Primal Fear

by William Diehl

Book Overview

Spine-tingling...Mr. Diehl can sustain suspense. THE NEW YORKTIMESMartin Vail, the brilliant bad-boy lawyer every prosecutor and politician love to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop. Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team--a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067940211X
• ISBN13: 9780679402114
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Villard Books
• Length: 418 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

ONE HELLUVA THRILLING SUSPENSFUL NOVEL BY DEIHL

For someone like me who easily gets bored in reading books...This book kept my attention and I was constantly asking myself, "DID AARON REALLY DO IT OR NOT?"Mr. Deihl did an OUTSTANDING job when he wrote "Primal Fear"!!!!The last couple of pages of this book will definitely BLOW YOUR MIND!!!! There is a second (continuation) book by Deihl that picks up where this book leaves off but, it is a few years later and has the same characters. I can't remember the title though. It is definitely worth the search. Just another great book by William Deihl.

Legal action AND a great THRILLER to boot!

I'm gonna tell you right now, the last line of this book alone is worth the purchase price (and a lot more). I was left thinking about this book long after I finished it. TRUST me, if you saw the movie version, you will be forever disappointed with how they twisted it for whatever reasons to make it NOWHERE NEAR as good as it could and should have been. Aaron Stampler is a FANTASTIC character, not 2-dimensional like so many in popular fiction today. Fully realized, and VERY complex. IS he guilty? Does he really have multiple personalities? OR is he a genius PRETENDING to be a somewhat backwards inbred mountain outcast? These questions will be raised and it won't be until the INCREDIBLE conclusion on the VERY LAST PAGE that you will be treated to one of my all-time favorite endings. 'Primal Fear' ranks as one of my favorite books, and after you finish it, I'm sure you will agree that it deserved all of the praise it received. I have to admit, the following sequels to 'Primal Fear' just didn't do it for me. I tried, honest to goodness I TRIED to enjoy them as much, but it didn't happen. And if someone tells you that one of the sequel's are BETTER than 'Primal' DON'T BELIEVE IT. If you count yourself a fan of John Grisham, Steve Martini, Richard North Patterson or MY personal favorite legal thriller author: Phillip Margolin do yourself a supreme favor and pick this amazing thriller up and devour it TODAY.

Psychological suspense and great law scenes work wonderfully

I just got finished reading this and first, like has been mentioned in reviews in addition to mine, the ending was incredible. The book keeps you guessing right up until the second to last page about Aaron. Also, as mentioned, very nice love scenes, but it's curious to note that the women are on top each time...ah, but anyway, the courtroom scene was magnificently written and drew many, "Oooooh, nice one!" and the like from me as I read. All the characters are spectacular. I'm especially fond of Martin because I am a wise ass at heart. Aaron of course was the most well done. I am eager to pick up Show of Evil to see where the story goes from here.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.

I don't normally like books with a lot of legal matters in it. I prefer stories by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Shirley Jackson. I have no idea how this book got my attention but outside of "It" by Stephen King...i have never read a book that came anywhere close to being as exceptional as "Primal Fear" it is intelligent, very suspenseful, mastefully crafted, completely distubing. What makes this book perfect is it's ending...i have never seen one like it. READ THIS BOOK...then read SHOW OF EVIL because it is every bit as good...if not almost better...but don't waste your time with "Reign in Hell" I have no idea what happened with that one. it's the best psychological thriller ever.

Better than Grisham

I must say that I bought this book by seeing an ad of the movie on the TV, but while the movie hadn't come up in Brazil I read it. I've never heard about Diehl before, but as I turned the pages ( fast indeed ), I realized that he is a very good writer, able to create characters that you simply love. vail is the bad-boy counselour that must take the defense of the angel-looking Stampler, accused of the murder of a weel-known bishop in Chicago. As he goes deep in the investigation of the crime, th real truth about stampler begins to come out. And it's amazing, to the last page. Even if the end is kind of predictable, you keep reading just to confirm if it's what you're thinking. When I found out about the sequel to this novel, named " Show of Evil ", I went right to the bookstore to buy it. And I hope that it makes me stay awake in the night just as " Primal " has