Jury Double-P460996/9B

by Edward Stewart

Book Overview

Vince Cardozo is a New York cop who's seen too much and can't forget enough. Now this prince of the city has walked into a case that challenges everything he's ever believed about law and order. Corey... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440222788
• ISBN13: 9780440222781
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Island Books
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Ace Attorney fans would love it.

I bought this book after getting hooked on the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney videogames; I had a hankering for some more court based drama and mystery. I found it at a Library book sale and I picked it up alongside James Patterson's 'Judge and Jury' title. My English teacher once told me that a great story has a simple plot and complex characters. Mystery titles are of course the exception to this rule. And I have to say that Mr. Stewart nailed this down perfectly. With regards to Characterization: Every character has their own goals and they convincingly run contradictory to. The local Police officer, Vince, for instance, wants to see former sports super star/child molester Mickey Williams behind bars. The lead prosecutor for the case, however, is hired by the Feds and needs to prove that MIckey was acting as a tool for Unproven-Terrorist/Cult Leader Mr. Lyle. Here we've got the Local cop concerned about local issues and the Area Prosecutor worried about national issues. My two favorite characters of the book are the Defense and Prosecuting Attorney. The Defense is an inexperienced idiot fighting for Lyle and the Prosecution is an organized Liar. When you've got both of them constantly being caught on their faults and the constant screams of 'OBJECTION! Hearsay, Conclusion Repetition' "Sustained, sustained, sustained' you can only wonder what sort of day car the Judge thinks she's been put in charge of. With regards to Plot: The story is four in one, we've got the Police investigation. Juror Anne's infiltration to the case. The Court battle itself; and the custody subplot of Toby, Anne's Nephew. While taking the story from so many points of view, the story is expertly kept tight. With so many moving plot points in the story, it is wonderful to see overlap. Vince testifies in the court case. Toby becomes an aid in the monitoring of Mickey. Anne poking her noise into the investigation. It really feels like all the characters are live and real elements of the story. Not just disposable NPCs. With regards to 'Judge and Jury' by James Patterson. Judge and Jury is a joke. It was so disgustingly written I forced myself to read it but I couldn't finish it. It pales in every single way to Jury Double. At the front, Judge and Jury and Jury Double overlap on a ton of characters and motivation. They both focus on a Cop, a Juror/Mother, a Kid, and an organized Crime Boss. In fact, when reading the setup it's hard not to think that one author plagiarized the other. But after starting on the same base, the novels take two very different directions. Primarily in quality. The son in Patterson's book was wholly undeveloped. His removal from the cast early in the book spoke more of convenience in my mind then being plot relevant. The Juror goes into a depression, which is understandable as the mother; but as a reader you don't feel it in the least due to the son's terribly flat character. The officer and Juror end up teaming up and going to the Mob

Difficult premise executed with great panache

This is a real thriller. The author takes an outlandish premise and makes you believe it could happen. Guaranteed to keep you reading page after page far into the night.

Murder mystery sure to thrill!

"Jury Double" is easily one of the best murder mysteries I've ever read. You start guessing the outcome in chapter 2, and you don't know what REALLY happened until the last chapter (around 39). Every chapter puts a new spin on the book, sometimes helping your theory, often disproving it. I reccomend reading it, and then re-reading the last chapter, because there's no other way to understand this extremely complex plot (and by extension the extremely complex resolution). Buy it for the thrill!

One sitting read with many twists...

This was a very good read with many twists throughout to constantly keep you guessing. Every time I thought I had it something new was brought in to make me wonder again