plot goes from there. Here are the problems I had with this novel. First, it is about twice as long as it should be. Skip the opening 30 pages. They are like a short story that adds nothing. Second, Garrison and his investigators interview all the witnesses, talk about what they interviewed about, question the witnesses in court, then talk about it some more. All of the facts are repeated several times. Also, Freedman seems to be slightly out of touch with reality. His character names are sometimes silly, (nora, riva, a child named bucky, an Indian nanny named Joan.) Also, who would hire a nanny in the remote Muir county when they didn't have one in busy L.A. Someone who needed to move the plot forward I guess. If you are a fan of this author, then maybe you've learned to live with the lack of quality of some of Freedman's novels. But I'll stop with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Spare me another audience-driven story
Review: Our hero goes for vintage motorcycles and "Coltrane." He's happily married but has cool-lookin' babes around him. And of course, he's always on the side of the angels. If you're gonna pander, you could at least try to rip off Michael Connelly instead of producing this paint-by-numbers stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre plot, OK characters, std liberal ideology
Review: Overall pretty mediocre. You must believe a lot of nonsense to get through this book without throwing it down: 1) guy is killed and death ruled a suicide in the face of the simplest clue 2) Lady DA is dirty 3) She thinks the DEA will eventually solve a crime through sheer persistence (completely laughable) and so hires a friend who she knows is real smart to pursue the case, etc. Writing is about 2 steps above poor.
| 
