Good Counsel: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book
Review: A lawyer friend gave me GOOD COUNSEL on Saturday and I finished it Sunday evening. It's a powerfully engaging and fun book to read. It's also a book that raises important and too often neglected questions, ones that deal with character, and the toll that small, gradual compromises can take. Susannah Blair, aka Muddy, is a fascinating counter-point to the protagonist, Jack, and while the story is a top notch thriller, it has a poignant and poetic finish, and one that's real--no gimmicks. It's a terrific book with a serious and important underlying theme, one that transcends the law and that all of us should relate to. I hope it gets the readership it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: Good Counsel
Review: Being exposed to criminal law in any book can be very intriguing, whether that information is true or not. Tim Junkin's different accounts of Jack Stanton in the courtroom, at a jail, or in the ghetto were so accurate and in tune with what criminal law and law enforcement is that I was unable to let go of this book. I work in law enforcement and know many defense attorneys who defend the individuals I supervise as a probation officer. Every detail of every journey into the courthouse and jail were vivid reminders of what I see on a day to day basis. The inner struggle Jack had with ehtics and his own indiscretions was played out very well and can be attested to by any attorney worth his salt. Flashback format was very cool and kept me entertained throughout. An outstanding thriller with real, real, real life undertones.

Rating:
Summary: I have no title
Review: I loved Tim Junkin's first novel, The Waterman. Good Counsel is quite different, but just as good and even better in it's own way. It is a thriller that grabs you from the first page and never let's go. It has an underlying seriousness; like a parable. The characters are fascinating and the action never stops. It is a story of passion, love and redemption, as well as a philosphical inquiry into modern ethics. A superb book and a must to those interested in the legal process.

Rating:
Summary: Eight Miles High
Review: I picked up Good Counsel while recently in LA on business. Started reading one hour out of LAX and finished 35,000 feet above Fiji ( or thereabouts ). A great traveller's read...not too heavy...not too light. In reality, a love story mingled in amongst the legal manouverings of a trial lawyer, Jack Stanton, trying to find himself after years of dubious legal victories. If you're expecting a run of the mill lawyer story (not again!! ) then you're in for a surprise. This is more a story which examines the moral legal dilemmas of how far should one bend the truth to get an aquittal? In these days of celebrity worship, money and wealth at all cost, Good Counsel is a rare read...a book which dares to challenge this position. Suffice to say, Jack wins out in his own way but remains in search of himself. Read it...it's different and that makes it worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: gone fishing
Review: in a mid-life crisis and on the lam, a lawyer ruminates on his career over seconal and scotch. more of a catalogue of cases than a courtroom drama. moral angst over too rigorous a defense and winning versus upholding a code of conduct. above average legal fiction.

Rating:
Summary: An Unethical Lawyer On the Run From the Law.
Review: Jack Stanton, as a public defender in Washington, D.C., created a reputation as a tough lawyer who used his expertise at the Agency to give indigent lawbreakers (of the worst kind) the best defense possible. He put aside the ethical side of law and concentrated on the humanity involved. He felt that he had 'the gift' of winning his cases, even though he revelled in cases of incorrigible felons who had committed violent crimes. In all cases, he got them off, scot-free -- luck of the Irish. However, he paid with his integrity, as many lawyers do in the end.

All lawyers have to do a bit of acting and manipulating facts as they represent their clients. Some are better at it than others, but the successful ones are really good actors and debaters. I worked for a few lawyers in a small town and came to know their strengths and weaknesses. Those who have to bend the truth a little or a lot pay for it in their personal lives, as this fictitious attorney did. One I knew turned to alcohol for false courage. Another let his high position get him in a lot of trouble and ended up losing his license.

Jack decides to specialize in medical malpractice cases when he leaves the clinic to go into his own private law office. He's always championed the causes for the underdog and with his charm, his success seems neverending. But there is a high price to pay for letting all those bad people stay on the streets to commit more crimes and become a threat to society. It catches up with him when he lies under oath. Many do that, but he got caught. Then, his whole world is shattered and he has to face up to the consequences, after a fashion.

The author is a practicing attorney in Maryland and acknowledges that 'the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience.' The book jacket projects his courtroom novels on a par with John Grisham and Scott Turow. I say he has a way to go to be in their league.

It is touted as witnessing a lawyer's worst nightmare, 'a face-to-face confrontation with his own conscience.' In the small town, I found only one attorney with a conscience. It took a mental patient bent on revenge and her plight to bring him down. It was a hard fall. He became caged by his ambition, his relish for competition and winning, and his ability to twist the truth. He was more than adequate in what he chose to do, but I couldn't label him as "good" counsel.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and Unoriginal
Review: John Grisham and Scott Turow have inspired legions of writers to focus on lawyers and the law. Unfortunately, not all of them can write or have a decent story to tell. This is one such author. While the story line is somewhat interesting, it is all too reminiscent of a made-for-TV movie. (High-flying city lawyer gone wrong; flees to rural countryside to hide; stows away in home of love interest; sees the light and decides to make amends.) Much of the book focuses an internal debate within the mind of the main character, related to the nature of a lawyer's duty to present the truth. But the debate lacks strength; it just can't grab the reader. More importantly, the story's characters show no real depth or appeal and leave the reader feeling rather unconcerned. And the writing is straight out of the Mickey Spillane instruction manual: short, staccato sentences; clipped, predictable dialogue; bland and simple vocabulary. In this genre, there's so much better out there; I can't recommend spending the time or money on this book.

Rating:
Summary: not as shocking as the author seems to think...
Review: Overall, GOOD COUNSEL is a very well-told story with poignant moments, but the over arching theme-a lawyer's moral decline- has been handled in a more complex fashion elsewhere, and isn't the shocking journey the author believes it to be. Today's jaded readers already have little illusions about the law, so finding out a lawyer lied isn't an interesting revelation on which to base an entire story.

The premise--that a lawyer's willingness to bend the truth leads him deeper into trouble, ultimately forcing him to go on the run-isn't a particularly exciting one. Similar movies have used the same premise but married it to a more thrilling story: for example the FIRM or DEVIL'S ADVOCATE also show lawyers going more and more over the line, but take the story a step further. Here, the author is singularly concerned with his moral decline and redemption, which would be fine, if the cases he chose to illustrate it weren't so textbook LAW & ORDER. Unfortunately, readers of the genre will have seen every one of these cases before.