Rating: 
Summary: Most Entertaining
Review: I am someone who rarely reads fiction because if I'm not intrigued in the first few pages, then I'll never finish the book. I finished The Tenth Justice within a week. People who overanalyze everything are missing out on the fun in life. This book is exciting, entertaining and fun. If the rest of these critics would just appreciate that without worrying about tone and character development, they'd enjoy reading a lot more. This is not junior high composition class -- it's supposed to be fun -- and this book really is!
Rating:
Summary: A definite page turner. I highly recommend this book.
Review: Not even knowing what this book was about, I purchased it hoping for the best. What I got was absolutely beyond what I expected. The book was fabulous. Being in my mid-twenties, I could relate to these characters - their thought processes, they way in which they spoke to and dealt with one another, their hopes, anxieties, defeats, and victories. All of this was because of great character development - one one page you loved and cheered for Ben, on the next page you questioned his motivations and thought he was a little immature. It was like dealing with real people - you have to take, and always get, the good with the bad. Another selling point of this book is that, although it is a legal thriller, you don't feel intimidated or frustrated trying to decipher the legal jargon. Brad Meltzer wrote this book in a style that goes easy on the layman - probably to the chagrin of pure legal types - by not getting wrapped up in the legal details. If he had taken a more technical approach I think it would have detracted from the plot. And speaking of plot. The knives were flying from everywhere - no one could turn his/her back on the other. The twists were great and all integral to the final result. A plot element introduced 20 pages prior will suddenly become vitally important to what's going on now. The sensation of suddenly realizing where and how things tie in is great and this book offers plenty of opportunities for this to happen. Overall, this is one of the best books I've read all year and earning that distinction is no small feat. You won't be disappointed with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Bravo! 5 stars...
Review: Probably one of the best books I have read in a long time.Probably the longest book I've read at one time as well! But the book makes up for its longness. I had to finish it! It was so good that I finished it from chapter 11 all the way to the end. Chapter 17 will really get you...
Rating:
Summary: This book is best legal thriller since the "The Firm"
Review: I thought "The Tenth Justice" was a SUPERB book. If I can read a book for 4 straight ours on a Saturday Night then its worthy of praise. This book is great because Ben didn't know who to trust.
Rating: 
Summary: The Absolute Worst Legal Thriller I've Ever Read
Review: I enjoy a good legal thriller, and I'm a former judicial law clerk (for the US Court of Appeals, not the Supreme Court), so when I heard there was a new legal thriller coming out with a Supreme Court judicial clerk as the protagonist, I was intrigued. I bought the book the first week it hit the shelves. I cannot possibly over-state my disappointment with this book. To begin with, the writing style is atrocious. Meltzer doesn't even begin to grasp such concepts as mood, setting, or character development. His prose consists of relentless dialogue, for pages on end, with little or no descriptive narration. There's a reason no-one else writes like this -- it really grates on the reader's nerves. I have to give Meltzer credit for coming up with an interesting plot. It kept me reading to the end, even though the turgid dialogue nearly made me give up on several occasions. But even here, The Tenth Justice lacked the realism and detail that makes a great legal drama. I had hoped the book would provide an interesting inside look at the Supreme Court. But there is no authenticity to be found here. It's almost as if Meltzer didn't do any research at all, simply making up the background details as he went along. Based on my experiences as a judicial clerk, Meltzer's description of life in a Supreme Court Justice's chambers seems absolutely preposterous. My friends who have clerked in the Court of Appeals and on the Supreme Court share this opinion. Meltzer shouldn't have taken on a topic like this without doing some serious research.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: This book was not meant to be a thesis deserving of the Harvard Law Review. It brings into focus the fact that we have some very young and inexperienced people working in Wasington D.C. in important and high positions which can get things very messed up for this country because of their immaturity and lack of experience. As a former clerk of an appellate court, I could relate some stories that would be equally entertaining yet scary. It showed accurately some of the operations of the Court and the narrative was stated in the true manner in which young people communicate with each other. Most successful up and comers have had a friend which needed special attention and the Holden Caufield of this story added a funny demension. I enjoyed this concoction of personalities who were struggling to make it in a very cold and impersonal city .
Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: this book was obviously an attempt by the publisher to turn a quick buck on the heels of other legal thrillers. It is absolutely terrible. The story is implausible, formulaic, and you never care one itty-bitty bit about any of the characters. The fact that it was on a best-seller list really speaks volumes about how trade paperback readers get mediocrity thrown at them. AWFUL! if you want a good book about the Supreme Court, read the Bretheren by Woodward.
Rating:
Summary: A fun summer-read
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It was funny, tragic, exciting. A good novel. No, this isn't a great work of fiction that will withstand the test of time. But, who cares? I wasn't looking for Tolstoy. Have fun. Enjoy the book. Don't be so serious guys!
Rating:
Summary: Well worth staying up with!
Review: Never mind the negative reviews this book's been given. If you don't take it too seriously (hey..it's FICTION), Meltzer has written a legal thriller that's fast-paced, hip, funny, yet oddly touching. He has created a storyline exciting enough to keep you awake at night, and seems to harbour a genuine affection for his smart-mouthed, neurotic characters. Ben & Co may not always have the most intelligent conversations, but they are likeable, intelligent when necessary, and share great camaraderie. All in all, Meltzer's book is a breath of fresh air in a genre worn stale by the likes of Grisham, Turow, Baldacci etc.
Rating:
Summary: Animal House runs the Country
Review: If the real Supreme Court, State Department, Washington newspapers, and Senators have employees like the characters in this book, it's a wonder the Republic has survived. The characters sound more like drunken Frat rats than elite government employees. (Altho Monica Lewinsky & Linda Tripp give me second thoughts on that last comment, though they are hardly Supreme Court clerks). I notice that the "average" Amazon reader review is 3 stars, illustrating the problem with averages. In fact readers either give it 1-2 -- those who found it sophmoric, inaccurate, and poorly written; or 4-5 -- those who identified with the characters, accepted the description of Supreme Court workings at face value, and equate Friends scripts with good writing. Like Meltzer's other book, Dead Even, the characters are unsympathetic. The kernel of plotline is pretty interesting, so in the hands of a good filmmaker, with a good cast, it might work as a summer movie. Frankly I would have preferred to read the napkin where Meltzer jotted down the idea than read pages and pages of stupidity. Why, you ask, did I read TWO of his books if I disliked them so much? I was hospitalized unexpectedly and my friends, knowing I like legal thrillers, brought them as gifts.
| 
