Guilt

Rating:
Summary: PRAISE FOR JOHN LESCROART AND GUILT
Review: "...robust and intellingent entertainment." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A great thriller: breakneck pacing, electrifying courtroom scenes and a cast of richly crafted characters." -- People

"Begin [GUILT] over a weekend... if you start during the workweek, you will be up very very late, and your pleasure will be tainted with, well, guilt." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"This original, well-crafted page-turner is blockbuster material. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"A well-paced legal thriller... one of the best in this flourishing genre to come along in a while." -- The Washington Post Book World

"...a sharp, satisfying thriller." -- Booklist

"Best-selling author John Lescroart knows how to thrill readers and doesn't miss a beat in this explosive courtroom drama." -- Abilene Reporter-News

"Better watch your blood pressure as you read this one." -- The Anniston Star

"'Guilt' is a fascinating read...expertly written..." -- The Knoxville News-Sentinel

"This is high-class crime fiction..." -- London Sunday Telegraph

"...another page-turner with a plot loaded with suspense and well-drawn, believable characters." -- Abilene Reporter-News

"...GUILT will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to shattering end." -- Just Books

"John Lescroart is a gifted writer with a distinctive voice." -- Richard North Patterson, bestselling author of Degree of Guilt

"[DEAD IRISH is] a full-blooded, substantive and stylistic effort of the first order." -- Library Journal



Rating:
Summary: John Lescroart is GUILTY!
Review: ....of many faults in this book. I've read some of his priors without much enthusiasm, but due to his apparent popularity thought he might be worth another try. In GUILTY, Lescroart has a good plot with interesting characters, but somewhere around the middle you start to feel uneasy about how his supposedly intelligent cast speaks and acts. They are more like spoiled children, all lost in the miasma of their own self-image and their confusion about who they are, what they need to achieve, etc. It doesn't say if Mr. Lescroart is a lawyer, but in his courtroom his attorney acts like a Perry Mason at the same time he is proclaiming that in real life attorneys are not like Mason. He dissects and destroys his witnesses on cross, with alarming consistency. I do believe this book was written with the Simpson 'trial of the century' in mind, given the golf driving range and other similarities. Speaking of the driving range, one thing bugged me about the witness who did not see our hero there and who if believed would have brought doubt to the alibi. I kept expecting the witness to say he was a left-handed golfer which would have explained his clear view of the mat in question. It never was explained and so they might as well have edited that right out of the book; it was a non-issue. Regardless, by book's end I had the distinct impression Lescroart was more of a romance writer than straight fiction. All the pink moments were just too much for this reader. I don't think Lescroart is my kind of author.

Rating:
Summary: John Lescroart is GUILTY!
Review: ....of many faults in this book. I've read some of his priors without much enthusiasm, but due to his apparent popularity thought he might be worth another try. In GUILTY, Lescroart has a good plot with interesting characters, but somewhere around the middle you start to feel uneasy about how his supposedly intelligent cast speaks and acts. They are more like spoiled children, all lost in the miasma of their own self-image and their confusion about who they are, what they need to achieve, etc. It doesn't say if Mr. Lescroart is a lawyer, but in his courtroom his attorney acts like a Perry Mason at the same time he is proclaiming that in real life attorneys are not like Mason. He dissects and destroys his witnesses on cross, with alarming consistency. I do believe this book was written with the Simpson 'trial of the century' in mind, given the golf driving range and other similarities. Speaking of the driving range, one thing bugged me about the witness who did not see our hero there and who if believed would have brought doubt to the alibi. I kept expecting the witness to say he was a left-handed golfer which would have explained his clear view of the mat in question. It never was explained and so they might as well have edited that right out of the book; it was a non-issue. Regardless, by book's end I had the distinct impression Lescroart was more of a romance writer than straight fiction. All the pink moments were just too much for this reader. I don't think Lescroart is my kind of author.

Rating:
Summary: It just didn't work for me. . .
Review:

I read this book last night. While I found the plot compelling, I would have to do a lot more than just suspend all my belief systems to buy into the author's story of greed, amoral behavior and utter coldness.

Why didn't the author explore more of Dooher's dark side...like, at the funeral, nothing is discussed about the cause of the bitter estrangement between him and his children. Nothing was ever discussed about Mark's knowledge -- or lack thereof -- of Sheila's anti-depressant habit.

I was also puzzled as to Wes Farrell's absolute loyalty to his best friend. I have a wonderful best friend, but I don't turn a blind eye to her faults like Wes did to Mark's. It seems to me that the only person in Mark Dooher's circle of friends that couldn actually see his dark side was Sam and she had only known him a short time when she figured it all out.

I was disappointed in this book and am curious as to how so many others found it so wonderful. Oh, well.

Rating:
Summary: troubled souls
Review: a legal thriller, though it takes a long time for the central theme to kick in. compelling courtroom scenes, pacing is maintained though the writing style lacks tautness and rigor.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: A masterpiece. A page-turning, intelligent novel that focuses on the dark side of the human race without being depressing. A must-read.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing!
Review: Don't start reading this book while studying for midterms! It will keep you away from the books and up late at night. Great plot twists and surprises. I really enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: An absolutly fabulous legal thriller
Review: Fifty year old San Francisco attorney Mark Dooher lives the type of life that most people would only be able to dream of having. He is rich and wields power as the head of a large law firm. One of his clients is the city's Archdiocese which has good and bad points. It makes Mark an even more influential person because he has the support and backing of the Catholic Church, but it also does not allow him to divorce his one liability, an alcoholic spouse. ....... When Mark meets law student Christina Carrera, he decides he wants her. Whatever, Mark wants, Mark must have. However, this time the lawyer has a few problems standing in the way of his "desire". He manipulates his way into Christina's life and when his wife is found murdered allegedly during a bungled robbery, Mark can now grab onto his latest "desire". However, the police think Mark killed his wife to free himself from an obligation that was in the way of obtaining Christina. It is up to the legal system to decide if Mark is a cold blooded killer used to getting what he wants or just the surviving husband of an unlucky victim. Talk about paradigm shifts when it comes to legal thrillers! GUILT is a fabulous, action packed police and legal thriller, but has a freshness rarely seen in the genre, perhaps because it is written by a non-lawyer. John Lescroart is one of the top three in the sub-genre and his latest novel, GUILT, will leave no one guilty by reading it. Mark is an incredible character (watch how good he is at getting his wants - brilliantly written). This is clearly one of the best novels of the year. ......Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Read "Guilt " before you read "A Certain Justice"
Review: Great book but I had read " A Certain Justice" by the same author and in it Wes Farrell tells us all about Mark Dooher and what actually happened. I wish I had known it and read "Guilt" first.

Rating:
Summary: A Good and Entertaining Book
Review: Guilt is a book that will not let you sleep. You want to find out what happens next constantly and it is on your mind until your next chance to read. The book does a good job setting up the characters to make them realistic. There are just enough characters to where it is not overwhelming. Mark Dooher is a manipulative type of person while his companion Christine Carerra is the innocent leading lady whose love and loyalty to Dooher declines as the book concludes. The one thing I didn't like was that the end the book didn't end on a shocking note like I expected it to. Overall, it was a good and entertaining book.