Thrillers

The Jury Master (David Sloane Series #1)

Name: The Jury Master (David Sloane Series #1)
Author: Robert Dugoni
ISBN: 9780446617079

by Robert Dugoni

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Overview

David Sloane is the best wrongful death attorney in San Francisco. But despite his professional success, he's plagued by a nightmare of a childhood he cannot consciously remember. When he recieves a package from a White House confidant who then turns up dead, the contents reveal a history he could never have imagined.

Synopsis

In the tradition of Scott Turow and Brad Meltzer, this debut novel introduces a bold and entertaining new voice to the legal thriller genre. David Sloane is the best wrongful death attorney in San Francisco. He s a lawyer who can make juries do anything. But despite his professional success, he s plagued by a nightmare of a childhood he cannot consciously remember. When he receives a package from a White House confidant who then turns up dead by apparent suicide, the contents reveal a history he never could have imagined. Now, in search of justice, Sloane must depend on two men hes never met: Charles Jenkins, a former CIA agent turned recluse who suffers the same nightmare; and Tom Molia, a police detective willing to take on just about anyone including the U.S. Department of Justice. Together, these men must expose a 30-year conspiracy so insidious that it may reach as far as the Oval Office and topple a presidency if they can stay alive.

A whole new kind of thriller...

Publishers Weekly

The most impressive thing about this gripping legal thriller is what it doesn't do. Dugoni, a lawyer who coauthored a nonfiction book about an Idaho worker brain-damaged in 1996 by cyanide fumes, opens his debut novel with a wrongful death attorney in San Francisco, David Sloane, about to make his closing remarks defending a corporation in a similar case. Sloane, who has won 14 cases in a row, hates his arrogant client and must face an obviously hostile jury. But instead of devoting many chapters to the case, Dugoni quickly moves into some unexpected and very interesting territory: a recurring childhood nightmare Sloane shares with former CIA agent Charles Jenkins, apparently a complete stranger. Meanwhile, unstoppable West Virginia police detective Tom Molia investigates the suicide of a top adviser to the president, and what he finds draws Sloane and Jenkins closer to the truth behind their shared terror: an international conspiracy 30 years in the making. All of Dugoni's characters have a fresh and believable edge, and there is plenty of action in far-flung settings. One looks forward to Sloane's return. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni graduated from Stanford University with a degree in journalism and clerked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times befor attending the UCLA School of Law. He has practiced law in San Francisco and Seattle for 17 years. In 1999 he left full-time practice to return to writing and is a two-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Award. He lives with his wife and two children in Seattle.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

This fiction debut from former lawyer Dugoni, author of the nonfiction The Cyanide Canary, displays few of the pitfalls commonly seen in a first novel. David Sloane is a San Francisco wrongful death attorney everyone either envies or hates. With his words and actions, he can manipulate a jury into doing anything he wants, and he hasn't lost a trial in 15 years. But his existence begins to unravel when, on the other side of the United States, a presidential adviser evidently takes his life. Days later, Sloane receives a mysterious package from the man. Suddenly, he finds himself the target of assassins who want the contents of the package and who also know that the adviser's death was no suicide. Sloane must use all of his courtroom powers of persuasion in the real world if he is to survive and shatter a conspiracy. This thriller is reminiscent of the early John Grisham and should easily find its way onto the best sellers lists. For all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/05.]-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L., WA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In this debut thriller, bitter men chase the single sweet thing life has to offer them: revenge. David Sloane, however, is not among the vengeful. Though a decorated ex-marine, he's on the mild-mannered side, an ordinary citizen, a hard-working lawyer-brilliant, successful, but lonely, too, more so than he's prepared to acknowledge even to himself. Practicing in San Francisco, he's had 14 noteworthy wins in a row, and no one who's seen him sway a jury predicts a snapped string in the foreseeable future. And yet someone out there doesn't like him. Or, to put a slightly different spin on it, someone has singled him out for negative attention. His apartment has been ransacked, but nothing is missing. Clearly, an error has been made, David tells himself at first-mistaken identity. Wrong. And soon enough, mysteriously, he comes into possession of something ruthless people will unhesitatingly kill for-a file. It contains a 30-year-old secret, so wicked, so blood-drenched and so explosive that the nation's corridors of power would be cluttered with trashed careers if it were to be revealed. It also contains information important to David for highly personal reasons. In search of dangerous truths, David begins a perilous journey. During it, he finds friends and allies, a woman to love and a whole series of implacable enemies. Dugoni's well out in front until the last 50 pages or so when an unfortunate fusion of over-cooked plotting and overwrought prose results in a tumble. Still, a writer to watch.