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Showing posts with label Fiction: Legal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction: Legal. Show all posts

Friday, September 24, 2021

Elise Cooper Reviews St. Martin's Press Entry


Defending Britta Stein 

Series: Book 6 Liam Taggert and Catherine Lockhart

Author: Ronald H. Balson

Genre: Historical Fiction

St. Martin’s Press

Sept 7th, 2021

Available on Amazon


Reviewed by Elise


Elise Cooper Reviews St. Martin's Press Entry

Defending Britta Stein by Ronald H. Balson is a wonderful read. Although the book has some courtroom drama including legal strategy and loopholes, most of the story is Britta Stein’s recounting of the events leading up to and during World War II in Denmark. This is historical fiction at its best with bravery, betrayal, and redemption.

 

Britta Stein is a 92-year-old Jewish Danish woman who emigrated to America. She is being sued for defamation after being seen and then admitting to spray painting “Coward,” “Traitor,” “Collaborator,” and “War Criminal” on the walls of a restaurant. The owner, 95-year-old Ole Henryks, will be honored by the Danish/American Association for his many civic and charitable contributions. Frequently appearing on local TV, he is well known for his actions of saving Jews in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II and is considered a hero.  But not to Britta who claims he was anything but and sent Jews to their deaths including her sister and brother-in-law. 

 

Attorney Catherine Lockhart and Investigator Liam Taggart, husband, and wife, have agreed to defend Britta and have as an assistant counsel her granddaughter Emma. The plot alternates between present day Chicago (2018) and Britta’s oral account of her memories of her homeland of Denmark prior to the presence of the Nazis and during World War II. They are up against “Six o’clock” Sterling Sparks, Henryk’s’ shady attorney, who pushes for a speedy trial and is willing to waive witness lists and pretrial exhibits. Readers anxiously turn the pages hoping Britta will be vindicated since they take a journey with her during the horrific events.

 

What is very interesting is the way Balson contrasts defamation versus freedom of speech, the consequences of staying versus leaving, and Denmark’s role in protecting its Jewish citizens. “I wanted to show how the Danes were wonderful. I hoped to get across through the civil jury trial here in America what it was like to be a Dane and Jewish.  As I recounted in the book, there were plenty of non-Jews who put themselves at risk to help save the 7600 Jewish citizens in Denmark.  They were hidden in hospitals, churches, stores, and homes.  Many also helped the Jews get to Sweden. I wanted to show how the Danes had emotional pride and belief in their own country.”

 

“I have this scene in the book between Catherine her lawyer, and Britta.  Catherine says, “I know it’s easy for me to say in hindsight, and it’s not fair, I shouldn’t judge, but the consequences of staying were dire, yet they found some reason to ignore the writing on the wall, which to me defies logic and good sense.”  Britta responds, that if they could see into the future a wiser decision could have been made; yet, they “would have packed up and left everything and everyone… your job, your home, your profession, and headed off blindly in some unknown direction… At that time, in 1943 Hitler owned Europe.” It is a constant theme in a lot of my books.  They all had the same opportunity to leave.  But how does someone leave everything including family and community.  Where would they go? How many countries would have taken in millions of Jews? What the Nazis did continued to escalate, and no one could imagine the concentration camps.  Many thought they could last out the war.”  

 

This book will stay with readers well after they finish the book. The author has an incredible way of telling a story with sympathetic heroes and monstrous villains before and during World War II. The story has mystery, intrigue, suspense, and history all intertwined into a riveting novel.

More About the Reviewer

Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women's fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.


More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 


The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author, a veteran educator and also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Bookstory Blog Calls Thriller "Unputdownable"

HALLWAYS IN THE NIGHT
Athor: R.C. O'Leary
Author's Web site: Www.rcoleary.com
Genre: Legal Thriller
ISBN: 978-0985838287
Amazon buying link


 
Reviewed by Bookstory Blogspot
"A Totally Unputdownable Book. Looking forward to the Sequel."

 

Sometimes you stumble across a good book or a new author in the most unexpected way. I met Andaleeb Wajid through a Twitter conversation about kichda.  R C O’Leary somehow got to this blog and he was kind enough to send me his novel as a Kindle gift. And so I spent the weekend in a courtroom with Remo Centrella and Dave Mackno and I must say, it was a weekend well spent.
An arrogant, steroid pushing baseball player gets killed by a cop. Self defense, he says. But when there’s 45 million dollars involved, a clean self defense claim doesn’t fully cut it. So what we have is an edge of the seat legal battle that makes you keep turning the pages till the very end. I love American legal dramas, be it reruns of The Practice or John Grisham novels. I don’t know if I am being fair to the author by saying that this was like a Grisham, but it was. And some more. The characters were well formed and I actually didn’t take sides till the end. I wavered back and forth throughout the trial. Did Dave Mackno overreact? Was he driven by his own ghosts from the past? At one point you want him to win, and a few pages later, you wonder if he should.
There are little backstories for all the characters, one of which becomes a vital twist towards the end. The book touches on some relevant and sensitive topics like the identity crisis that the African American lawyer goes through, how the internet broke a family and of course, the usage of steroids in sports ( Made me wonder why we never ever hear of steroid use in cricket. Could Slapgate have been ‘roid rage?) And then there was even a dumb witness who actually named his kid after Hulk Hogan!
A totally unputdownable book. Looking forward to the sequel.

RC O'Leary
Author of Hallways in the Night
Legal Thriller, Available in print at Amazon
E-book at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Nook
Print Book available at Amazon and Inkwood Books
When a veteran cop tries to arrest baseball's home run king, one of them ends up on trial and the other ends up dead.
Free Sample Chapters at RCOLeary.com 

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  The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Readers' Favorite Reviews Legal Thriller

False Prophet, a Legal Thrillerby Jeff RasleyAuthor's Web site: http://www.jeffreyrasley.com

Genre: Legal thriller, mystery
ISBN 978-1-4524-1027-2
ASIN for Kindle: B005ECBYAE
Buy link:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ECBYAE

Reviewed by Ray Simmons  originally for Readers' Favorite
5-Star Rating


False Prophet, A Legal Thriller is the story of a defamation lawsuit brought against a big newspaper by a charismatic African-American minister in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is also the story of Jack Ross and his struggle to save his marriage, save his struggling partnership and most of all, save his idealism and belief in justice after working too long in a legal system he doesn't believe in anymore. Jeff Rasley has created a very likable and credible character in Jack Ross, someone who fights for the underdog while actually being something of an underdog himself. Jack's most redeeming qualities are his strength and determination, something nurtured during years of high school athletics, and his loyalty, demonstrated by his walking away from the largest and most prestigious law firm in the state in support of his best friend.

Jeff Rasley's novel is as good as anything written in this particular genre and better than most. He takes his time developing his plot and setting up the situation. There is a compelling sub-plot - Jack's threatened marriage - which is woven alongside the lawsuit and dispersed in timely increments that complement the main thread of the novel. The politics, greed, and ruthlessness of those in the top tiers of society in modern day Indianapolis ring true. The strengths and frailties of the characters are subtly but effectively portrayed and the portrait of our legal system in action is vividly rendered. This is a legal thriller indeed and I eagerly await the next one by Jeff Rasley.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.