Rating: 
Summary: Typical and tired...
Review: There is nothing fresh or particularly imaginative about this legal thriller. At it's best, it is a cookie-cutter novel, without any of the drama or suspense that the top authors in this genre (Grisham, Ellis, Lashner) weave so beautifully throughout their work. At it's worst, it relies on predictable plot twists that move this tepid novel along barely fast enough to keep the reader from putting it down for good. If you suffer from insomnia, then give this book a try. Otherwise, leave it aone.
Rating:
Summary: Typical and tired...
Review: There is nothing fresh or particularly imaginative about this legal thriller. At it's best, it is a cookie-cutter novel, without any of the drama or suspense that the top authors in this genre (Grisham, Ellis, Lashner) weave so beautifully throughout their work. At it's worst, it relies on predictable plot twists that move this tepid novel along barely fast enough to keep the reader from putting it down for good. If you suffer from insomnia, then give this book a try. Otherwise, leave it aone.
Rating: 
Summary: Vintage Margolin
Review: Title character Daniel Ames was abused and abandoned as a kid, is now a workaholic naive sad sack around whom Margolin builds his story. Manipulative associate Susan Webster sweet talks Danny into reviewing five boxes of discovery for the Geller Pharmaceutical deposition to begin at 8AM the next day. Their drug Insufort, prescribed for pregnant women is alleged to cause birth defects. When plaintiff's lawyer Aaron Flynn discovers a damning memo from Dr. Sergey Kaidanov in the files Danny reviewed, all hell breaks loose. Danny is fired by the hard-nosed Arthur Briggs of Reed, Briggs et. al., then called to meet him at an isolated cabin where Briggs is murdered and Danny is charged. Meanwhile ex-cop and current investigator Kate Ross teams up with Danny to discover the murder and torch job at a Geller research facility no one knew about. The body they thought was Kaidanov was actually a lawyer from Arizona. Kate goes to Desert Grove, AZ where used car king Martin Alvarez tells her a story of kidnappings and murders seven years earlier. This will all soon tie together. Kate brings in Amanda Jaffe from "Wild Justice" to defend Danny. She gets bail for him just before he's to be wiped out by the skinheads in his lockup. Kaidanov, who's escaped certain assassination twice so far, meets Danny in a graveyard and tells him the study was a phony. Oops, this time the sniper gets him. There are all kinds of head fakes about who's guilty of what. Despite Daniel the wimp and more killing than WW III, Margolin holds your interest with a symmetrical web that ties it all together. I liked it.
Rating: 
Summary: An Okay Thriller But Far From Margolin's Best!
Review: Typical of a book by Philip Margolin, The Associate is written in a style that makes the pages fly by, has an interesting plot and builds to a suspenseful conclusion. It's the type of book that is good for a plane trip or beach vacation. However, unlike most of Margolin's other books, The Associate lacks the intense courtroom drama, his characters are more superficial and the outcome was too predictable. Having read all of Margolin's other books, The Associate, while enjoyable and entertaining, is nowhere near the top of his works. If you, too, are a Margolin fan, I think, on a comparative basis, you might feel mildly disappointed but, overall, I think you'll consider The Associate to be a fun read. If you haven't read Margolin before, I'd very highly recommend Gone But Not Forgotten, Heartstone, The Last Innocent Man, After Dark and Wild Justice.
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