The First Law

Dismas Hardy, Book 9

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Robert Lawrence

At last recovered from a near-fatal gunshot wound, Lieutenant Abe Glitsky is back at work. But instead of returning to his old job as chief of homicide detail, he's assigned a desk job in the payroll department, where he has no business investigating murders -until his father's closest friend is shot dead in a downtown pawn shop.

Glitsky asks the new homicide lieutenant about the case, but the brass tells him to stay out of it. Guided by the Patrol Special - a private police force supervised by the SFPD that is a holdover from San Francisco's vigilante past - the police have already targeted their prime suspect: John Holiday, proprietor of a run-down local bar, and a friend and client of Dismas Hardy.

Hardy has ample reason to doubt both his client's guilt and the evidence conveniently stacked against him. Hardy turns to Glitsky for help, but when Holiday is implicated in the grisly killings of two more men, their pleas fall on hostile ears. To avoid arrest, Holiday turns fugitive, and the police believe three things: that Hardy's a liar protecting Holiday, that Holiday is a cold-blooded killer, and that Glitsky's a bad cop on the wrong side of the law.

And as the deadly pursuit for a murderer intensifies, Hardy, Glitsky, and even their families are directly threatened by the forces that want to see Holiday brought down. Cut off from the system that they both served, denied justice from the corridors of power, and increasingly isolated at every turn, Hardy and Glitsky face their darkest hour. For when the law that is meant to shield and protect those closest to them fails, they must look to another, more primal law in order to survive.

Check out more titles in the Dismas Hardy series.©2004 John Lescroart (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

The First Law

I love the author, the narrator I don't like.
He made the story not very interesting.

The best yet

lots of suspense and intrique. I've read 6 of Lescroart's books. This is the best yet. I honestly couldn't put it down.

Loved it

Robert Lawrence has such a nice soothing deep voice. Love listening to him. Story was awesome. Lescroart is very addictive.

Didn't like the narrator's interpretation

As other reviewers have mentioned, the narrator for this one was terrible. I don't mind robotic, really, and would prefer it to a badly rendered accent, as long as the story progresses. This was both robotic and badly rendered. I don't ever recall Moses having an Irish lilt, and this was particularly annoying as it came and went. And the black cop who lisped--come on--what was the point of that? Abe's father was the worst kind of stereotype.

I hung in there and finished but did a lot of eye-rolling. And the story? I did not care for the vigilante ending, and really it just dragged on too long.

There are much better installments in this series.

Almost 5 stars

I would have rated this higher if Lescroart had imagined a way to crash that helicopter before the a*******s started shooting. Depictions of animal abuse always harsh my buzz, even when enjoying an otherwise great listen. That being said, this one contained an uncharacteristic level of raw violence for a lawyery book. I'd say this was Robert Lawrence's best performance of the three, and he's improved a lot. His voice was really well suited to the subject matter here. All in all, in my opinion, this was the most gripping of the series so far, and yes, I am a fan.