An extraordinary hero stars in a legal tale as believable as it is riveting.
In this 15th installment of a thriller series, a Miami lawyer takes a stance against football after a high school player’s alarming injury.
As a former Miami Dolphins linebacker, attorney Jake Lassiter knows how dangerous football can be. All that contact on the field left him with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and he suffers the constant pounding of migraines and tinnitus. He also has problems with his memory and can’t recall coaxing his friend and old Dolphins teammate Langston “Tank” Pittman to forge his own wife’s name on a consent form—allowing the couple’s teen son, Rodrigo, to play football. So when Rod is seriously hurt during a game’s kickoff and may never walk again, guilt practically crushes Lassiter, the boy’s de facto uncle. The lawyer vows to “abolish” football, though he’s really after a temporary ban until the Florida High School Athletic Association declares the sport safe. He has barely filed suit (against the school’s coach and the FHSAA) when he gets a taste of the hostile defiance he was anticipating. The Consortium, a supposed organization of high-profile companies, aims to protect high school football, as a legal action against it also threatens the billion-dollar NCAA and NFL. But Lassiter has a solid case for “coaching malpractice,” from the coach keeping an unmistakably disoriented Rod in the game to the man running illegal pit drills during team practice. Unfortunately, the defense attorneys play dirty, as Lassiter suspects they’ve got people following, tracking, and wiretapping him. It’s sure to be a white-knuckled fight if Lassiter wants a win in the courtroom.
In this series outing, Levine’s recurring protagonist proves sublimely complex. He’s a whip-smart lawyer whose painful bouts with merciless CTE earn him sympathy. But he’s not always a purely ethical professional; as Rod’s mom rightly points out, Lassiter pursues this case more for himself than for the injured teen and his family. The rest of the cast is also strong—loyal pal Tank is the opposite of his wife, who blames Lassiter for their son’s tragedy, while the FHSAA’s attorney Sandra Day is a formidable and possibly unscrupulous opponent. The author fuels this legal thriller with an impressive pace, showing that a deceptively simple “wack-a-doodle lawsuit” can churn out endless surprises and bumps in the road. Lassiter, for example, digs up evidence from a TV news program—with the help of a skilled hacker—and from a crucial item that someone’s been keeping. The attorney is moreover up against the defense’s questionable evidence; an offer that looks an awful lot like a bribe; and strangers creeping around his property. Meanwhile, understated humor brightens the novel courtesy of Lassiter’s charming quips (even in court). But random citizens’ periodic tweets provide the biggest laughs; they’re rife with assumptions, sarcasm, and amusing spellings (“I heard Lassiter is dying. Well, I say good writtens”). The ending courtroom battle sears with intense and realistic turns, as at least one of Lassiter’s smoking guns unexpectedly fizzles. It all builds to an unforgettable closing scene.
An extraordinary hero stars in a legal tale as believable as it is riveting.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-73450-569-6
Page Count: 417
Publisher: Herald Square Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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