Rating: 
Summary: Good story, great characters
Review: "The Hearing" brings back police lieutenant Abe Glitsky and defense attorney Dismas Hardy as they attempt to find out who killed Elaine Wagner - a prominent lawyer whose secret was that she was Abe's daughter from a relationship ended long ago. As more facts about the case are uncovered, both Abe and Dismas begin to doubt that Hardy's client, a junkie arrested at the scene of the crime, was the killer. Glitsky and Hardy are both flawed but good men who maintain a friendship despite their divergent work and personal lives, and they were appealing companions during the couple of days it took to read this generally fast-paced book.This is the first of Lescroart's Dismas Hardy books I have read. Although it is part of a long-running series, "The Hearing" stands fairly well on its own - though some scenes seem to be included just to allow recurring characters a chance to make an appearance. If this book is typical of Lescroart, then it is clearly the characters, and not the storylines, that keep readers coming back. I found it hard to believe that Hardy's legal strategy really would have worked, and the central villain's actions didn't quite add up. I also found it strange that Elaine's tendency to have problematic relationships with older men is at least partially attributed to the secrecy about her paternity, yet Abe's blossoming relationship with a woman his daughter's age is presented as an unambiguously positive development. Maybe this will play out further in the next book? Lescroart has me interested enough to want to read it and find out.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: As a rule, I usually enjoy kicking back and reading a Lescroart book. they are often interesting, and keep you wondering what will happen next. In addition, it is always good to see what Glitsky is up to next and what is happening with him. He is a good character, almost a kind of anti-hero that is rare in this genre of literature.
With that said, in this case, I was happy to see more of Glitsky, not to mention Hardy, the enigmatic Freeman and the rest of the gang, but found the plot to be a bit too convoluted and contrived to really be believable. In the end, we aren't really shocked by who the killer is, and has happened in Lescroart's other mysteries. Sure, we wonder about the details, but I don't want to read over 400 pages just for that.
I would say to read most of Lescroart's other books to get a taste of what he can do rather than read this one. He can do much better.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting thriller
Review: High-ranking police officers often receive calls to come to a crime scene in the middle of the night as just happened to San Francisco's Lieutenant Abraham Glitsky. Someone killed attorney Elaine Wager, a candidate for a judgeship, but this trip is personal as Elaine is Abraham's illegitimate daughter, a fact she never knew. He informs his staff that he expects them to "sweat" a confession from Cole Burgess, a two-bit junkie. They succeed and book Cole for first-degree murder. Cole's sister hires Dismas Hardy to at least obtain drug treatment so he does not linger in a cell going cold turkey. He agrees to handle that, but nothing more until the ambitious DA decides to use Cole to further her political ambitions by seeking the death penalty. Dismas takes on the role of defense attorney because he begins to have doubts that Cole is the killer. THE HEARING is one of the year's best legal thrillers as it entertains and shocks in a believable manner. John Lescroart masterly creates characters that are hard on the outside, but contain a soft spot inside their gut. The well-designed story line uses the motivations of the cast to propel the action forward, especially the humorous duels between Dismas and Glitsky. A great storyteller tells quite a story. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I picked this book up in a library wondering what it has to offer. It looked quite interesting and didn't disappoint me. The first pages made me want to read the whole book, the faster the better. The author really keeps you guessing until the end, the story is very human and quite believable. The best about this book are the characters, I want to read other books of John Lescroart because of them. 'The Hearing' is an easy read, a great introduction into the world of the law and at the same time an emotional book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: DISMAS AND ABE - TOUGH GUYS WITH HEARTS
Review: I want to personally thank the author for he Dismas Harding series. I love nothing more than repeat characters in a good novel. And, with Lescroart's Dismas novels each character grows in strength, sincerity and family unity and develops self-identity. The reader enjoys the relationship of family and friends. Lescroart takes us into the homes and everyday lives of his characters and creates an atmosphere of warmth, love, unity, commitment and spirituality (Abe, his father, and children) while endowing his characters with a sense of humor. The relationship between Dismas and Abe (two tough guys) is really tender and caring.
The crux of a Lescroart Dismas Harding Series is, of course The Law; the way it should be but always isn't; but in the end, justice does prevail. He brings realism to a trial portrayal so lacking in other novels. He emphasis Dismas' frustration as a lawyer who is limited by courtroom procedure and yet gives Dismas the legal (and sometimes not so legal) tools to present his compelling evidence.
It also appears from reading this series that Mr. Lescroart has a respect for not only lawyers, but for the working staff in a law office such as the paralegals, clerks, etc. I like that in his novels.
Am I a fan of Lescroart? Of course and I can't wait to read The Oath.
Thank you Mr. Lescroart for a great series - don't ever stop giving me the pleasure of reading about my favorite characters.
Rating:
Summary: DISMAS AND ABE - TOUGH GUYS WITH HEARTS
Review: I want to personally thank the author for he Dismas Harding series. I love nothing more than repeat characters in a good novel. And, with Lescroart's Dismas novels each character grows in strength, sincerity and family unity and develops self-identity. The reader enjoys the relationship of family and friends. Lescroart takes us into the homes and everyday lives of his characters and creates an atmosphere of warmth, love, unity, commitment and spirituality (Abe, his father, and children) while endowing his characters with a sense of humor. The relationship between Dismas and Abe (two tough guys) is really tender and caring.
The crux of a Lescroart Dismas Harding Series is, of course The Law; the way it should be but always isn't; but in the end, justice does prevail. He brings realism to a trial portrayal so lacking in other novels. He emphasis Dismas' frustration as a lawyer who is limited by courtroom procedure and yet gives Dismas the legal (and sometimes not so legal) tools to present his compelling evidence.
It also appears from reading this series that Mr. Lescroart has a respect for not only lawyers, but for the working staff in a law office such as the paralegals, clerks, etc. I like that in his novels.
Am I a fan of Lescroart? Of course and I can't wait to read The Oath.
Thank you Mr. Lescroart for a great series - don't ever stop giving me the pleasure of reading about my favorite characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Praise from a first time Lescroart reader
Review: In the legal thriller/police procedural, Lescroart weaves an intriguing story with likable, believable, well-drawn characters. This is one of the Dismas Hardy series (I will go back and read the others) featuring Hardy as a low rent but hard working attorney and Abe Glitsky as a police homocide lieutenant with a very personal interest in the murder of up-and-coming attorney Elaine Wager. When the sister of a drug addict, charged with Wager's murder, asks for help, Hardy reluctantly assists. But when the DA asks for the death penalty in an apparent alcohol/drug induced murder, Hardy smells a rat. Actually there are lots of rats in the operation of the San Francisco police department/DA's office, making Hardy's job quite a bit harder to sort through. What is not hard though, is to really like these characters. Hardy and Glitzky are best friends, a truly odd couple. When Glitzky has a heart attack and is suffering with regret for not having contacted his daughter, Hardy is there for him. Also engaging is Elaine's paralegal who turns up helpful clues as well as the villains in the case--I wont spoil it for you by telling who they are. If you like the early Grisham legal thrillers and police procedurals this book is for you. A word of warning: it gets off to a slow start and at 560 pages is best saved for the beach, weekend away or a very long flight.
Rating:
Summary: Murder in the family
Review: Lescroart's character-driven legal thriller, "The Hearing," again features San Francisco's moody African-American/Jewish homicide detective Abe Glitsky and his good friend, defense attorney Dismas Hardy. The story opens with a midnight call to Glitsky reporting the murder of a young assistant DA, Elaine Wager, the victim of an apparent mugging. A suspect, a homeless heroin-addict, was caught in the act of robbing the body, gun in hand. But for Gltizky it's no ordinary case.
Wager was his daughter, though he only discovered the fact a couple years before and hadn't acknowledged himself to Elaine, for vague, unsatisfactory reasons which haunt him throughout the novel.
Glitzky takes out his anger and grief on Cole Burgess, the pathetic murder suspect, extracting a confession, and the DA, New-Age liberal Sharon Pratt, decides to make Burgess the cornerstone of her re-election bid, going for the death penalty. Pratt trumpets her case to the press: Burgess, a homeless white man, kills a prominent, African-American community figure in the course of a robbery.
But Glitzky is having second thoughts. And his friend Hardy has accepted the defense, albeit reluctantly.
The story pits political maneuvering, within the police department and the DA's office, against the demands of justice as Glitzky is suspended for giving the interrogation tape to Hardy and Pratt strives to try the case in the newspapers before going to court.
Lescroart spins a complex web of ambition, greed, posturing and venality around the suspense of investigation, courtroom drama, and conspiracy, while also involving the reader in large human emotions and issues of character.
Pratt is a bit shrill and annoying but Glitzky's dogged honesty and his struggle to understand himself and his grief more than compensate. Lescroart has another well-written winner.
Rating:
Summary: A Return to the Old Style
Review: This is my first Lescroart book. An enjoyable read, the characters are developed well and I didn't have any problem learning the background of the main characters, despite not having read anything else in the series. But, speaking of character, for a while, it seemed like a new one was introduced every 5 pages for the first 200 pages. At times, I had to pause to recall who someone was. Not in and of itself bad, just tedious at times. Like another reviewer, I flinched at some factual things. "Dress out"? Another that caught my eye was when Cole recalls his friend, Steve, from his early years and Cole flashes back to when he last saw Steve - at a frat party at Notre Dame. Now I went to Notre Dame. There are no frats there, no greek system at all. Then Cole brought cocaine with him to the party and some girl indulged. At Notre Dame? Catholic Disneyland? Please! You get dirty looks if you smoke a cigarette there. A small nitpick but it clearly showed the author only paid attention to certain facts, not others. It's a decent read but Lord, it's longer than it needs to be. I could hardly believe it when Lescroart desribed the preliminary hearing in such detail. If the ordinary way to tell a story is to say, "I called Shelly," Lescroart will tell it like this, "I picked up the telephone. I pressed out the number on the keypad with the tip of my index finger, on my right hand. I had the receiver to my ear. I heard the phone ring. It rang again. Then again. Finally, Shelly answered." Sometimes, it is borderline painful. The problem is that Lescroart does a good enough job with characters that you still want to know what happened and so you brave the tedium. I don't think it's a "page turner" per se. It's interesting and decently written. I think most readers would enjoy it, I just had some nit picks.
Rating:
Summary: Not very exciting
Review: This is the first novel by this author I have read. The story was okay, the presentation was a little lame. I like a little more action and excitment in my stories. It's not that the plot was weak or the story was poorly told, it just lacked life. When I get to the end of a chapter I like the author to compel me to continue reading the next chapter. I found that lacking in this book. When i finished one chapter, I was neither curious nor excited to see what the next chapter would bring.
This book is basically about a man accused of murder, the people trying to prove his guilt and those trying to prove his innocence. The end of the book gets better and has a much quicker pace.
All in all, this is not a bad or competely boring book, it just doesn't grab you and keep you riveted. Don't expect your pulse to quicken or to suffer from sleep deprivation. I would, however be willing to give another of his novels a try.
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