Mortal Sin

Jake Lassiter Legal Thrillers, Book 4

By: Paul Levine

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

When an environmental activist freezes to death in August in Miami, it can only be a case for Jake Lassiter.

Miami lawyer Jake Lassiter has a dangerous conflict of interest. He's sleeping with Gina Florio...and defending her mobster husband in court for the wrongful death of an environmental activist. The homicidal Nick Florio has hatched a scheme deep in the Florida Everglades that oozes corruption, blood, and money. One false move, and Jake will be gator bait.

Living by his own rules, the savvy Lassiter battles a world of deceit, perversity and mayhem to risk body and soul for truth, justice and the Lassiter Way.

©1994 Paul J. Levine (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Critic reviews

"Irreverent...genuinely clever...great fun." ( New York Times Book Review)

Another fun Jake Lassiter novel!

Mortal Sin, first published in 1994, is a typical Jake Lassiter series novel although it is more gruesome than most others. Author Paul Levine writes excellent legal thrillers. I appreciate Brilliance Audio making these old novels available in audio format. Luke Daniels narration is superb.

Great story

If it's so great then why only 3 stars? I will tell you why: too much sex. I do not like it when authors use excessive sex as filler. It's not needed and distracts from the real story. Other than like 5 sex scenes the story is well done and a decent legal thriller.

More preachy and less fun

Every installment tries to educate us about how we are “destroying the environment” but this one was more heavy handed than most and included the currently fashionable “white man is bad” … which makes the lack of solutions presented and the instances of hypocrisy more glaring. This one was also the most gory … with multiple unnecessarily gruesome situations. And Jake’s infatuation with an uninteresting narcissist and continued immoral infidelity really weakened his overall character development and likability. And his typical charm and humor was minimal in this one. So, as a standalone this one would be 2.5 or 3 stars (and maybe I wouldn’t finish it) but as a Jake Lassiter fan, I gave it a ratings nudge to 4.

Lassiter is Stuck

Lassiter’s character has not developed from one book to another. Pretty much the same guy. It is not fair to expect that any author will come close to developing any character that is a legitimate rival to the great John D. MacDonald’s Travis Magee though there are some similarities. So Magee lived on a boat, let’s move Lassiter from his coral house to a small island at the beginning of the keys. Let’s move Lassiter away from the mundane life of a defense attorney to a special practice lawyer at the beck and call of a quirky billionaire. Then give Lassiter a hand picked “ crew to help him out with Charley Riggs as a second in command. But please, move him off the dime.
I’m not suggesting he is the next Magee but I think Levine has the talent to move Lassiter to be an updated, more relevant character. No one can be 35 forever but it seems that Lassiter is trying.
Oh yes, Luke Daniels is wonderful, perhaps the best in the business.

Much of the same

I listened to book one & This was more of the same.

Little court room excitement and more impossible scenarios for Jake to get himself into and out of

Also - Like his first book - More implausible situations that no one would end up in.

My last book of this series - Confused by the good reviews.. If Luke Daniels or somebody his equal did not narrate this book - It would have been a quick end and much harsher review

J

Great book

Jake is at it again, it seems the universe brings him cases that are full of Conundrums and that test his ethics. Since his ethics are there but in certain area’s are questionable, he gets himself into all sorts of situations! His books are always something to look forward to! Good job with the narration also!

Mortal Sin

Jake at it again, didn't think he was going to make it out of this one. I enjoy is book and series. Looking forward to the next one, I would recommend this book and series.

great narration

Another Awesome Adventure with Jake Lassiter!

Paul Levine creates such vivid characters and never seems to run out of challenging cases and clients for Jake "Wrong Way" Lassiter, the former Miami Dolphin turned attorney whose athleticism and wit are key to his survival among the shady clients he takes on. Once again Jake nearly dies, and it makes me wonder if the last book in the series will end with his death. Luke Daniels is by far the best narrator I've ever heard, as he brings Levine's many characters to life. I feel like I know Jake, Granny Lassiter, and Doc Charlie Riggs after hearing 5-6 books from this series now. Highly recommend and wish Netflix would make a series!

best Lassiter yet!

there were a few timesb when the suspense about killed me! where i’m thinking, i Know he’s gonna make it

exceptional reading

the narrator was fantastic! The story seemed a little long but in all in all it's a good book