The Associate

De: Phillip Margolin

Narrado por: Scott Brick

Daniel Ames is an associate at Reed, Briggs, Portland's most prestigious law firm, earning more money than he ever imagined possible.

When a charismatic civil litigator sues the firm's biggest client for manufacturing a drug that he claims causes unspeakable birth defects, Daniel is certain the claim has no merit. But as he begins to investigate, his world comes tumbling down around him. His work is sabotaged, he's accused of professional incompetence, and he's fired. Twelve hours later he is arrested for murder.

Daniel scrambles to clear his name and save his reputation -- and in the process unearths a trail of deceit. But someone doesn't want this trail explored, and Daniel becomes the target of a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed.

©2001 Phillip M. Margolin; (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc. and ©2001 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Can Daniel Ames clear his name?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I really liked this book. It was part mystery and part courtroom drama which in my mind is a great combination.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Associate?

I liked that there was a story within a story. At first the preface made no sense and I loved finding out how it fit into the story.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first Scott Brick book I've listened to and I thought he did a great job. I will look for his name again.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to this book while I was walking each day and each day I walked longer!

Meandering Tale

Convoluted plot doesn't translate well to an audio format. I was disappointed. The only thing that kept me going was the narrator.

Average; fast read, not a legal thriller

First, I did not enjoy the narrator of this book; I thought he was dull. Perhaps he suffered by comparison to the narrator of P.D. James' the Murder Room.

As for the book, there was a lot of action, murders, and a few twists and turns. The last one was difficult to determine, but the rest were relatively easy to spot. Having worked in law firms, I had a bit of a difficult time swallowing the initial premise; along with the outcome of some of the criminal proceedings.

While I "read" it quickly, and found no glaring horribles, I just found that it left me with a so what feeling. I did not feel much empathy for any of the human characters (most were lawyers, after all!) Perhaps one not so familiar with law offices will find this book more intriguing.

A fast-paced, fun read

Fast-paced with an engaging protagonist. I enjoyed this book thoroughly... and was prompted to buy several other Margolin novels as a consequence. In fact, I thought The Associate was one of Margolin's best novels--far, far better than Wild Justice.

Convoluted and implausible but mildly entertaining

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Short answer: a lot.This was the first book I've read by this author. I was drawn by the classification as a legal thriller; it was neither. The story line was intriguing but interrupted by a less than believable "romance." Yes, sometimes we experience love at first sight but in The Associate we didn't get that feeling.The narrator was good at accents though sometimes his attempts at Eastern European dialects were hard to distinguish from his attempts at Spanish. He seemed to not even try male and female voices so that at times it was hard to determine who was speaking.There wasn't much suspense and I was able to discern the perpetrator relatively early. Nonetheless, I soldiered on with the listen, in part because I needed a diversion during sessions at the gym and The Associate didn't require much deep thought.

What could Phillip Margolin have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Margolin could have made the characters more plausible, perhaps with some deeper insights into their personalities to help us understand why the two lead characters fell for each other so hard and so quickly.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He should work harder to differentiate male and female characters for starters and remember what accents he's supposed to be using.

Did The Associate inspire you to do anything?

I'll think long and hard before listening to another Phillip Margolin book or Scott Brick narration.