- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Random House (Jun 8 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375505024
- ISBN-13: 978-0375505027
- Product Dimensions: 16 x 2.3 x 24.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 431 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,129,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Giobberti makes a return appearance in this second novel by Reuland (Hollowpoint), in which a ghetto murder is spun into a complex, shadowy courtroom showdown. As the novel begins, Giobberti is living out a deadeningly quiet bureaucratic exile in the sleepy appeals office of the Brooklyn DA. His career hit a brick wall after the events of the earlier novel: the death of his daughter, his subsequent estrangement from his wife and the personal collapse that led to a botched homicide prosecution. So Gio is confused, suspicious and guardedly grateful when a former underling appears in his office and makes him an offer he can't refuse: Giobberti can return to the Homicide office if he'll prosecute the accused murderer of a Brooklyn bodega owner. After that, moral and narrative ambiguity take over as Giobberti tries to sort out why the DA wants him on this case. He knows something's wrong, but no one's revealing anything, not even Laurel Ashfield, the straitlaced, by-the-book junior DA who had the case before it was dropped in Giobberti's lap. Reuland avoids by-the-numbers storytelling and die-cut morality, tracing a tortuous path through the Brooklyn underworld and tossing off impolitic remarks with a studied carelessness ("Brooklyn killers do not deserve long stories. Brooklyn killers have no imagination. Brooklyn killers are the dumbest killers in the world"). There's a redemption story thinly camouflaged under the procedural tangle, giving this noirish legal thriller grace and gravitas.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Brooklyn prosecutor Andrew Giobberti has been exiled to the Appeals Bureau for so long he's almost forgotten that putting away murderers is in his DNA. Almost. When he's pulled out of purgatory to rescue a politically sensitive homicide trial prepped by a green, painfully ethical prosecutor, Giobberti's soon ready for his courtroom comeback. But even as he shows his unwilling partner the ropes they'll use to encircle the defendant's neck, disturbing holes start appearing in the case. Will Giobberti bend the truth to serve justice, or do the right thing for the wrong outcome? Reuland, himself a veteran of the Brooklyn DA's Homicide Bureau, vividly brings to life this gritty morality tale and draws us deep inside the protagonist's troubled psyche. Unfortunately, overheated dialogue and confrontations undermine Giobberti's crackling ruminations until it sometimes feels as though the narrative channels are flipping between a soap opera and an excellent Law & Order episode. Luckily, the compelling force of Giobberti's tortured personality and Reuland's consistently delightful turns of phrase save this follow-up to Hollowpoint (2001) from sinking too deeply into melodrama. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shavng with a Badger,
By
This review is from: Semiautomatic: A Novel (Hardcover)
Reuland's first book Hollowpoint hooked me with the throw-away line, he was so tough, 'he saved with a badger'. Reuland's dialogue works so well that one feels himself at the bottom of the same hole his hero with the heart of dread, Gio is looking up from. You don't read about the someone's state of mind in a Reuland book, you feel it. That time when your girl left you and you couldn't eat for a whole day; that's what Semiautomatic makes you feel. The ketchup seen and reference to Coney Island whitefish had me laughing for hours. Just when you feel bottomed out, he describes someone as being 'dropped into the chair with a spatula' and the plot drags you back from the brink. The jacket says Chandler and Hemingway but it should say James Joyce written by Ed McBain.Semiautomatic is a must read for those pilgrims looking for the new noire classic. It is full or great throw away lines and my favourite this time is "There are only wrong moves left" Great read, Reuland deserves more readers and better support from his publisher. This is a guaranteed come back to next year.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real, well written and could actually happen,
By
This review is from: Semiautomatic: A Novel (Hardcover)
It would be a mistake to call this a legal thriller, just as it would be a mistake to believe that what happens in most American courtrooms is legally thrilling. This is taut, believable urban crime drama from someone batting .1000 right out of the box on his first two novels. It's not plot-crazed Grisham. It's a story and characters to think about and a protagonist you can actually buy. I loved it, just as I loved Hollowpoint, his first. The second is more enjoyable if you read HP and got the setup but Semiautomatic also stands on its own as a first-rate urban crime novel. Very good stuff.Can't waint for the next one.
5.0 out of 5 stars
fabulous legal Noir,
By
This review is from: Semiautomatic: A Novel (Hardcover)
Following his bungled prosecution of a homicide case (see HOLLOWPOINT) Assistant District Attorney Andrew Giobberti toils in the surreal Brooklyn Appeals Office, the Siberia where those whose careers are over are exiled until they retire, quit, or die. His personal life feels as if he is at rock bottom but also still in freefall as he still mourns the death of his daughter and the separation from his wife.However, he is given a second chance at redeeming himself and a return to the Homicide 0ffice if he prosecutes the suspect in the murder of a Brooklyn bodega owner. Elation turns to distrust and he wonders if he is being paranoid as he ponders why this particular case was given to him. No one will say a word to him especially why him, not even Laurel Ashfield, who had the prosecution before Giobberti received his so-called reprieve. SEMIAUTOMATIC is a fabulous legal Noir that gives the audience an intriguing taste of Brooklyn, home of "the dumbest killers in the world". Andrew is a marvelous lead character as he struggles with a horde of maggots that eat away at his heart and soul. Still the key to this unique story line is that the plot hits the audience on three fronts. The obvious legal thriller is enhanced by the in-politics of the DA Office and by a human salvation story all tied together by Andrew. Harriet Klausner
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