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ANNE LEVY'S LAST CASE

Name: ANNE LEVY'S LAST CASE
Author: Barbara Sattler
ISBN: 978-1496026170

by Barbara Sattler ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2014

A highly readable novel of courtroom and interpersonal drama.

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In Sattler’s (Dog Days, 2013) courtroom drama, a veteran public defender revisits an old case as she faces the end of her career.

Anne Levy must decide whether to resign or be fired after two decades working as a public defender in Tucson, Arizona. The immediate cause of her downfall is a personality conflict with a recently arrived, by-the-book boss, but it quickly becomes clear that Anne also has a number of personal and professional secrets. Sattler uses frequent flashbacks to show Anne’s neurological disorder, her many failed relationships, and the case that nearly brought an end to her career. Despite Anne’s prickly, often abrupt attitude toward other people in her life, she’s an engaging character as she grows to accept her humanity without ever losing her edge. The author also vividly draws the supporting characters, including Gina, Anne’s secretary and staunchest ally; and Brian, who broke up with Anne when she always put her work first, but remains a reliable, platonic friend. The descriptions of the jails, courtrooms and public defender’s office are also strong, leaving readers smelling the stale coffee and fearing the short-tempered judge, just as the characters do. It’s sometimes difficult to tell when the narrative moves between a flashback and the present, and these transitions could have been more polished. But Sattler is skilled at dialogue, effectively using it to develop the characters: “Look Alberto, I’m not your social director. I’m here to help with your case,” Anne tells a new client; in another exchange, her advice is: “If you’re going to hide out in Mexico to avoid trial, stay there.” The end result is an enjoyable, realistic depiction of one woman’s midlife reassessment of herself and her choices.

A highly readable novel of courtroom and interpersonal drama.

Pub Date: May 19, 2014

ISBN: 978-1496026170

Page Count: 208

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.