Losing Faith

By: Adam Mitzner

Narrated by: David Marantz

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the acclaimed author Publishers Weekly called "a gifted writer" comes this nail-biting legal thriller in the best-selling tradition of John Grisham and Scott Turow. Aaron Littmann, the chairman of one of the country's most prestigious law firms, has just been contacted by a high-profile defense attorney whose client is Nikolai Garkov, a Russian businessman arraigned on terrorism charges for pulling the financial strings behind recent treasonous acts. The attorney informs Aaron that Garkov is looking to switch representation and will pay $100,000 just to take the meeting. But Aaron doesn't have any choice, as Garkov is ready to go public with the damning evidence that Aaron and the judge in the high-profile case - Faith Nichols - had a torrid affair during another recent case. Filled with suspense, twists, and turns, Losing Faith will captivate legal thriller fans everywhere.

©2015 Adam Mitzner (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Could not suspend disbelief.

There are those who can pull off a legal suspense novel (e.g. Scott Turow, Paul Goldstein), but most who try fail because they fail to research enough, or their plot is incredible. Mitzner falls into the latter camp. He doesn't know how the legal system works. I can sometimes live with this if the plot and writing are good enough. (John Grisham, who worked as a lawyer a long time ago, knows, or should know, how the system works, although he sometimes ignores it. He gets away with it because his plots are pretty good and he can write.) Not so here. Mitzner's characters don't live up to their billing, and his plot is ridiculous. Chief examples are the USDC Judge with SCOTUS ambitions, who, for no reason, creates a fatal ethical issue by sitting on a run of the mill criminal case, and Mitzner's "brilliant" protagonist, who, also for no reason, embraces the ethical issue. Mitzner thereby ham handedly created his pivotal plot point: both the Judge and the protagonist are now open to blackmail. Mitzner has his protagonist recognize his plight, but inexplicably, the equally brilliant Judge, cannot. (Grisham would have found an at least facially credible way to create this pivot point.) At this juncture, I simply could not sustain the level of disbelief necessary to continue. I took advantage of Audible's return policy. You needn't. Instead, read anything by Turow and Goldstein.

Marantz's performance was good, maybe better than my four star rating, but it's hard to earn a top of your game rating when your material is poor.

Not a thriller, but a good story.

When I bought this book I was led to believe it was a nail-biting thriller that would keep me on the edge of my seat. However, my expectations aren't the author's fault. Just keep in mind this is not a 'thriller' but rather more of a slow-building drama with a hint of crime and mystery.

David Marantz is a good narrator, but I did find his impression of a woman's voice to be rather annoying. Not a deal-breaker by any means, but worthy only of 4 stars.

Interesting and Entertaining...

I like legal/thrillers. I liked this one even though it was not a "thriller" as such. Nevertheless, this story sucked me in and I really listened because there was just enough mystery/drama. I noticed most, if not all, of the flaws, predictable plot twists, etc. I didn't like the ending so much. The character that turns out to be the murderer was the least suspect, and was also the one implausible suspect! I didn't like the ending because I thought the author was asking me to "suspend my disbelief" a little too much for the ending of a pretty good story that was not over written with too much "character development," just enough to help develop the storylines.

The narrator was pretty good to excellent. I liked his ability to add drama in his voice and how he used his ability to change the sounds and tone of his voice for the different characters. The women voices were good too. Recommend.

Entertaining, and suspenseful with a good plot

An exciting story with believable characters involved in a legal struggle that is accurately portrayed. The murderer was not easily determined. I couldn't guess who did it and dought if many readers will. A basic good old fashion mystery. MD

This mystery lacks excitement

Dont waste your time. The legal aspect is way more interesting than the plot. A definite zero of a book. Performance was great tho

Big waste of time

What disappointed you about Losing Faith?

Flimsy plot and characters. Story poorly developed.

Has Losing Faith turned you off from other books in this genre?

Makes me more skeptical. I like a good mystery but will be much more careful in looking at reviews other than on audible before buying.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disgust that I wasted time listening to this book. I kept thinking, "It has to get more interesting" but it didn't.

Any additional comments?

Enough said.

Tense As A Trampoline Under An Elephant

Okay... I guessed wrong, and picked a guiltless suspect. Sigh... Mitzner makes the shadow of guilt move the way melting ice cream does. Daniel Moynahan used, maybe created, the term, "tangle of pathology". Adam Mitzner is a tangler... he spreads suspicious characters like blood spatter from a bludgeoned head.

Yeah, the plot's improbable. But both the author and David Marantz left my disbelief suspended and, improbability be damned, I liked "Losing Faith".

I write these little reviews, not to do criticism but rather to keep track of who I want to hear in the future and what I'll skip. Fortunately I did not take my advice after hating Mitzner's "Case of Redemption" and. at the advice of a reviewer I trust, bought and loved "Conflict of Interest". Okay, "Losing Faith's" not quite in that league, but it was the sort of judicial whodunnit that I want to keep listening to.

I'm off to read the reviews of Mitzner's "Girl From Home". Maybe it'll be among my next buys. It's a plan, huh? Oh... one last compliment... In this moment of national and international political upheaval as the great ideologies careen against one another and every "artist" feels a compulsion to become a missionary for his/her politics... Mitzner doesn't!! Now if that's not a recommendation...

Predictable, lacking in suspense

Little to no character development. Predictable villains and suspects. Stereotypical big law firm myths. Disappointing.

Great Read !

This book kept me wanting to sit in my car just to listen to more, I was almost late for work sitting right in the parking lot.
It was a good read or listen.

Compelling Legal Thriller

Any additional comments?

I love a good mystery/thriller but haven't really dabbled in the legal thriller... This book popped up on my homepage so I decided to give it a try - I'm about halfway through and I don't want to stop listening :)!

The narration is perfect in my opinion - he changes his voice just enough between characters so you know who is talking, but not so much that it sounds fake or like a cartoon.

And the characters are great (even the nasty ones)!

Long trial

I had hesitated before buying this title due to the mixed reviews. I can say I agree with both the positive and negative ones. It was an interesting story, but quite heavy on the legal case. Not quite as clever as his previous book.

Worst Female Charaters Ever

I loved Mitzner's first novel, but this one left me wanting. It kept me interested enough to finish, but the female characters were so poorly portrayed it annoyed the crap out of me. Lets see there was the...

Betrayed wife who loved the main character so much she was willing to risk everything to save him...

mentally unstable but highly intelligent junior partner whose unrequited love for the main character made her willing to risk it all for him...

the potential supreme court nominee who was willing to risk everything for our main character, until she wasn't but then she got killed, so it was all good.

Oh, and they were all model beautiful.

Luckily, there was the unlikeable Female US Attorney, who had no personality, was a bit hefty but had a pretty face....

All that, and a pretty much cliched story was a stupid perry mason ending. But, heck, it had some decent court scenes.

I found the narration average at best, which may be because of the source material. I have listened to better by Marantz. Particularly, his dialogue was clunky, with voice changes that weren't easily delineated. Not horrible, but there are plenty of better legal thrillers out there today.