The Amendment Killer

Brooks/Lotello Thriller, Book 1

By: Ronald S. Barak

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

"We have your granddaughter. Here's what you need to do."

That's the text message Supreme Court Justice Arnold Hirschfeld receives as hearings commence in the US Supreme Court to determine the fate of the 28th Amendment - enacted to criminalize abuse of power on the part of our political representatives.

In court to defend the amendment, retired US District Court Judge Cyrus Brooks observes his old friend and law school classmate Hirschfeld acting strangely and dispatches veteran D.C. homicide detective Frank Lotello to find out why.

In the meantime, Hirschfeld's precocious and feisty 11-year-old diabetic granddaughter, Cassie, brutally kidnapped to control her grandfather's swing vote upholding or invalidating the amendment, watches her insulin pump running dry and wonders which poses her greatest threat, the kidnappers or the clock. Brooks is forced to choose between saving our nation or saving the girl.

©2017 Ronald S. Barak (P)2017 Gander House Publishers

Good but not great

This book frustrated he heck out of me. The premise is intriguing — the daughter of a Supreme Court justice is kidnapped in an attempt to force him to vote a certain way on a controversial Supreme Court decision. He and the family race to get the girl back. So far so good. But...most of the characters are one-dimensional (the young girl USA fully realized character.) Part of the book is lawyers making their arguments before the Supreme Court. Most of the arguments are rediculous, particularly the arguments of one side. The ending of the book didn’t particularly satisfy me and the me narration was overly dramatic. A pretty good, but not great read.

I'm on the fence with this one...

This is a very difficult book to review. I cannot go into detail about this because the publisher's summary gives away too much already.
Most of the book is very good but there are parts that are real eye rollers. It's those parts that I found so unbelievable. I know this is fiction and i did complete this book and the ending was great.
I checked out the five star reviews on goodreads but I noticed that they had all (or most ) been provided with a free copy in exchange for their "unbiased" five star opinion.
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Fast paced legal thriller

This book is a fascinating take on what might be done to keep corruption in politics in check. The book weaves between the courtroom drama and the kidnapping drama to keep your interest from start to finish. Not having a legal background, I like how the author explains the legal concepts for the reader to fully understand the complexities of the legal proceedings. The interplay between the kidnapper and hostage is interesting and brings out the emotions of the characters. The narrator does a great job bringing the story to life. I highly recommend this audio book.

Utterly fascinating political/legal thriller!

Article V of the US Constitution describes two methods the document can be amended. Both methods include the involvement of the US Congress. The long debated legal question is whether Article V limits the amendment process to the two methods it describes. For those interested in a legal analysis I recommend the exhaustive 1994 analysis by Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar. It can be found with a web search for the title: The Consent of the Governed: Constitutional Amendment Outside Article V.

This novel sets up a situation whereby a hypothetical 28th Amendment is passed using a democratic process that completely bypasses the US Congress. The Congress then sues to have the 28th Amendment invalidated. The case gets to the US Supreme Court. The questions involve does Congress have standing to sue and if it does is the new 28th Amendment valid or invalid. The 11 year old granddaughter of a Supreme Court justice is kidnapped and her life is threatened unless the justice is able to get a court majority to rule that Congress has standing and that the 28th amendment is invalid.

The contents of the amendment really do not matter for purposes of the court case but it safe to say that at least 90% of US citizens would agree with it.

The current Audible average rating of The Amendment Killer is 3.5 stars with only 4 ratings. There have been 92 ratings at Amazon with the average rating being 4.7 stars. The Goodreads average rating is 4.41 stars with 90 ratings. Me? I love this novel!