In the Shadow of the Law : A novel review:4 stars (so that's what lawyering is all about....or not) - I enjoyed this book.

The first 90% sometimes ran a bit slow....the difficulties of being a "first-year", an "associate" or a "partner" in a law firm. It was interesting, and the story threads of the two cases kept me reading. These days, I sometimes do stop reading a book because I was not interested; that was not the case in this one. I wanted to read it through to the end to see where the characters were going, and how the cases would be resolved.

I did think, however, that in the first 90% of the book, the author was setting a scene for his concluding chapters, and that the concluding chapters came too quickly. The story became relatively complete, but in its conclusion it felt like too much too fast...based on the previous chapters.

I did like the book (Thank you Amazon, I think that comment is permissable in your reviews) and intend to read his next.5 stars (Better than a legal thriller) - I loved this book. I've read a lot of legal thrillers, and in the past few years there have been a lot of academic types churning out their first novels (for example, The Rule of Four, Emperor of Ocean Park, The Dante Club), so I thought I had a pretty good sense of what to expect from this book. But it far exceeded my expectations.

First of all, it did not read like a first novel. With some of the recent first-novel-thrillers, I got the sense that the authors thought, hey, I'm smart, I'm erudite, I can write a trashy book--how hard can it be? It's trash, after all. But writing a book is hard, and takes practice, and so there are good bad books (The Da Vinci Code) and bad bad books. And, predictably, those first novels read like the work of tyros. In contrast, it's clear that Roosevelt has written fiction before. He knows his way around a sentence, and a plot. I couldn't hear the gears turning when I read Roosevelt's book.

Second, it wasn't trashy. (I mean that in a good way.) There were actual characters, who actually, you know, developed. Even though they were all "types," they also came alive as people for me. In fact, the plot of the book seemed secondary to Roosevelt's observations and skillful but understated writing.

Finally, Roosevelt has ideas about the law that go beyond the standard "class actions can punish big companies" or "big firms are sleazy" themes of other legal thrillers. He seems to have complicated, ambivalent views of legal ethics, for example.

In short, this book is definitely worth reading.5 stars (not your run of the mill thriller) - Entertainment Weekly put this book on its "Must List," praising its "complex and believable characters." The plot is interesting, but what's distinctive is the characters and the different views they have of the law. Well worth reading.
In the Shadow of the Law : A novel Features:
Author: Kermit Roosevelt
Fiction / General

In the Shadow of the Law - A novel is the Hardcover version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 16.32USD.