Nothing but the Truth

Having listened to all of John Lescroart's novels at least once, I just recently have come to recognize his romantic nature. While he always writes intelligent, intriguing, intricate stories about police work and legal puzzles, they also always contain a sub-plot involving love and family. In the case of "Nothing but the Truth," our hero, Dismus Hardy, has to go to great lengths -- breaking some of his own ethical rules along the way -- to rescue his wife from unjust incarceration. The effort brings him to understand the importance of his marriage and kids in his life. So, Lescroart, I have your number now: You are just an old softie. Fans of hard-boiled noir might not like the careful unfolding of Lescroart's plots, where the characters' softer emotions come into play; but, if you have the patience to immerse yourself an alternate reality for a while, where events move and collide at unpredictable paces, then I would recommend "Nothing but the Truth" to you. As always, David Colacci delivers a masterful reading, adding color and verisimilitude to the story.

Having read, or listened to all of Lescroat's books, I was really excited to see a new one appear on Audiobooks. What I didn't realize was that it was a 2001 book just now recorded in '09. David Colacci is a great reader, so I was very excited to order it.
I tried to finish it, but it got so bogged down in pollution and evil industrialists. Aside from the plot not being of great interest, the actions of "Frannie" were overblown and tiresome. The other characters were very stylized...the arrogant and unreasonable judge; the nasty lawyers etc.
I skipped here and there and finally got to the end to see "who done it" but I did not enjoy the book. All I can say is thank goodness he got better through the years!

The Abe Glitzky-Dismas Hardy series is one of the most compelling and sustained works of the "mystery-thriller" genre. Lescroarts has created characters who grow over time, live through deaths of their loved ones and also the everyday-ness of actual life. These books are non-fiction as well as great ideas. The dialogue rings true. The court scenes are a bit
lengthy, but the drama of each case warrants the detail, and the trials typically contain enough real-life drama outside the courtroom to hold your attention. Each time you know that Hardy will win, of course, but, as with Joe Montana and Michael Jordan, everyone watching knew what was going to happen. It was the nature of the genius at work that kept everyone on the edge of their seats.
Both Hardy and Glitzky live through life events that many of us do; divorce, career changes and the double-edged sword that reaching a goal always is. Glitzky is perhaps the most fully nuanced male character in fiction. One day I half expect to meet him in the San Francisco Police Department Homicide detail. Timothy Olyphant could play him, if Tim were half Jewish and half black, with a scar running across his lips that flares white when he is enraged. You will not regret a moment spent with this group of people. They are funny, inventive, likeable, they love their work in the same way that some of us love our spouses; i.e., we occasionally want to kill them.

I've made one mistake with Lescroart's books and that is not read them in the order written. I usually do research to do that regardless of when they were made into audio books. I did not in this case. Thus, sometimes his kids are 3 or 4 and sometimes gone from the nest. Or a character dead in one book and alive in another. I like character detail so you begin to know the ins and outs of the main characters. My favorite books are about 20 hours plus in this genre. Can't find too many of those but Lescroart is good and I normally don't like courtroom drama but his are exceptional. I will read every damn one of them before all is said and done and then read them again a couple of years down the road. Each of us have our own taste but I hate it when people write review and try to make themselves some sort of professional book critic. None of us are pros or we would be making a living at it. These are excellent books and yes........some we like better than others. I'm not going to tell you about the story except that I liked it a lot and yes........I do like books with modern day forensic techniques and I like them a lot but it's still a darn good book.

This is the third Lescroart book I have listened to and it is by far the best. As usual, if you are a fan of and know San Francisco, you will feel that you are in different parts of the city during the story. It makes me wants to go back for a visit. The story itself requires some suspension of common sense as it based on the premise that the police would tolerate a group of private citizens who put up their own reward money for clues leading to the solving of a murder. This group also gets information directly and decides what it wants to pass on to the police. After that, the amateurs advance the case where the police can't...that aside, the story is interestingly told, although it is one of the stories that you can't really solve on your own before the ending because of unknown (to the reader) information. If you are old enough to remember, it has the feel of an old Agatha Christie/Poirot story at the end.

If you like San Francisco and a mystery solved without high tech forensics you will like this story

the main theme of marital difficulties revolved around 4 main characters. There was too much focus and content on marital issues. The pacing was also slow, IMO. Franny Hardy was in jail for 4 days which made this a somewhat depressing listen.

Colacci is excellent.

franny should have been released on day 2, and the other sub plots could have been better developed, esp the killers in this story.