Review: Lassiter by Paul Levine

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (September 13, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553806742
• ISBN-13: 978-0553806748

Product Description

 

Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida’s sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami’s rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. In this tale of redemption and revenge, Edgar-nominated author Paul Levine delivers his most powerful thriller yet.

Jake Lassiter, second-string linebacker turned low-rent lawyer, is cynical about the law, but if you hire him, he’ll take a punch for you . . . and maybe a swing at the prosecutor, too.

Amy Larkin—beautiful, angry, and mysterious—accuses Lassiter of involvement in the disappearance of her sister eighteen years earlier. What does Lassiter know about Krista Larkin, the runaway teen turned porn actress? More than he’s saying.

Seeking to atone for his own past, Lassiter follows the cold trail of the missing Krista and butts head with the powerful men who also knew her: a former porn king turned philanthropist, a slick Cuban-born prosecutor who’d love to be governor, and an aging mobster who once worked for the infamous Meyer Lansky. 

The evidence leads to a long-ago night of kinky sex, designer drugs—and possible murder. But before Lassiter can nail the truth, a gun goes off, a suspect falls dead, and Amy is charged with murder.

The state has an eyewitness and a slam-dunk case. Lassiter has a client he doesn’t trust and a case he can’t win. Did Amy shoot the man who killed her sister? Or the wrong man? And what really happened to Krista? The answers, buried under years of deceit and corruption, are revealed in an explosive courtroom finale proving that rough justice is better than no justice at all.

About the Author

 

Paul Levine is a former trial lawyer and the award-winning author of legal thrillers including Illegal, Solomon vs. Lord (nominated for the Macavity Award and the James Thurber Prize), The Deep Blue Alibi (nominated for an Edgar Award), and Kill All the Lawyers (a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Award). He won the John D. MacDonald Award for his critically acclaimed Jake Lassiter novels, which are now available as ebooks. He’s also written more than twenty episodes for the CBS military drama JAG. Paul Levine lives in Los Angeles, where he is working on his next Jake Lassiter thriller.


My Review

This is my first Paul Levine novel.  Excellent surprise to discover that he is a great author.  Lassiter is the title of the novel which is the latest in the Jake Lassiter series.  The last book in the series Flesh & Bones was published fourteen years ago.

Jake Lassiter is an ex-football player who is now a lawyer in South Florida.  Not the greatest lawyer but his heart is in the right place.  I loved this book.  It is well written and you really connect with the characters in the novel.  The story itself is full of twists and turns that you don't see coming.  I loved the ending.

I highly recommend this crime mystery novel by Paul Levine.