AudioMysteries.Net

Title: The First Law
Author: John Lescroart
Reader: Robert Lawrence
Audiobook: 2003
Unabridged
Length: 12 hours

Ears: 4

Rent: audiomysteries.com

I recently had some extra time on my hands between new arrivals and decided to sample some popular authors that I have missed in the past. First up was John Lescroart who has a very successful series featuring San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy.

The First Law is not the first in the series, although I thought it might be because of the title, I guess I’ve read too many James Patterson books, (and I guess Sue Grafton as well). Actually, it is the eleventh featuring Hardy and police lieutenant Abe Glitzky. The storey involves the death during a robbery of a close friend of Abe’s father. What at first seems to be a simple robbery gone bad quickly becomes much more. Glitzky is begged and quilted into looking into the crime even though he no longer is the head of the homicide unit.

What he finds with the help of a few friends in the department, is the seeming indifference to mounting evidence pointing at a prominent local businessman who has direct tires to the police. As the deaths mount and the investigation focuses on one of Hardy’s clients, the stakes are raised considerably when Hardy, Glitzky and their families are threatened.

From alibis that should be rock solid but are not, to evidence that would blow the case wide open that never gets to the right people, the author piles on the plot contrivances. So what! I enjoyed the variety of characters, the intense action, and the satisfying conclusion. The author knows how to construct an action thriller.

The audio version requires a reader who can handle different accents. Robert Lawrence gets ethnic accents as well as an interesting lisp just right. He has some trouble with the female characters and the kids who seem to blend together a bit. The performance is good and it helps give the main players distinct personalities.

Lescroart is worth the visit for those of you who like legal & police thrillers.

Reviewed on 3/18/08 by Robert W. Karp