Julie's Review: In The Name of Honor

Summary: When Lt. Brian McCarran shoots and kills his superior officer, Capt. Joe D'Abruzzo, at Fort Bolton in northern Virginia soon after they return from a tour in Iraq, 31-year-old Capt. Paul Terry, of the army's JAG Corps, defends the lieutenant. That the accused is the son of legendary Gen. Anthony McCarran, the current army chief of staff, makes it an especially sensitive court-martial. To complicate matters, Joe was married to Kate Gallagher, the general's goddaughter and lifelong friend of Brian and the McCarran family. Sparks fly after Brian's gorgeous older attorney sister, Meg, insists on working with Paul. As always, Patterson chooses to deal with difficult themes, this time PTSD and the war in Iraq. This is superior genre fiction from a writer at the top of his game. ~amazon.com

Review: As with most of Richard North Patterson's books he takes a timely issue and weaves it into his novel. The current issue here is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) and the effect is has on soldiers when they return from war. In the Name of Honor makes this important issue front and center but it is weaved in such a way that it becomes an integral part of the family and where they end up.

I found this book to be extremely engrossing, disturbing and compelling. Mr. Patterson has such a gift for storytelling that it's hard not to come to like the characters. Lieutenant McCarran is the center of the story here but for me the main character is Captain Paul Terry who is picked to defend the honorable soldier in a murder trial. The story is told through Paul's eyes and unlike some protagonists, I felt like I could totally believe his viewpoint. He was intelligent, driven and about to leave the army in a month to go on to a big job at a Wall Street firm. Meg McCarran serves as co-counsel and also as Paul's lover. You can pretty much guess that it's not going to end well for Paul or Meg. Meg, like Paul, is closed off from her feelings, except for when it comes to her family.

Patterson is always at his best when the book involves a courtroom trial and In the Name of Honor is no different. This is where the books picks up it's pace and secrets start revealing themselves. You see, Paul thinks that there is something that Brian and Meg aren't telling him about the case, something that could change the outcome as well as if Paul continues to defend Brian. He has a nagging feeling but can't pin point it. In the final pages, this comes to a head and takes a twist/turn that was astonishing and left me a bit squeamish.

The book never truly wraps up the initial question of self-defense or premeditated murder but I don't think it is supposed to. From all the evidence and testimony we are supposed to deduct that for ourselves. Sure the jury comes to a decision but as we know, juries don't always know the full story or are always correct.

I don't know if I particularly liked Brian McCarran but I didn't dislike him either. I don't want to say I pitied him but I sure as heck felt for the trauma he had experienced in Iraq and the after effects of the war.

I would love if Mr. Patterson wrote another book with Captain Paul Terry as the main defense lawyer. He was honest, trustworthy and skilled which you can't say about most defense lawyers. ;)

Mr. Patterson is at his best when he's not preaching political issues and while PTSD is certainly controversial for usage as a defense it's not political. I hope that the US Armed Forces start to recognize PTSD and start to make a concerned effort to help our soldiers.

Final Take: 4.5/5

Julie's Review: The Spire

Summary: This thoughtful thriller from bestseller Patterson (Eclipse) charts the impact of the brutal murder of black coed Angela Hall at Caldwell College in Wayne, Ohio, on gifted athlete Mark Darrow, who discovered the body and later became a nationally renowned lawyer. Mark's best friend was convicted of the crime, but many aspects of the trial troubled Mark. Lionel Farr, Caldwell's provost and Mark's former mentor, offers Mark the post of college president 16 years after Angela's murder. Mark agrees to return to Caldwell, now struggling with the suspected embezzlement of $900,000 from its endowment by its current president. With Lionel's support, Mark investigates both the embezzlement and the old murder. Patterson evokes the quiet schism between town and gown in Wayne as well as the fragile relationship between blacks and whites, while Mark's probing hits exposed nerves with fatal results. ~amazon.com

Review: The Spire is the type of book that I used to read from Richard North Patterson. This book definitely hark ens back to Mr. Patterson's earlier legal thrillers that I loved. What I think I liked the most about this book was how he slowing unraveled parts of the story that a lot of authors would have revealed quickly.

There are a bunch of different aspects to this book: race, college life, love and the question...how well do you ever really know someone? We meet Mark Darrow as he's going to discuss taking the Presidency at Caldwell College. The book flashes between the present and the past because really aren't they almost always linked? Mark is haunted by the murder of a fellow classmate after the biggest game of his career. What really sticks with him is that his best friend was tried and convicted of the murder. He's never really gotten over that fact. So coming back to the school that gave him so much is a blessing and a curse.

The supporting characters are excellent and well flushed out. Mr. Patterson also keeps you guessing for 3/4 of the book. The thing is that if you are really good at figuring things out, you'll figure this one out too. I don't really want to say too much because I'm afraid I'll spill the beans!

There were 2 things that annoyed me: 1) Calling the main character by his last name throughout the whole book. I get this might be a male thing but in a book I found it to grate on my nerves. 2) I felt the ending might have been a little to quick. I will say that it was nice that it wasn't a nice neat bow but you do have an idea that thing will turn out just right.

I hope that Mr. Patterson returns to the story of Mark Darrow. I truly enjoyed his character and his journey.

Final Take: 4/5

Julie's Review: Eclipse

Summary: This stellar legal thriller from bestseller Patterson (Exile) both informs and entertains. On the eve of getting a divorce, Damon Pierce, a 40-year-old partner in a huge San Francisco, Calif., law firm, who specializes in international litigation, e-mails Marissa Brand, a woman he was once in love with in college, to update her on his life. Marissa is married to Bobby Okari, a firebrand reformer whose Nigeria-like country, Luandia, is awash in oil. With these riches come the usual scenarios: ecological disasters, a brutal dictator with murderous henchmen, a rapacious foreign oil company and an oppressed populace. After everyone in Okari's village is slaughtered, Bobby is arrested for the lynching of three oil workers. Damon, because he's a good man and because he's still in love with Marissa, signs on to defend Bobby from the bogus charge. Patterson has exerted all his considerable skill in creating a nightmare atmosphere that will cling to readers long after the last page is turned. ~amazon.com

Review: Dear God, I can't finish Eclipse. Let me start by saying that I don't mind politics as long as it's not in your face and this is in your face. Oil companies and American politics are bad. We are all money hungry fools who are blind to other areas of the world. First of all as an American I can say that I'm not a money hungry fool and while I wasn't happy with the last 8 years I didn't think it was the worst time in history either. That being said. Even putting the politics aside, I just didn't care about the characters. Bobby Okari is a flat, 2-dimensional character and I really didn't care about him and if he lived or died. I did find that the movement of the Akari people to be fascinating and I felt for their plight. His wife Marissa was a weak woman whose cause was her husband's and she was there to support him. Now I have no problem with that if that's the path you chose BUT don't make that the main female character in your book. Then there's (Damon) Pierce...he's in love with Marissa and agrees to defend her husband, since his speciality just happens to be International Law. I mean I didn't even finish the book and I could tell where this was going.

I was over 1/2 done when I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. I used to love Richard North Patterson but probably won't be reading him again unless he goes back to his non-political thrillers. If you want to read a really good book by him try Eyes of a Child.

If political thrillers are your thing and you don't mind the author's politics being shoved down your throat from page one....Eclipse is for you.

There are too many other good books waiting to be read.

No final take since I didn't finish it.