I’d been looking at this legal thriller for some months.  One audible reader/reviewer whom I follow did not give it such high marks although other many other reviewers/listeners raved about it. And then the price was right and I had a little time,  so,  with a few small misgivings I gave it a try and I’m glad I did.

*******
The Professor 
by Robert Bailey
2014 / 418 pages
read by Eric G. Dove – 10h 28m
rating:  B+

*******

The basic plot concerns a lawsuit about the wrongful death of a young family due to a speeding truck driver.  The protagonists are  the young prosecuting attorney,  RIck Drake and  his old university professor,  Tom McMurtrie,  plus a young woman in the Professor’s class who helps Drake as an intern/assistant.

Overall,  the bad guys were grittier and some of the scenes rather heavy with sexual content than I’m comfortable with and the whole thing was somewhat predictable and contrived.  Also there are times it feels a wee bit like a love letter to the University of Alabama football team, especially Bear Bryant,  and law school.  –

But the courtroom scenes, although they are limited for my tastes,   and the good-guy characterizations  make up for that.  Additionally,  the tension was very well built with scenes from several points of view,  short chapters, potential serious violence and a few good plot twists.  The narrator did a fine job.

I’ll likely read Bailey’s next book about Drake and McMurtrie , Between  Black and White, as it features a character in this book and the same protagonists.  It’s not great lit but it’s fun.