Framing the Dialogue

After a modest career in the NFL, attorney Jake Lassiter has an equally modest career as a defense attorney in Miami.  In Bum Rap he is asked to defend a fellow attorney charged with murder of a Russian mobster things get interesting and dangerous.  It doesn’t help that his second chair in the defense is the very attractive girlfriend of the accused.  Although there is strong incentive to settle and take a plea bargain the defendant takes his chances in a trial.

“Honestly, I don’t know how.  Maybe film director Billy Wilder said it best.  He was talking about movie audiences, not juries, but the point holds true:  ‘Individually, they’re idiots.  Collectively, they’re a genius.”

 The novel was interesting and held my interest.  Where it was lacking for me was in the details; it seemed to dig around the deeper parts of the story rather than delving into the depths that would have given this book some body.  Again, I really enjoyed the thriller and will read more of author Paul Levine’s work.