Premeditated Murder

by Ed Gaffney

In a New England courtroom, two young defense lawyers face a trial they cannot win. For attorneys Zack Wilson and Terry Tallach, partners and best friends, it seems an open-and-shut case. Their client... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440241944
• ISBN13: 9780440241942
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Dell
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Wow!!! For a First Time Author Ed Gaffney Shines!

This is my first review, so I am going to ask that everyone reading this hang tight -- Terry and Zack are two criminal defense attorneys set to defend a coldblooded killing "monster" who admits to killing six college students who turn out to be terriorists. They believe everyone is entitled to a fair trial and take on the seemingly unwinable task of defending their client. Then, much to Zach's uneasy dismay, this monster turns out to be all too human, all too likeable. But is he innocent of murder? The twists and turns throughout this book are interwoven with tales of Zach and Terry's life that allow the reader to see inside and get to know these two goofy good guys. They make the job of defending this killer suddenly take on a different meaning. And make the obvious outcome of this trial for Zach to be totally unacceptable. I would like to see more of Matt & Sammy, the chemistry between them is wonderful. The rest of the plot is sort of convuluted and the reader has to work to keep in mind where the story is going, but he does a great job of tying it all together. For a first time out, it was a home run. I loved it. I can't wait on his next book -- will Zach and Terry be back? I would like also to say thanks to Suzanne Brockmann for mentioning that her husband was writing his first book -- she plugged it in one of her acknowledgements, but Ed Gaffney is the one who hit it out of the park!

Sleep is for the weak!

Premeditated Murder is one of the few books that once I started reading I could not put down no matter what the cost in lost sleep! The multiple, and seemingly unrelated, threads of the story were all so compelling that the fact that they had to come together kept me turning the pages. Just an amazing book!

Great First Novel - I'm watching amazon for more!

Wow, White House intrigue (complete with honorable reluctant CIC), terrorist plots (foiled? not foiled? read the book!), courtroom drama, seemingly unrelated petty crimes, first amendment threats, will the author EVER be able to tie this all together? Yes, Ed Gaffney does tie it all together, and beautifully so. I literally could not put this down till I got to the last page. I know for a fact that there must be some creative genius microbes in the Gaffney/Brockmann household. JFK

deep legal thriller

In Northampton, Massachusetts a big black man Calvin Thompson waited next door for the right moment to kill six men. He fired 120 bullets at them and received two back. District Attorney Fran O'Neill feels he has a perfect case for premeditated murder and plans to prosecute Calvin under the newly enacted death penalty law. Attorneys Terry Tallach and Zach Wilson defend Calvin, who confessed he carried out his plan and killed the six. They see little hope of getting an acquittal so they lean towards an insanity plea as the legal team prepares for septuagenarian Judge Cottonwood, whose bench bias against alleged criminals is well known since his mother was raped and murdered. Instead of a straightforward case, Zach and Terry uncover a terrorist plot in which the six dead men were participants and a seventh member is still going ahead with destructive plans for Independence Day that ties in to a war in Africa that involves the White House. This is a deep legal thriller that at its best in the court scenes and when the lawyers meet with their client. The media reaction is prejudicial as the Boston Post displays a picture of a bloody terrorizing looking Cal whom their headline calls Monster. Though the story line seems a bit over the top with the ties to the Oval Office the audience will not care as along with Terry and Zach fans will want to know the truth before the spin maestros twist it beyond comprehension. Ed Gaffney writes a fabulous tale that grips readers from the moment Judge Cottonwood shows his bench bias and never slows down until the confrontation with number seven. Harriet Klausner

Be prepared to be sucked into a well-written story

I didn't have a lot of time when I started reading this book and that caused a problem. Many things to do, and yet I kept coming back to pick up and read "just one more section." I was hooked. At first, I was frustrated by the many [seemingly unrelated] story threads. I knew the author was setting up the story, but still I wanted to know - NOW - how they came together. That's what kept me coming back. It's one of the things I ultimately enjoyed the most. The author made me care about the characters, even if, like Natalie, they had only a few scenes. I wouldn't mind getting to know Matt and Sammy better. That's the romance reader in me. And I especially loved the view of family life between Zack and Justin. Lots of people [ok, lawyers I know] think that "courtroom drama" is an oxymoron. Ed Gaffney made use of that beautifully. I loved the way he advanced his story by inserting bits and pieces from the trial, autopsy reports, etc., which show "real life" courtroom proceedings can be tedious and uninteresting, yet the devil is in the detail. This was a wonderfully detailed and surprising story. It's a "sucks you in" kind of story by a cool new author.