Bury the Lead

Rating:
Summary: exciting legal thriller
Review: The women in North Jersey are panicking because a serial killer is on the loose, a sociopath who strangles women from behind with a scarf and then cuts off their heads. His victims have been an elderly grandmother, a prostitute and a businesswoman. A reporter on Patterson's local newspaper Daniel Cumming is the only person who the killer communicates with and he has become a part of the story as much as he reports it.

Daniel's editor, Vince Sanders, is overjoyed because the circulation of the paper is rising at a fantastic rate but something is bothering him so he calls lawyer Andy Carpenter to represent the paper and Daniel. When the killer informs Daniel where to find the next victim, he races to the area but he gets hit on the head and loses consciousness. When he awakens the police treat him like a suspect and after they find two hands and scarves with blood on it, they arrest Daniel. Vince begs Andy to represent his reporter and he acquiesces even though he isn't sure Daniel is innocent.

There are many surprising twists in this exciting legal thriller which the author handles with panache and a sense of stark realism. The characters are off beat originals especially the protagonist who has inherited $22 million dollars yet his idea of a good time is spending a day watching football, playing with his dog and having fun with his significant other. He is a high profile lawyer who usually wins cases but this one means calling in favors. The ending is a surprise that readers will think about for a long time.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: exciting legal thriller
Review: The women in North Jersey are panicking because a serial killer is on the loose, a sociopath who strangles women from behind with a scarf and then cuts off their heads. His victims have been an elderly grandmother, a prostitute and a businesswoman. A reporter on Patterson's local newspaper Daniel Cumming is the only person who the killer communicates with and he has become a part of the story as much as he reports it.

Daniel's editor, Vince Sanders, is overjoyed because the circulation of the paper is rising at a fantastic rate but something is bothering him so he calls lawyer Andy Carpenter to represent the paper and Daniel. When the killer informs Daniel where to find the next victim, he races to the area but he gets hit on the head and loses consciousness. When he awakens the police treat him like a suspect and after they find two hands and scarves with blood on it, they arrest Daniel. Vince begs Andy to represent his reporter and he acquiesces even though he isn't sure Daniel is innocent.

There are many surprising twists in this exciting legal thriller which the author handles with panache and a sense of stark realism. The characters are off beat originals especially the protagonist who has inherited $22 million dollars yet his idea of a good time is spending a day watching football, playing with his dog and having fun with his significant other. He is a high profile lawyer who usually wins cases but this one means calling in favors. The ending is a surprise that readers will think about for a long time.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Lead On MacRosenfelt
Review: This is the third in David Rosenfelt's series, and it is just as enjoyable as the first two.

Andy Carpenter is a great narrator if you're looking to be entertained, and don't give a hoot about what each person is wearing, how the food the characters are eating is prepared, or what the decor of a room looks like. The text is lean and humorous, and the story twisted enough to keep you guessing a little bit, while not so twisted that the experienced mystery reader will have trouble finding the clues.

Kudos to Mr. Rosenfelt for another engaging entry, and bravo for keeping the book under 300 pages. Not every book needs to be lengthy, especially when it is as entertaining as this one.

Rating:
Summary: (2.5) A wise-cracking sleuth
Review: Three women in the New Jersey are brutally murdered, strangled, with their hands cut off to further complicate the crime scene. The murderer has chosen a journalist, Daniel Cummings, as his contact, refusing to communicate with anyone else. Cummings acts as a liaison with the police until the last murder, when the journalist is arrested, charged with the killings and without an alibi.

Against his better judgment, attorney Andy Carpenter agrees to defend Cummings, even in the face of damning physical evidence. The case has all the earmarks of defeat, as Carpenter struggles with complex clues that lead directly back to Cummings. Sure, lawyer Andy Carpenter is rich enough to pick his cases and glib enough to offer a smart remark in every other paragraph, but I wasn't riveted by this mystery. An eccentric group of characters from ex-cons to hookers and mob figures spice up the menu, but Rosenfelt uses humor in an avoidance of a tight and suspenseful story.

There is a following for this writer's work; readers who enjoy the recent James Patterson novels, for instance, will enjoy this author. It's a matter of personal taste. Although I didn't find Bury the Lead particularly suspenseful, many readers will enjoy the caustic remarks that are Carpenter's penchant. Luan Gaines/2004.

Rating:
Summary: Viva New Jersey
Review: You gotta love a guy who gives of himself and his resources to rescue puppies! This was my first encounter with David Rosenthal's Andy Carpenter, Northern New Jersey defense attorney and quipper par excellence and his pals. My special favorite is Sam, the bookkeeping, computer-hacking burst-into-songlyric spouter.

At times laugh out loud clever, the style is crisp, pace is perky and plot is engaging. So, what's not to like? /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer