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A review by carolpk
Le verdict by Nick Stone
4.0
The Hook - The publicity for this fast paced British legal thriller grabbed my attention.
The Line – ”You can’t cheat karma. Can you?”
The Sinker – With a title like The Verdict expectations to get to that ruling are high. Sorry, you’ll have to wait until quite a good portion of its 499 pages are read to get a ruling. I’m certain many readers will think this book was long, way too wordy, perhaps a bit tedious even and could have done with a tighter editing. Somehow this didn’t bother me and I just went along for the ride. I liked Terry Flynt though at times I wanted to take him and shake him and ask him just what the heck he thought he was doing. Here’s a guy in his late thirties who I had to wonder if he had ever grown up. He gets a job as law clerk in a prestigious firm and has aspirations of gaining a nod for promotion to paralegal and paid tuition for a law degree. Does he have the drive to reach that goal? Flynt is immediately immersed in a high profile case of the murder of a woman in a hotel room. The suspect, Vernon James has just received a distinguished honor, ‘The Ethical Man of the Year', one never before given to a businessman. It appears Vernon is not so ethical when a woman, not his wife, is found dead in bed. When confronted by the police Verson weaves a strange tale and claims he neither slept in the bed nor with the woman. Said woman, Evelyn Bates, 5’4”, supposedly seen with James and wearing a green dress (becomes key evidence), was strangled with a belt (Wanderlust comments below correcting strangulation by belt to strangulation by hand, honestly I don't remember now) and subjected to rough sex. On the surface this seems like Vernon’s SOP, but Bates is not his type. He likes his women, tall, with long blonde hair and slender. Now back to Flynt. What Flynt never tells anyone in his office is that he knows the suspect and personally holds a long-time grudge against James for getting him kicked out of Cambridge years ago. Can he really help defend his ex-friend, a man he now despises and whose lifestyle appalls his senses?
There are flaws here, not everything works and it does get repetitive. I liked most of the staff in Flynt’s law firm, and enjoyed the courtroom scenes at Court 1 of The Old Bailey, the judge, jury, prosecution and defense. Violence to women, S&M, several murders may nix this for some. I didn’t find it overly graphic. The causes and effect were probably outlined well but this along with the bad guys and conspiracy theories didn’t interest me that much. Still, I kept turning the pages, I kept reading, and in the end I enjoyed my introduction to Nick Stone. Keep your eyes open for clues as they are there.
Nick Stone has one other book under his belt, The Clarinet, which won several awards, including Macavity for best first novel. Perhaps I’ll go back and read his debut. If not, I certainly will be waiting to see what else he writes. The Verdict is a solid entry into the lawyer/thriller genre.
The Line – ”You can’t cheat karma. Can you?”
The Sinker – With a title like The Verdict expectations to get to that ruling are high. Sorry, you’ll have to wait until quite a good portion of its 499 pages are read to get a ruling. I’m certain many readers will think this book was long, way too wordy, perhaps a bit tedious even and could have done with a tighter editing. Somehow this didn’t bother me and I just went along for the ride. I liked Terry Flynt though at times I wanted to take him and shake him and ask him just what the heck he thought he was doing. Here’s a guy in his late thirties who I had to wonder if he had ever grown up. He gets a job as law clerk in a prestigious firm and has aspirations of gaining a nod for promotion to paralegal and paid tuition for a law degree. Does he have the drive to reach that goal? Flynt is immediately immersed in a high profile case of the murder of a woman in a hotel room. The suspect, Vernon James has just received a distinguished honor, ‘The Ethical Man of the Year', one never before given to a businessman. It appears Vernon is not so ethical when a woman, not his wife, is found dead in bed. When confronted by the police Verson weaves a strange tale and claims he neither slept in the bed nor with the woman. Said woman, Evelyn Bates, 5’4”, supposedly seen with James and wearing a green dress (becomes key evidence), was strangled with a belt (Wanderlust comments below correcting strangulation by belt to strangulation by hand, honestly I don't remember now) and subjected to rough sex. On the surface this seems like Vernon’s SOP, but Bates is not his type. He likes his women, tall, with long blonde hair and slender. Now back to Flynt. What Flynt never tells anyone in his office is that he knows the suspect and personally holds a long-time grudge against James for getting him kicked out of Cambridge years ago. Can he really help defend his ex-friend, a man he now despises and whose lifestyle appalls his senses?
There are flaws here, not everything works and it does get repetitive. I liked most of the staff in Flynt’s law firm, and enjoyed the courtroom scenes at Court 1 of The Old Bailey, the judge, jury, prosecution and defense. Violence to women, S&M, several murders may nix this for some. I didn’t find it overly graphic. The causes and effect were probably outlined well but this along with the bad guys and conspiracy theories didn’t interest me that much. Still, I kept turning the pages, I kept reading, and in the end I enjoyed my introduction to Nick Stone. Keep your eyes open for clues as they are there.
Nick Stone has one other book under his belt, The Clarinet, which won several awards, including Macavity for best first novel. Perhaps I’ll go back and read his debut. If not, I certainly will be waiting to see what else he writes. The Verdict is a solid entry into the lawyer/thriller genre.