Rating: 
Summary: My, my, my.
Review: Firstly, let me say that I am not a big mystery fan. I can usually figure it out by the 30th page if not sooner. Secondly, this book had me in a grip mystery books seldom put on me. The story was incredibly complex. If you're in the middle of reading it, don't put it aside for too long. You'll never be able to remember or figure out what's going on. What I did like about the book was that everything and everyone involved in the tale was right in front of you at all times. The author was thorough, detailed, descriptive, and intelligent. Mr. Carter didn't make the mistakes a lot of mystery writers make by introducing characters at the middle of the story and then expect the reader to form some kind of attachment or opinion and follow them to the build-up. You never see it coming. Everyone pertinent to this thriller was seen from start to finish which is what makes the guessing and speculating so much fun. In a word, that's what this book is; a lot of fun. To say that it was lengthy is an understatement, but give it a whirl. You'll never forget it. Good story. Absolutely enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: An intellectual and literary legal thriller
Review: Talcott Garland, a lonely law professor, looks into the 'natural causes' death of his father when it becomes clear that his dad has left explicit instructions in the event of an untimely demise. The rest of the book follows Talcott (Tal) as he chases down cryptic clues, some of which are based on chess strategy. Side plots involve Tal's disintegrating marriage, FBI followers, sexual and racial politics, and death threats.
Who could ask for more?
Rating: 
Summary: A thriller with depth and structure
Review: This book is a thriller which grips you to the last page. The essence of a good thriller is of course not the plot. You need a good plot of course a thriller with a dud plot is something simply to be thrown away. However plots can only be so interesting. A good thriller is something which contains either atmosphere, interesting characters or some insight into something new. This book is good as it has all three. The hero of the book is a black American who works as an academic. His father is a Judge who withdrew from a Senate hearing into his suitability to be a Supreme Court Justice. A sort of Clarence Thomas figure but whose dark side was somewhat different. The book is a portrait of what it is like to be a middle class black in America. Throughout there is a conciousness of being one of the dark nation. The plot is about the search for some missing arrangments left by the Judge. The hero of the novel does not even know what these arrangments are but people begin to die. The search for the arrangments becomes a search also for understanding the true nature of his father. It is a bit like John Grishams book the Summons but far better. (And Grishams book was pretty good) Although the book is long it was one that was hard to put down. A joy to read and the plot keeps surprises coming to the end.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: since i have 1 year twins, i have little time to write. this guy is so smart and so interesting. cynical yes, but on the money. was a little farfetched but so interesting along the way - dense and meaningful. wish he had more books to read (i escape in fiction now). if anyone has a suggestion for a book of this style, density, pls. let me know.
Rating: 
Summary: Lose the Thriller, Keep the Rest
Review: First, let me say that I think Stephen Carter is a very fine writer and a man of ideas -- big, good ideas. It was a fine treat to read his perfect, jargon- and cliche-free prose. But a thriller writer he ain't. Take away the creaky crime-tale elements of this book, and you have a fine novel of the American black upper crust, law school politics, religion in a world that scorns piety, and a timely indictment of our judicial appointments system. It's too bad Carter apparently felt that wasn't enough. Onto his elegant meditations he grafted a creaky mystery using chess as a key, among other hoary plot devices. The denouement is almost painful to read. And the wife, Kimmer -- did anyone who read this book believe that the thoughful narrator could really love this shrieking yuppie harridan? And why no earth would she have been in the running for any judicial appointment, let alone a spot on the US Court of Appeals? That said, I'm buying some of Carter's non-fiction writing right away, because I'm excited by his perspective on some of the real issues in the book: our destructive confirmation system and the dilemmas facing faithful people as we try to remain engaged in worldly matters.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad.
Review: I agree with the other reviews here that the length is painful, but my biggest problem with this book is that the protagonist is so hard to like. Dull. Plodding. Humorless. Charmless. Is he severely depressed? However, since it is also impossible to dislike him, the thing holds together. And it is easy to sympathize with him as he sorts through the formidable mess his father left him. The complexity of the second half is worth the wait. I also don't see this as a legal thriller as much as a basic mystery with a strong legal back drop.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Implausable
Review: Interesting but tiring.The author uses way too many pages to tell an implausable story of corrupt judges and a host of characters with very little to recommend them but driving ambition.By the time one finally ties everything together it has taken so long to unravel one hardly cares anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Notes From a Pale Reader
Review: Author Carter keeps his characters divided into two columns, those of the paler nation and those of the darker nation. Every entering actor is correctly identified as to which nation he or she belongs to, and then the story goes on. I was a bit bemused by this approach to character identification in fiction, but, what the heck, Stephen Carter is a good story teller. He writes intelligently and you quickly get comfortable as he meanders along in his tale of Talcott Garland, a man whose father, a prominent judge, has just died. Talcott's sister thinks dad was murdered. Everyone else makes light of this view, and indeed one doubts throughout the book that Oliver Garland was the victim of foul play. There was a shady friend in Judge Garland's life, however, that hovers in the background of all that takes place. What role did he play in the judge's life, and in his death? Son Talcott, a university law professor, finds himself dragged into his sister's hysteria after a variety of strange events take place. Villains start creeping out of various holes right from the beginning. In fact a separate score card is almost needed in order to keep track of them all. It's a good story, and Stephen Carter is a new author that I hope to see more of. He is an extremely literate writer, and generally enjoyable to read. Note that I said "generally" enjoyable. As I said before, the story meanders. Sometimes it wanders too much. Talcott has a young son whom he dearly loves. In fact the author tells you over and over that Talcott loves his son. Pages are spent on taking the lad hither and thither, to playgrounds, to ice cream shops, to just about anyplace that will use up some of the reader's time. And from time to time we wander down other trails, some interesting, some not. There is a key character in the story who intrigues our interest, and who at one point vanishes with no authorial explanation, and believe me one is really needed. You also meet almost every law professor on the university's faculty, and it certainly seems to be a big department. Their lives, problems, and internecine wrangling also spread out through the book, and at times leave you a bit confused. Well, better to have read this loose and shaggy book, than not to have read it at all, I say. One word of advice to author Carter. Set yourself a 400 page limit for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Edit, cut, cut, cut
Review: This book needed a better editor - it was far too long. Thrillers this length need strong characters and a solid plot. The plot was re-cycled and the characters insipid and uninspiring. All in all a dark book with a hopeless ending. You have the cardboard cut-out children - the journalist daughter, the academic younger son and the political operative older son. How does this diverge from other portrayals of black professionals in the general media? Talcott the protagonist is a frustrating as protagonists get - overly introspective and boring and despite protests, is a man who seems to enjoy being a passive victim.. The only time his staid life gets remotely interesting is when he is pushed into action by his late father to find the truth behind the circumstances surrounding his death. The real Talcott is the man you see with his wife: crippled by religion and unwilling to accept the reality that his marriage has no hope in hell of surviving. His wife herself is some pariah that has no respect or consideration for anyone other than herself and her ambitions. The author does not seem to want us to like any of the other siblings; with such negative characterisation, one wonders whether the aim is to see who we can dislike the most. Being a black novel does not make this book interesting, being a good black novel would have made it interesting. This book does not stand above any of the other dross in the genre, and worse, seems to regurgitate the same issues that are found in the average movie or magazine article with the topic of the middle class professional black person in America: slavery, skin tone, marriage to white people, the role of the mother in the family, Black conservatism, an inability by black males to commit to relationships. The one saving grace was that it did not talk about the projects or issues related to it. This book does not bring anything new to the table and that is disappointing given the good reviews the book received. If it was touted as being the average legal thriller then, yes it is the average legal thriller. But I suggest the author take a cue from Grisham and cut his novels to some 350-400 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Now that's entertainment
Review: What a well written effort. I found myself running for the dictionary, as I read this wonderfully entertaining novel. Can one really call this search for one's father a murder mystery, hard to say. This book pleased me on so many levels. It was so well written that it was just a joy to read. The story it self, told from the perspective of an upper class, frightfully intelligent, and self effacing black man is a facet of society that I as a white Manhattenite have never even glimpsed at. I felt as though I was being taken into another neighborhood in which every one was interesting, flawed, brillant and absolutely real. I was sorry when I turned the last page. As a reader it was sad to get to the end of such a well wrought tale.
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