This was a good book. good characters that are well developed . A decent and believable plot and nice pacing. this is the first book in the dismas har..Show More »dy series ( first in the courtroom series) there are two other books before this one were he is a bartender. But the author does a good job at catching you up in the series. Worth the money or credits.

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Interesting story and well read by David Colacci, one of my favorite narrators, BUT, if you are a lawyer and are bothered by books with fundamental le..Show More »gal errors (just a few here), then you must be able to ignore them in order to enjoy the book.

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John Lescroart frequently builds his stories around a burning issue of the day. In the case of "The Mercy Rule," he addresses assisted suicide -- whi..Show More »ch, although "The Mercy Rule" was written back in 1998, remains a burning issue today. Throughout the audiobook, most of the characters are assuming that Graham Russo assisted in his father's suicide; sparking a lively debate in the media, and causing the listener to contemplate the issue. In fact, John Lescroart ALWAYS makes us think when we listen to his novels. David Colacci provides the perfect, versatile voice for narrating this story. A few details date these older Lescroart novels -- like, for instance, the novelty of cell phones and the relatively primitive stage of personal computers back in those days -- but, otherwise, they continue to intrigue and inspire. I would recommend "The Mercy Rule" to all fans of carefully-crafted legal thrillers.

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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 i..Show More »ntelligent, 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.

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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. ..Show 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.

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The beginning of this book dragged with many characters that I found difficult to remember. That difficulty stemmed from narration that I would consi..Show More »der to be not the best. Differentiation was created more by accents that I was not sure were true (southern, english, etc.) and the female voices were awful.

However, the story is a good one and worth the listen. I look forward to other books by this author, but not by this narrator.

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I'd been looking for a good police procedural and found it in The First Law - great characters and well crafted plot with unfolding clues. This is my..Show More » first Lescroart and now I think I'll back up to the first book in the Dismas Hardy series. My only disappointments with this book were a few places that stretched credibility, and a strange narration. The narrator was brilliant with many of the character voices but also sometimes hesitant as if he was reading it for the first time. I didn't find this to be too much of a problem myself and I do highly recommend this book.

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As always, John Lescroart delivers an totally satisfying read with "The Second Chair." Also as always, David Colacci brings this novel to life with hi..Show More »s excellent narration. Anyone contemplating listening to "The Second Chair" will probably enjoy it more if they have already listened to the previous novel in this series, "The First Law;" because "The Second Chair" makes several references back to events in "The First Law." These events, in turn, explain the anguish that our protagonists -- best friends Dismus Hardy and Abe Glitsky -- are suffering here. In general, it will reward the reader to listen to Mr. Lescroart's novels in sequence, because, as the characters develop over time, we begin taking proprietary interest in their lives and their predicaments. Lescroart's novels can accurately be called legal thrillers -- because most of them do contain a trial, and they always involve clever legal shenanigans -- but they can also be categorized as mysteries, police procedurals, and dramas. For instance, we learn from Mr. Lescroart's stories that defense lawyers need to generally assume the guilt of their clients, and work around that guilt. But, in the case of "The Second Chair" (and several other novels in this series), we discover that the attorney is actually defending an innocent person ... just as the attorney herself is making that discovery. Then the attorney must resort to the "SODDIT" ("Some Other Dude Did It") defense. The SODDIT defense works best if the attorney -- with or without the help of police detectives -- can discover the identity of the "other dude." The ensuing investigation transforms the novel into a thriller. "The Second Chair" definitely provides thrills, along with the requisite surprise ending.

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I came across this title in paperback and was intrigued by a Washington Post blurb on the back cover that read, "Surpasses anything Grisham ever wrote..Show More » ... " I like Grisham so I checked the availability on Audible and ultimately downloaded it. The good news is that the listen was a good one. The bad news is that the Washington Post was wrong. This novel told a couple of stories that were skillfully linked. I truly enjoyed both the investigative pursuits and the courtroom dialogue. I correctly guessed "who done it" about halfway through the listen and was pleased when some of the assumptions I made were revealed. There is misdirection but Lescroart gives the reader enough information to deduce what might have happened. What disappointed me was the history behind the "culprit" and what drove him/her to commit the crime. I thought it was a tad far fetched. But don't let that stop you from giving a listen to this otherwise entertaining book. I'll try another in the Hardy series.

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I listened to and enjoyed the first two Dismas Hardy titles available from Audible (Guilt and Mercy). I'm pleased with the several new releases t..Show More »hat have become recently available and will probably buy and listen to all of them.

But this is not the Dismas Hardy book for new "readers" or old fans. The first fifteen minutes or so set up a couple of back- stories that involve none of the Dismas Hardy characters. These back-stories take up AT LEAST 75% of the book! And they are tedious.



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This story struck me as a full length movie version of Law and Order. It opens with a crime, the detectives do the investigation, an arrest is made, ..Show More »and the lawyers finish the story.

It is well written and clever. This is an accomplishment as the neither the crime or method of solution are extraordinary. Yet, I found myself wrapped up in the story wanting to know what was going to happen next. It has many of the classic elements of this kind of story: police with biases and agendas; district attorneys with agendas; the lone defense attorney who has to fight the police, the district attorney and deal with local politics, the defendant who is reluctant to tell of her past which may or may not have anything to do with the crime.

If you like this genre, you are likely to enjoy this book.,

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I have read or listened to every one of the Dismas Hardy novels, along with most of John Lescroarts other books. In the past several novels there ha..Show More »s been an absence of real substance. This book is written with the same zeal and character driven plot that his older books were and in that it excels. Its full of interesting little ethical questions and conundrums, along with a great story. You wont be disappointed with this book. Just like all of the other Hardy novels this one will twist and turn and throw you off your seat every time you think you've got something figured out.

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