The Advocate [Hardcover]

Thank goodness The Advocate is such a breath of fresh air. The look into the legal world is pretty accurate although it does come from a very specific perspective (that of the defense attorney). Despite that, I did think it provided a pretty balanced view of the foibles of both the prosecutorial mindset as well as the mindset of the defense attorney and neither is perfect to say the least.

Darcy Cole is a high profile Chicago defense attorney who has just won a murder case for cool as ice Lynn Tobias only to have a US Attorney with eyes on the Governor's mansion make an end run and charge her with insurance fraud with murder as a related offense.

Add to that the fact that a mob boss' out of control son has placed a hit on his life and a mid life crisis and you get several interesting and quirky characters and a strong main storyline with a few nice side threads to keep things moving.

The legal stuff is authentic and I've pretty much seen every single one of the characters in real life. From the no nonsense hardass judge to the grandstanding US attorney, I was impressed that the book lacked the superhero know it all attorney so common in other books.

The case was nicely written, enough technical stuff to satisfy picky people like me but not too much as to slow the story down. Good twists and turns. The end was surprising, although I'd already guessed part of it, but not a total and utter shock.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it to my friends in the legal community who are as tired as I am of the run of the mill legal thriller.

As an attorney I have met every single one of Larry Axelrood's characters at one time or another in my career. They are written as three dimensional and quite human. Axelrood does an especially good job at portraying his gay character Patrick as a real person who happens to be gay. He does not stereotype Patrick or make him a victim. This is a refreshing change from the typical gay character who is written as either a monster or a wimp.

The book is fast paced and does not inundate you with overly descriptive narratives. Axelrood gives you a glimpse of the Chicago legal community and how it works without boring the reader or losing him in overly technical lingo.

The ending is a real surprise and from someone who prides himself on always being able to call the plot two chapters into a book I was thrilled to be caught unawares.

This is a great book to read on a plane because you will become so engrossed in the adventures of Darcy Cole you will have landed before you know it.

Bravo to Larry Axelrood and as I said earlier, Run ... do not walk to buy this book!