The Defense

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: 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 legal thriller
Review: I agree with all of the positive comments of the reviewers below. The book is fast, interesting, the ending is predictable only if you predict 4 or 5 different endings. The only missing thing is that "sparkle" that makes the difference in reading a Grisham book, or maybe a Connelly book. So, the result is like someone wrote a book for Grisham, without having his personality, his captivating way to give real life to a story. This is a very good story, only told in a too flat way to be among the best.

Rating:
Summary: HIDDEN IN THE LIBRARY
Review: I found it by chance at the back of a dusty shelf in my village library. Hadnt been read for a long time.

It was surprisingly well written: a clear, uncomplicated and crisp style. It told the story in an economical way which but a little wooden. One reviewer compared it unfavourably to a John Grisham, but it was BETTER than that! This had a lot of interesting twists and turns which were too far fetched, but hey...it's only a story.

I did enjoy the cod philosophy and it set me thinking about the issues.

The characters were well rounded and beleivable.

The ending came too suddenly and because of this it lost its effect.

Overall...I would recomend the book.

Rating:
Summary: you'll never Guess the ending
Review: I RATE THIS BOOK AMONG THE BEST I'VE READ AND IT IS NOT PREDICTABLE. THIS BOOK WAS GOOD FROM BEGINNING TO END. I READ THIS BOOK TWICE IN THE SAME YEAR, AND WAS NOT BORED EITHER TIME. IT QUESTIONS THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND THE MORAL THING TO DO AND SHOWS THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT CARING ENOUGH TO DO THE RIGHT AND MORAL THING. IF YOU LIKE SUSPENCE, YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos
Review: Joseph Antonelli is a great defense lawyer. According to him he has not lost any case where the defendant was innocent and he has won every case where the defendant was guilty. Judge Leopold Rifkin feels that Antonelli needs a lesson in humility so he gives him a pro bono case.

Johnny Morel is accused of raping his twelve-year-old daughter, Michelle. The prosecution's case is weak and the chief prosecution witness is the girl's drug-addicted mother. Joseph wins the case but everything here is far from over. Several years later, Johnny is found murdered and his wife is the chief suspect. Antonelli does not defend her and she winds up serving a prison term. After she is released from serving her sentence she is found shot dead in the home of Judge Leopold Rifkin.

Buffa does a great job with character development and he keeps the story line moving. The Morels have a deep connection to the judge and unbeknownst to Antonelli, he also shares a connection with the victim. As Buffa's first novel it is a great start. One can see why he was nominated for his last paperback, THE JUDGMENT, an even better work.

Rating:
Summary: There's MUCH better legal thrillers out there
Review: This is supposed to be a "deep" legal thriller due to all sorts of philosophy within. Rather than truly engaging the ideas of Socrates and others, however, they are almost thrown in at random to provide the illusion of an intellectual depth which is really not there. Otherwise a pretty standard, and admittedly enjoyable legal thriller, but I was expecting a lot more. Finally, the rather important plot twist at the end was a little too predictable and utterly implausible. If you want to think while reading courtroom tales, stick with Scott Turow.

Rating:
Summary: FOR THE DEFENSE -- JOE ANTONELLI
Review: This is the first book by D. W. Buffa, an Oregon defense attorney turned author. It reads so well for a first novel, that you just know that Buffa is going to be around for quite a while.

The best part of this book is the main character Joe Antonelli. Like Buffa, he's a defense attorney. One thing that separates him from most other defense attorneys, however, is the fact that he's never lost a case and he's proud of passing this information on to anyone interested. I usually find this lack of humility in characters to be less than endearing but, for some reason, I think it adds to Antonelli's overall makeup. As is usual with most legal thrillers, there are enough twists and turns to give you a stiff neck. Somehow though, Buffa keep you guessing.

This case involves a less than desirable subject matter as Joe defends Johnny Morel, who is accused of raping his 12 year old stepdaughter. He has agreed to represent Morel at the request of his mentor, Judge Leopold Rifkin. The events surrounding this case will cause disastrous ramifications years down the road for all involved. The saying "what goes around, comes around" is definitely evidenced in the end of the book. Unfortunately, some innocent people will be hurt, an attorney will be left disenchanted and the reader will anxiously await the return of Joe Antonelli in Buffa's sequel, The Prosecution.

I do recommend reading these books in order just to get a better idea of what really makes Antonelli tick -- a character greatly admired by this reader.