I’d been eyeing this legal thriller and  so …  when it went on sale … even if I was in the middle of two very good books  …  How to Read the Bible by James L. Kugel and Shyness and Dignity by Dag Solstad …   I had to do it.

After Mike Daley,  our  first person narrator,  left the priesthood he became an attorney and went to work for the San Francisco Public Defender’s office.   He then spent several years working for a corporate law firm and was about to be made a partner.  Unfortunately,  he was fired and on his last day two colleagues were found dead in an office.  Mike’s best friend and co-worker is charged with the murder.

*******
Special  Circumstances
by Sheldon Siegel
1998 / 576 pages
read by Tim Campbell – 12h 18m
rating:  B-  /  legal crime 
*******

Fortunately,   Mike has already started the set up of  a private firm of his own with his ex-wife,  Rosie Fernandez,  as his temporary partner.

This is a really flat narrative  – no texture at all.  The simplest concepts are explained,  the language is common,  there are no themes,  little to no character development,  and no interesting aspects to the structure.   It’s flat.  And Tim  Campbell’s  reading matches the tone although he tries to elevate it.

There’s a lot of courtroom drama here  – no thriller parts – with witness badgering and only a bit of behind-the-scenes investigation.  Liars abound.   The insurance parts are long and boring.   The one good part was the ending  –  almost redeeming for the book,  but I’ll likely not read another one by this author.

And now back to the two good books I already have going …