True Crime: The Novel

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: A friend of mine gave me this book as a recommended reading. I'm not usually a crime book reader, but I really liked this book. About 2/3rds of the way through, I still wasn't sure how it would end and stayed up until midnight to find out. I really hate to talk about the plot, but I liked how one person couldn't live with himself if he didn't at least try to help another person. That's it in a nutshell, a feel-good page turner. The only crime books I read are classic British ones or Joseph Wambaugh. True Crime was the very least a thrill. You could easily read this book in a day.

Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air
Review: Any avid reader knows that every so often a novel comes along that feels like a cool breeze on a hot and stale summer day. True Crime from Andrew Klavan is such a novel. It's a wonderful feeling to know that it's still possible to inject freshness into the well worn crime/thriller/mystery genre. Not only is this novel a great and believeable story, the author's prose and word-play seem so fresh and welcoming. An intelligent author indeed, whom knows how to stir your every emotion without relying on tired and manipulative tactics. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end and am happy to say that the author did not miss a single beat. My friends, this is an intense, moving and very rewarding novel that I would highly recommend to all crime/thriller fans, or anyone who is a fan of a well written story from an author who is in complete control of his craft. Simply, a stunning work.

Rating:
Summary: A wrenching death-watch thriller
Review: Klavan, known for well-written, gritty, edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers, takes these elements to literary heights with "True Crime."

The story is not new. With only 18 hours to go before a convicted murderer is scheduled to die, a newspaper reporter, narrator Steve Everett, finds reason to believe the man is innocent. His minute-by-minute account alternates with gut-wrenching death-watch scenes from the convict's cell.

Everett is yanked out of his editor's wife's bed for this assignment - by the editor himself, who already has plenty of reason to despise cocky, cynical, philandering Everett. This time Everett knows that even his old friend and boss, Alan Mann, who shares his view that "issues are what we make up to give us an excuse to run good stories" - even Mann can't save his job this time.

Everett needs a good story. But the "human interest" interview about the condemned man's "feelings" isn't it. Digging into the background, getting the details of the convenience store-clerk's murder, he uncovers some minor unanswered questions, which lead to more questions.

Juggling the vengeful editor and his own fed-up, straight-laced wife, who's sure to leave him once this latest infidelity is out, it dawns on Everett that proving Beachum innocent could be the single answer to all his immediate problems.

Meanwhile Beachum is saying his last farewells to his wife and daughter. A devout Christian, he is determined to act calm, resigned and unafraid. "But it did make him terribly lonely. To have her here, to hold her, to want to tell her everything that was in his heart - and to jolly her along like this instead."

The tension mounts, page by page. Everett's discoveries are tantalizingly inconclusive, every leap forward is confronted by an obstruction, a setback, a reasonable explanation. And the scenes in Beachum's stark cell grow more and more painful to endure as the man wrestles with his inner fears, the shattered hopes of a life, his anguish, impatience and dread.

Everett is not a nice guy. But the reader remains aware that this is his book, the powerful and disturbing insight of the Beachum chapters as well as the wise-cracking, cynical chase. And while we identify with Beachum's awful plight, we turn away from his unbearable pain, then turn the page to see what happens next.

Klavan has written a rivetting story which presents a devastating portrait of the real cruelties of capital punishment, not that it will change any minds.

Rating:
Summary: A wrenching death-watch thriller
Review: Klavan, known for well-written, gritty, edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers, takes these elements to literary heights with "True Crime."

The story is not new. With only 18 hours to go before a convicted murderer is scheduled to die, a newspaper reporter, narrator Steve Everett, finds reason to believe the man is innocent. His minute-by-minute account alternates with gut-wrenching death-watch scenes from the convict's cell.

Everett is yanked out of his editor's wife's bed for this assignment - by the editor himself, who already has plenty of reason to despise cocky, cynical, philandering Everett. This time Everett knows that even his old friend and boss, Alan Mann, who shares his view that "issues are what we make up to give us an excuse to run good stories" - even Mann can't save his job this time.

Everett needs a good story. But the "human interest" interview about the condemned man's "feelings" isn't it. Digging into the background, getting the details of the convenience store-clerk's murder, he uncovers some minor unanswered questions, which lead to more questions.

Juggling the vengeful editor and his own fed-up, straight-laced wife, who's sure to leave him once this latest infidelity is out, it dawns on Everett that proving Beachum innocent could be the single answer to all his immediate problems.

Meanwhile Beachum is saying his last farewells to his wife and daughter. A devout Christian, he is determined to act calm, resigned and unafraid. "But it did make him terribly lonely. To have her here, to hold her, to want to tell her everything that was in his heart - and to jolly her along like this instead."

The tension mounts, page by page. Everett's discoveries are tantalizingly inconclusive, every leap forward is confronted by an obstruction, a setback, a reasonable explanation. And the scenes in Beachum's stark cell grow more and more painful to endure as the man wrestles with his inner fears, the shattered hopes of a life, his anguish, impatience and dread.

Everett is not a nice guy. But the reader remains aware that this is his book, the powerful and disturbing insight of the Beachum chapters as well as the wise-cracking, cynical chase. And while we identify with Beachum's awful plight, we turn away from his unbearable pain, then turn the page to see what happens next.

Klavan has written a rivetting story which presents a devastating portrait of the real cruelties of capital punishment, not that it will change any minds.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: The story is about a comdemned black man who is in death row and going to be executed for a crime he apparently did not commit. A journalist from a local newspaper wants to help him out and prove that he is innocent, will he find the evidence before this man is executed ?

The plot is terrific, the nail biting tension type mixed with quick action packed suspense. Once I started the book, I could not put it down. The story is so masterly written that I could not forget it so I decided to include it in my listmania.

Rating:
Summary: I WAS ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT!
Review: This is one of those rare novels where you don't know whether to like or hate the main character. Talk about self-destructive! I've always believed interesting characters is the most important key to hooking a reader to a story. And it ain't a bad story either! A reporter is assigned to cover the story of a prisoner condemned to die that day. If I say more, I'll ruin it for you. Just read it.

Rating:
Summary: Half a great read!
Review: When Klavan is writing from the point-of-view of newspaper man, Steve Everett, this book rocks...it would have ranked a ten if Everett's was the book's only POV. It's when the other voices kick in -- Frank Beachum, his wife, the warden, etc. -- that the novel crashes and burns, as if Everett himself were driving his beloved Tempo into a brick wall. A big disappointment.