Jury Master

By: Robert Dugoni

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

David Sloane is the best wrongful death attorney in San Francisco. He's a lawyer who can make juries do anything. But despite his professional success, he's plagued by a nightmare of a childhood he cannot consciously remember. When he receives a package from a White House confidant who then turns up dead by apparent suicide, the contents reveal a history he never could have imagined. Now, in search of justice, Sloane must depend on two men he's never met: Charles Jenkins, a former CIA agent turned recluse who suffers the same nightmare; and Tom Molia, a police detective willing to take on just about anyone, including the U.S. Department of Justice. Together, these men must expose a 30-year conspiracy so insidious that it may reach as far as the Oval Office and topple a presidency, if they can stay alive.

©2006 Robert Dugoni (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"All of Dugoni's characters have a fresh and believable edge, and there is plenty of action in far-flung settings." (Publishers Weekly)
"The action keeps coming, so omnivorous thrill seekers who favor Martini and Grisham may want to give Dugoni a look." (Booklist)

Action! Action! Action!

This book is certainly full of action and short chapters. I usually love a book that has both. But this one bothered me. There were so many characters and so MUCH action that I found it hard to follow. I did a lot of "rewinding". Each chapter told a different part of the plot and it got confusing.
I also found the ending abrupt and left unanswered questions for me.

Too tense for me

Those who love cliffhangers more than I do will be happy to hear that I found this one unbearably on-edge. Skilled story tellers -- like Spielberg, Peters, Patterson -- will have moments of comfort and camaraderie, where you let your guard down, and then jump up and smack you. With Dugoni, there are no such respites. You aren't safe from the moment you start the book. And horrible things continuously happen to good people, which isn't my cup of tea.

AUDIO: Better than most.

Marvelous intro to the David Sloane series

The Jury Master is the first novel in author Robert Dugoni's David Sloane legal thriller series and it is the second novel overall released by Dugoni. Dugoni is certainly one of my favorite authors. The Jury Master is an excellent novel but it appears to me that in his haste to fully reveal the personality and background of David Sloane the author was too ambitious. As good as this novel is, the story is the weakest of the 12 Dugoni novels I have read or listened to. Narration by Robertson Dean is stellar.

Despite the negative comment I made above, I strongly recommend without qualifications The Jury Master, the David Sloane series , and every novel that Robert Dugoni has written. Dugoni is one of the very best writers alive today. By the way, Close to Home which is Book 5 in Dugoni's great Tracy Crosswhite police procedural series will be released tomorrow.

Excellent Storytelling

Would you consider the audio edition of Jury Master to be better than the print version?

I never read the print, but man, the audio was good.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a good story with a little bit of a surprise ending.

What about Robertson Dean’s performance did you like?

His voice was a little deep for me at first, but then as he switched between characters I really started to enjoy it, so much so that when he wasn't narrating the second book in the series I was disappointed.

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

Not really. It was really good, but I wasn't compelled to listen to it non-stop the way I am with some books.

Any additional comments?

At first the writing was a little choppy and the editing is odd. I mean as soon as a chapter ended there would be no pause because you would hear "Chapter 22" - it would hit you like a slap in the face sometimes because it seemed to just come out of no where. Other than that, it was an excellent book.

Good Book, Great Reader

First, Robertson Dean has a fabulous voice, he could read the phone book and I would probably like it! Second the book was very engaging. It had many plot twists, good characters, and espionage right up to the president of the USA. The surprises continued right until the very last page. I recommend it for anyone who listens to a lot of mystery/thrillers.

Great!

Fast read. Not your typical lawyer novel; He is in the court room at the beginning and the end of the book. It has a lot of tist and turns. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to his next

I didn't like it

When I saw Jury Master as the title and it's starts off in a courtroom - I figured I was getting a good legal thriller... I found it to be anything but. The story line is a little hard to follow. Or my ADD was in full gear. Not very plausible plot lines hurt this book in my opinion. I listened to the whole book - But it was as much laziness in trying to find another good book to replace than anything I was listening to. Good books with substance are so hard to find lately.

Oh well. J

80% Riveting 20% …. Huh?

Robert Dugoni's a powerful writer. But like Phillip Margolin, he cannot end a story with much less than contempt for his readers. I've written before about the cheap trick of the ancient Greeks called Deus Ex Machina. Where a playwrite'd work himself in to an impossible situation only to have a god appear in a chariot, and abruptly solve all the mystery. Well that is exactly what Dugoni does here, entirely cheating his readers. Nope, you didn't see that coming, because it wasn't! Once upon a time, I'd put this down to an early novel and try the author's next attempt in hopes that he'd really have a plot the next time.

Unfortunately I did that with Margolin and got burned with his awful "Ties That Bind". It taught me a lesson about wasting time and treasure in hopes that a bad author but a good writer might discover his craft on my dime.

You want spiritual improbability? Join up with Scientology, or maybe some cult political movement. Don't spend money on "Jury Master."

Loved it

Fast paced, kept my interest. Ties together beautifully in the end; does NOT leave you wondering what happened. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good suspense/mystery.

Finished but just Barely!

The story starts fine and sets the stage for a good legal thriller, but then the book rambles on and on with unoriginal characters, and with a very implausible storyline. The story slows down to a crawl at times that I nearly gave up! The author could have cut down on the length of the story and also on so much extended dialogue which would have given the story much more zip. Maybe next time, although I'm not sure I'd go for another book of his.