• A Conflict of Interest

  • A Novel
  • By: Adam Mitzner
  • Narrated by: David LeDoux
  • Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (5,007 ratings)

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A Conflict of Interest  By  cover art

A Conflict of Interest

By: Adam Mitzner
Narrated by: David LeDoux
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Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

A stunning debut thriller in the best-selling tradition of Scott Turow and John Grisham!

Alex Miller is a criminal defense lawyer leading the life he always imagined. At thirty-five, he is the youngest partner at New York City's most prestigious law firm, with a beautiful wife and a perfect daughter. When Alex's father suddenly passes away, Alex is introduced to Michael Ohlig, a rich and powerful man who holds an almost mythical place in his family lore. But Alex is surprised when Ohlig admits that he's in serious legal trouble, accused of crimes involving hundreds of millions of dollars. Alex agrees to take on Ohlig's defense.

Through the course of two trials, secrets are revealed that force Alex to question whether any of the people in his life are who they appear to be. Most importantly, he must decide whether the identity he projects to the world is the man he truly is or even wants to be.

With its powerful voice, pause-resistant tension, and strong cast of characters, A Conflict of Interest will captivate listeners right up to its electrifying conclusion.

©2011 Adam Mitzner (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This outstanding first novel follows Defense Attorney Alex Miller and his young family through the grinding world of high-priced criminal defense in New York City, detailing what can happen to an otherwise nice guy. David LeDoux's minimalist narration style works well. He imbues all the characters with a distinctive sound and unique persona." (AudioFile)
"More twists than a California cloverleaf interchange." (Bookreporter)
"This gifted writer should have a long and successful career ahead of him." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about A Conflict of Interest

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

A most unthrilling "thriller."

I feel like suing Audible for false advertising. This book is dull as dirt. It's about some sleazy corporate lawyers defending an investment banker for running what is called in the financial world a "pump and dump" operation. The firm is, unbelievably, called OPM, which is an acronym for Other People's Money. This was actually the title of a movie about twenty years ago, with Danny Devito, on a similar topic. I have listened for hours hoping to hear anything thrilling in the plot: a romantic twist, a fast pursuit other than the Feds indicting the sleazy guy in the legal case, some surprising courtroom action: anything. Nothing. The narrator has a pleasant voice. The attorneys and associates read giant boxes of documents and millions of pages of buy/sell tickets. Doesn't it make you want to hear more? The lead character almost has an affair with his associate lawyer. Doesn't it make your spine tingle? He and his beautiful stay-at-home wife, an artist who hasn't done anything creative since becoming a mother, have a darling daughter named Charlotte. They live in the upper class suburbs. His office is in Manhattan and is full of lawyers inflating their bills. He stays at the Four Seasons when he travels. His client has a mansion. Aren't you sitting on the edge of your chair in suspense?
BORING!

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162 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

A man with no character seeks revenge...

...on a man who did him no harm.
Alex Miller is a tall, attractive, brilliant attorney in one of New York's most prestigious firms. He is married to a beautiful woman who loves him passionately. They have a lovely and precocious young daughter. He goes all out to sacrifice all of this in order to further his career while pursuing another beautiful woman. But that's the best part of Alex.

In the end this is a story of revenge, yet Alex has never been harmed. He cheats, he lies, he whines, and then he destroys the life of a man who did him no harm.

To be fair, there are clever twists in the plot. But in the end we are left with a hero with no character. Worse still, he seems to have no hope of redemption.

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146 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

My 2 Cents

(If you want a good laugh and good review--read Audible reviewer 'Richard from San Anselmo's' review--it's worth looking up. Also, looking at his library, an excellent source for the kind of read this book was marketed as...actual thriller/crime novels.)

Not a thriller, not a page turner, not a plot-twister, as claimed by page after page of 5 star reviews and press releases. I have people on my very mainstream block that live as conflicted and interesting lives as the people in this book. It's great that readers are excited about Mr. Mitzner's debut, it is an admirable debut and I hope we see more from this new author--it just isn't 5 stars. Conflict was average; written well enough, and with an easy pace that kept it just one step ahead of the termination gong. One reviewer stated this was a "character study" more than a thriller; agreed...but when the package says "thriller", you want a few thrills.

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136 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent - Deserves More Than 5 Stars

What did you love best about A Conflict of Interest?

This is a tautly-written story with absolutely nothing gratuitous. Besides an engrossing plot, it has captivating commentary on the legal system, well-developed, believable characters and a refreshing absence of vulgarity. I hope the author writes a sequel; if not, I anxiously await his next book. It was a pleasure to listen to.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I was engrossed from beginning to end.

Which character ??? as performed by David LeDoux ??? was your favorite?

David LeDoux was the perfect choice for this book, as it was written in the first person and LeDoux used subtle variations in his delivery to depict the various young, older, male and female characters as though the main character was, indeed, simply telling his story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, the ending was poignant and provocative.

Any additional comments?

I wish all novels were as well-written.

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77 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Why this book is mediocre

I anticipated a Grisham-level legal thriller as suggested by other reviewers.

Instead, this book tries to be legal drama wrapped inside of personal drama, or perhaps personal drama wrapped inside of legal drama. The result is that both the legal drama and the personal drama are boring, shallow and just barely interesting. The author tries to salvage this mediocrity with a couple of twists at the end, but they are barely interesting, so they fail to save this very bad book.

And then there's the reader. This man has a decent voice but his reading skills are deficient, He emphasizes with fake emotion almost every noun, verb, preposition, adjective, adverb and conjunction in the book, regardless of the need to give any of them a dramatic emphasis. Particularly irritating is his impersonation of the protagonist's 5-year-old daughter, Very very annoying.

A complete waste of 11 hours and a credit.

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66 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent debut. Can't wait for #2.

Thank you, Audible, for recommending this debut thriller. It was well written. Full of unexpected but mostly believable twists. Amusing without the humor getting in the way. Excellently read. Hope Mr. Mitzner is a fast writer.

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43 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

I'm not much into fiction books but this one popped up on the front page of audible.com so i read the review and bought the book. Two days later a I was done with the 10 or so hours of audio. This is quite an accomplishment since it typically takes me around a month to finish any book. The plot kept me tuning in at any chance I got. The guy that read it did a very good job, I wish I could have him read all the audio books that I buy. It was well written too. All around a very good buy.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not really a thriller at all

This is a story about a really screwed up criminal defense attorney in a NYC law firm. It is not a legal thriller in the traditional sense because there is almost no suspense and no action at all. Alex Miller, the "protagonist", is a horrible lawyer and a worse human being. In the end this is simply a useless story about a man who lost his way.

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38 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

An "Okay" Story, but Don't Believe the Hype...

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Anyone with an intimate interest of law may not be burdened with the excessive courtroom exchanges. Mitzer was either or lawyer or has done excellent research, as he focuses on the semantics of law rather than using the courtroom simply as a catalyst to get to the more important aspects of the story. This book spent more time on the law surrounding the story than the story itself. That made it a slow listen for me, but may entertain those interested with the inner-workings of law.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The Publisher's summary -- in my opinion -- misleading comments put Mitzer in the same boat as Grisham. That's a pretty big stretch. I've been a fan of Grisham for much of the past 16 years, and while Mitzer has potential, he lacks the suspense that keeps Grisham's novels moving. The whole

How could the performance have been better?

This is the worst reading I've heard in my past year as an Audible member. I wish they would've sampled some of Alex Miller's normal (outside of the funeral) dialogue as fair warning. LeDoux uses an arrogantly-sarcastic, sing-song cadence that speaks almost every line of dialogue in jest. I found that unbelievably annoying, like being read to by the know-it-all coworker. Even worse, while the voices may have changed, this style remained the same throughout the male characters. I think I would've enjoyed the novel a bit more if they had done a better job at selecting a narrator, or if reading the text myself.

What character would you cut from A Conflict of Interest?

The narrator.

Any additional comments?

All in all, it's an okay book. There wasn't a lot of suspense to always keep me interested, or stuck in the car after arriving at my destination, but it picks up in certain places. Before this, I'd recently finished Grisham's,

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Family Secrets! ~ Infidelity ~ Fraud

This is a good storyline dealing with family secrets, infidelity and fraud. I enjoyed the novel from beginning to end. Lots of drama, backbiting and even a little love story. The listen was enjoyable and the set up and introduction of the characters provided a good insight into the main character's home life and office life and the backbiting that can happen in criminal court cases. There was a few "tells" early-on and throughout the story that gave little hints and clues about the revelation that comes at the very end of the story. The moral of the story reminds me particularly of one old sayings: "you reap what you sow!"

The narrator performed well, although at times he could have changed his voice more to help delineate some difference between male voices. This didn't happen too often. However, the story is interesting enough that keeping track of who's talking was not a big problem. His acting abilities was good, although sometimes he used a little more theatrics in his voice than was needed. Nevertheless, he was not dull nor boring!

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30 people found this helpful