The Hearing

A Novel (Dismas Hardy, Book 7)

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Robert Lawrence

Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

The call comes at midnight. It looks like a tragic and petty murder - a rising star in San Francisco's legal firmament found shot in a dark alley. But for homicide lieutenant Abe Glitsky, the crime cuts horribly close to home - unknown to anyone, the victim was his daughter. Seething, Glitsky leans hard on his only suspect - a homeless heroin addict found lingering over his daughter's body, with her jewelry in his pocket and a smoking gun in his hand.

The city's embattled, ambitious D.A. Sharron Pratt sees an opportunity to revive her troubled administration by publicly declaring war on the killer and vowing to deliver a death penalty, putting the case on the fast track to certain conviction. Unable to watch a man die for Pratt's political gain, Dismas Hardy warily takes on the defense. But as Hardy's crusade to secure his client a fair hearing ensues, a lethal web of political corruption, legal conspiracy, and cold-blooded murder begins to unravel. In a case that will send shock waves through San Francisco and echo in the private lives of its most prominent citizens, the hearing is just the beginning.

Check out another title in the Dismas Hardy series: The Mercy Rule.

©2004 John Lescroart (P)2004 Brilliance Audio

Man, I Miss David Collaci

This is probably the best Dismas Hardy book yet but Robert Lawrence doesn't do the characters justice (all pun intended) or bring them to life the way Collaci does. The story is great. I love a good Who-Dunnit and this doesn't disappoint.

Great book, terrible narrator

I'm so glad that Lescroart has gone to David Colacci, this guy takes a while to get used to...but eventually you get used to him and the writing shines through.

Entertaining but predictable

This is the only "Hardy" novel I have listened to and I wasn't overly impressed. I like my characters larger than life and Hardy doesn't qualify. One could even argue that this book was more about Glitsky than it was about Hardy. Some of the premises of the story strain credulity and Lescroart seemed at times to simply be filling up pages. The judge was one of the more interesting characters but I grew weary of hearing him referred to as the "cadaver" over and over again. Nothing special about this book but interesting enough to keep you listening. And the narration was very good.

Excellant but......

The story is GREAT, haven't ran into a Lescroart that I didn't like. BUT the narrator leaves alot to be desired, let's hope we've heard the end of that.

my favorite Dismas Hardy so far

I am a huge fan of this series. I love the blend of intricate mystery plotting and the development of the character's personal lives over time. I found the way this plot unfolded especially enjoyable.

Liked the close personal connection to this case

I enjoyed the story of this case and the conflict that the tough hard headed Abe has to resolve in order to get to the truth of his daughter's murder. There were a few glitches in the narration where lines were repeated which made me think I was going a little mad the first time.

Distracting narration

Robert Lawrence has a great voice, but sounds like he's reading from a poorly-paced teleprompter and paying no attention to punctuation. His female voices are terrible; all sound whiny or weepy, no matter the subject matter. He may be one of those male readers who simply cannot "do" female voices, though I think all of these problems could improve, if he tried. In the meantime, it's too bad that the narration is the most memorable thing about this presentation.

Enjoyed the story… hated the narrator!

This was a very interesting story line and I enjoyed that aspect. However the narrator was a big disappointment after hearing the previous narrator who did such an awesome job. Many times throughout the book I thought about skipping it. Not sure I would recommend this one and certainly won’t read it again.

THE HEARING

Oh boy, this was a good one. I'm a big fan of John Lescroart and
I believe this is one of his best. It's full of legal drama, murder and more. His main characters repeat in all of his books and they are very likeable. This is a longish story, but no unnecessary information. Good suspense waiting for the characters to figure things out. A VERY GOOD listen.

Worst narrator -ever!

I’ve been enjoying Lescroart for quite a while now, and I am stuck in Florida having to drive back to GA, listening to this terrible narration. I am obstinate and want to read/listen to Dismas Hardy in chronological order, so I have to listen to this. I’ve never submitted such a negative review. 😖