The Jezebel Remedy

By: Martin Clark

Narrated by: Morgan Hallett

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lisa and Joe Stone, married for 20 years and sole partners in their small law firm in Henry County, Virginia, handle less-than-glamorous cases: domestic disputes, personal injury settlements, or a plethora of complaints from their cantankerous client Lettie VanSandt ("eccentric" by some accounts, "certifiable" by others). When she dies in a freakish incident, the Stones think it's within the realm of possibility that she was cooking meth in her trailer. But details soon emerge that lead them to question how accidental Lettie's demise actually was, and settling her peculiar estate becomes endlessly complicated.

Before long the Stones find themselves embroiled in a corporate conspiracy that will require all of their legal prowess - not to mention some serious guts - for them to survive. Meanwhile Lisa is making secret, herculean efforts to shield Joe from an egregious error that she would give anything to erase entirely, even as his career - and her own - hangs in the balance.

In The Jezebel Remedy, Clark gives us a stunning portrait of a marriage, a gripping courtroom drama, and a relentlessly entertaining story that is full of inventions, shocks, and understanding.

©2015 Martin Clark (P)2015 Recorded Books

Great book, lamentable narration

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Martin Clark captures the sense of a small southern town in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge. Well-paced, with plenty of suspense that builds right to the end.

What other book might you compare The Jezebel Remedy to and why?

It's comparable to his other works, particularly The Legal Limit. But overall, it has more moments of hilarity, much like The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living. His writing is in the same vein as Carl Hiassen, but without the jaded cynicism.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Morgan Hallett?

I think a male who can capture the cadence of the southern drawl and its rhythms would have served better. All of her male characters sounded the same, and she is obviously unfamiliar with southern accents. She also made several mistakes in pronunciation where she should have known better. (For instance, firing a shot across one's "bow" is not pronounced like the ribbon on a gift-wrapped present.)

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

Yes; well, maybe two or three sittings, to eat, sleep, and take pee breaks.

Any additional comments?

Looking forward to Clark's next offering, however long it takes.

Too Smart For His Own Good

My practice (no pun intended) is to find an author I like and consume them in chronological order of publishing date.
On a whim, I found Mr. Clark in the midst of his publishing evolution and I came on board with “The Substitution Order” and was laughing out loud , mesmerized by the carefully woven plot, logical progression and consuming entertainment value of this work.
As is my practice upon (finally) finding a writer who impels further consideration, I methodology read all their available work.
My headline is indicative of Martin’s lack of interest in becoming a “comic book hero” and pursuing the mass audience pablum corps which will read anything that gets their simple little hearts pumping.
His work edges into fantasy but always remains cogent and pointed toward reality as he entices and entertains.
Another treasure hidden in the marketing idiot’s view of quality.

SOO Glad I discovered Martin Clark!

Solid intriguing story. Good twists, a bit of humor. Keeps you guessing all the way through.
Totally enjoyable listen.

Huge disappointment

Anyone who listened to Martin Clark's "Substitution Order" could only be jazzed to hear another one of his legal thrillers. That was my first Clark listen and a fabulous, twisty perfectly believable and perfectly unpredictable story featuring engaging humor and characters, 5 stars! He immediately became one of my favorite authors. "Legal Limit" was good but not quite the caliber of "Substitution order" - 4 stars. "The Jezebel remedy" on the other hand was atrocious for any author and certainly a huge disappointment for an author of demonstrable quality as Clark. The entire first 2/3 of the book is throw away crap; banal long winded descriptions of small town life with excruciating attempts at humor, "dad jokes" and wacky characters that just come off as cliched. I fast forwarded through entire chapters looking for some substance. I almost returned the book. If it had been any other author I would have cut my losses by chapter 5.

When a plot did finally arrive it was preposterous with one after another idiotic twists, improbable and melodramatic compounded with a doubling down of the tone of the rest of the book. It was crap and definitely the last Clark book I'll ever read.

I find it ironic that "The Substitution order" was a recent book and his other books spanning back two decades were not as good. Typically an author's first work is his best as it takes a superlative book to attract the attention needed to even get published, and then too a lot of authors only really have one original, creative book in them. Don't know how to figure Clark's career. Maybe I should listen to his NEXT book but no previous books all of whom have low reader ratings.

Anyway, some of the favorable reviews by other reviewers not withstanding (although if you read between the lines, most reviews of this book are luke warm at best), I can not recommend "Jezebel Remedy" to anyone. Thumbs down.

I give very few five stars

If you like the genre, this is about as good as it gets.

The prior sentence is all you need to read. Audible punishes clear and succinct communication by requiring a minimum number of words.

Great story with interesting characters!

this was a well-written story with interesting characters that kept my interest which is sometimes hard to do. I particularly enjoyed the character of Letty!

Such a Great Author

I have read all the books Amazon has listed from Martin Clark. What a find! Each of his books start abit slow; however, he’s just laying ground work. His books grow on you. I can’t compare him to other authors; I hope he’s busy getting another audio for us!

good listen

I liked this book but not as much as Substitution Order. that is my favorite Martin Clark book thus far.

Great Story

Enjoyable listen and a great story. I enjoy Martin Clark and his style of writing!

Slow start, picks up speed, satisfying ending

This is my second Martin Clark novel and I like the way he writes. I like his characters who are likable, but flawed enough to be realistic. I like his dialogue and I like the way he unwraps a story. This started slowly and I wasn't sure what the intrigue would be, but once he laid it out I was hooked. And there are unexpected twists and turns that kept me surprised. I had mixed feelings about the narration. In the beginning the pauses were noticeable and distracting. What I appreciated was that she did not overdo the accents of different characters. She let the text do the talking so I wasn't distracted by poor accents. All in all this was a fun listen.