The Letter of the Law

Rating:
Summary: A GRIPPING LEGAL THRILLER
Review: Attorney Casey Jordan strives to be the best, and with her looks and talent, she will achieve her goal.

When world-famous law profesor Eric Lipton is accused of murdering one of his students, he chooses a former student, Casey, to defend him. Turning down another case to represent Lipton, Casey knows the risks involved...what she doesn't know is this case could cost her her life.

Donald Sales, father of the murdered student, wants justice, and his brand of justice knows no bounds.

A shocking discovery sends Casey on a journey to catch the killer, but with several suspects, and a few more bodies, she must go outside the law to stop the madman.

"The Letter Of The Law" is a fast read, with plots twists no reader will expect.

Tim Green has written his breakout bestseller, proving he has all the story telling skill to join the ranks of John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, etc.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: DEEP SCARLET LETTER
Review: Books like THE LETTER OF THE LAW continue to show how dangerous and risky it is to seek companionship on the Internet. The opening chapter of this tense little thriller is ample proof. How it relates to the main gist of the novel takes a long time, but it does make sense.
Green's novels are well crafted, even if sometimes he becomes a little too cinematic in the way the story unfolds. Casey Jordan is not the most likeable of heroines...she's ambitious, always concerned about the way she is perceived; she likes her rich life, her uncaring husband and her notoriety. Once she takes on Eric Lipton, her former law professor, however, things start caving in on her.
Lipton is a demonic character, full of pride and arrogance, and the reader will doubt his innocence from the start. Once his trial is over, Casey must face Donald Sales, the father of the victim whom she intimated may have been more than just a daddy. Meanwhile, Bob Bolinger, a crusty older detective (think Lee J. Cobb) is convinced Lipton is a serial killer.
Green twists the plot for some interesting surprises, particularly in the relationship between Sales and Casey.
An involving and engrossing legal thriller, which despite its flaws, is one of Green's more intriguing novels.

Rating:
Summary: DEEP SCARLET LETTER
Review: Books like THE LETTER OF THE LAW continue to show how dangerous and risky it is to seek companionship on the Internet. The opening chapter of this tense little thriller is ample proof. How it relates to the main gist of the novel takes a long time, but it does make sense.
Green's novels are well crafted, even if sometimes he becomes a little too cinematic in the way the story unfolds. Casey Jordan is not the most likeable of heroines...she's ambitious, always concerned about the way she is perceived; she likes her rich life, her uncaring husband and her notoriety. Once she takes on Eric Lipton, her former law professor, however, things start caving in on her.
Lipton is a demonic character, full of pride and arrogance, and the reader will doubt his innocence from the start. Once his trial is over, Casey must face Donald Sales, the father of the victim whom she intimated may have been more than just a daddy. Meanwhile, Bob Bolinger, a crusty older detective (think Lee J. Cobb) is convinced Lipton is a serial killer.
Green twists the plot for some interesting surprises, particularly in the relationship between Sales and Casey.
An involving and engrossing legal thriller, which despite its flaws, is one of Green's more intriguing novels.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the time
Review: First time I read Mr. Green, I will read more. Very interesting and did not want ot put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Can Justice Be Served?
Review: Marcia Sales eviscerated body was discovered by her paperboy. She'd been a beautiful co-ed studying law at the University of Texas. Austin cop Bob Bolinger has a list of suspects and he's not crossing anybody out, not even the girl's father. However his prime candidate for the murder is Eric Lipton, one of Marcia's law professors.

Lipton flees, is caught near the airport and a bloody lingerie is found in his baggage. He claims he was sexually involved with Marcia. Lipton engages former student Casey Jordan, who is driven by success, but all through the trial Casey is uneasy, because Bolinger is convinced of Lipton's guilt, not only that, he thinks the man is a serial killer. Finally the verdict is in, it's about to be read. Lipton leans toward Casey and admits to the murder.

And now the killing begins.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Rating:
Summary: green starts a new track
Review: Thankfully, Tim Green moves on to another type of fiction and leaves the NFL-based thrillers behind with The Letter of the Law, a serial killer thriller with a legal basis. The main character is a strong female attorney reminiscent of Madison McCall from his NFL fiction. The villain is quite different this time, and that makes for more interesting suspense. This book is not on the level of Greg Iles, for example, but is still entertaining and an easy diversion. Being predictable is not the worst thing a book can be, but it is certainly nice to be surprised too.

Rating:
Summary: A little more research next time
Review: This book succeeds or fails on the character actions between Donald Sales and Casey Jordan. For me it failed.

Casey Jordon is hot shot criminal defense lawyer who gets a serial killer off the hook. The bad guy is Professor Lipton (as in tea) who gets his jollies carving up women and stealing their gall bladders.

Donald Sales is the father of one of Lipton's victims and he has basically two modes of action: suicidal and homicidal. Considering how Law Enforcement generally approaches things like this, Sales should have been locked up and the key thrown away. Instead, he's treated as a Good Ol' Boy.

If you know anything about guns, then you'll probably gag on the descriptions. I don't think the author got one right.

There is a detective named Bollinger who knows right away that Lipton is the bad guy, but fails to prove the case. Evidence might have helped.

There is an FBI guy name Unger who happens the run into Lipton in a high priced whore house. This is just another of the improbable plot developments that you stumble across in this book.

Finally, about 20 pages from the end you find out what the connection to the prologue is--pretty weak.

This book is a quick, mindless read for a pleasant afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: Atrocious!
Review: This has to be the worst book I've ever read! I'm on page 274 and while the plot is interesting, I'm debating finishing it. The writing is seriously flawed.

Case in point, pg. 6: "Bollinger didn't have to show his badge as he dipped under the yellow tape. They knew who he was." I was just told me he didn't have to show his badge. What is the following sentence for? Why does the reader need to be told the same thing twice? Let the reader figure a thing or two out - it's much more dramatic that way. Read some Hemingway, or Elroy, anything. Less is more! Often there are too many adjectives where only one is needed, leading to seriously purple prose.

It may sound as if I'm picking nits, but this seriously damages the novel. The basic plot is halfway decent, although the characters' motivations is often not believable and the descriptions of those motivations doesn't resemble any human psychology I've ever encountered.

I almost recommend this book to computer professionals for an absolute howler of a misunderstanding of common computer technology toward the middle of the book. I won't give it away, but you'll at least be amused.

Seriously, Tim Green appears to be capable of coming up with interesting plotlines. The book has a lot of the qualities of a page turner - he does a good job of mixing plotlines to keep the reader interested. He needs a much better editor than this book had, and some coaching on plotting.

Rating:
Summary: A decent plot was overwhelmed by poor writing
Review: This is the first book I have read by Tim Green. It will likely be the last. The dialogue was flat and the character development was haphazard. The underlying story is certainly compelling, but this book ended up more of a caricature of a thriller novel than an actual thriller. Furthermore, the author really has failed to do any research about some of the topics on which he writes. Calling a box with wires coming out of it that finds hidden files on your hard drive a "Norton Utility" is downright laughable. Honestly, I only finished this book to see how bad it could get, and remarkably, the last half of the book is much better than the first half...but still not worth spending the time to read.

Rating:
Summary: Almost a thriller
Review: This was the first Tim Green book I have read. I was interested in something light but exciting and 'Letter of the Law' fit the bill. Neither weak character development, stilted writing, nor somewhat unbelievable plotting took away from my enjoyment of this light read. It didn't matter to me that the author knew nothing about law enforcement or law, it was an ok book to pass some time with. But 2/3rds of the way through the book the author's plot began to be so unbelievable, his characters so absurd that I began to laugh out loud and I skimmed through the remainder hoping that the plot wasn't going in the direction I feared it was heading towards. It did.
Additionally, If Mr. Green read's these comments, he should have someone explain to him how computers work. His lack of basic computer knowledge is embarrassing.
Still, this book was a fast and enjoyable read and shows that the author has a lot of potential for airport thrillers. I intend to buy his next book.