The Oath

A Dismas Hardy Novel

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Robert Lawrence

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

When the head of San Francisco's largest HMO dies in his own hospital, no one doubts that it is anything but the result of massive injuries inflicted by a random hit-and-run accident. But the autopsy soon tells a different story - an overdose of potassium killed him, and the attending physician, Eric Kensing, becomes the prime suspect in a high-profile homicide.

Homicide lieutenant Abe Glitsky, though hindered by the inept bungling of two politically appointed cops assigned to the investigation, quickly sets his sights on Kensing. Desperate and in need of an attorney, Kensing turns to lawyer Dismas Hardy for his defense. But as the pressure mounts to indict Kensing, Hardy goes on the offensive, believing that the murder had little to do with his client, and everything to do with business. Hardy knows that all is not well with the HMO, and makes a terrifying discovery: too many patients have been dying, many of them victims of murder - and it looks like it is the hospital that is killing them.

His own marriage tested and his family strained as he struggles to save his client, Hardy must uncover a twisting conspiracy of avarice and violence that takes the lives it is sworn to save. A timely and gripping novel that puts lives - and a long-standing friendship - at grave risk.

Check out more titles in the Dismas Hardy series.

©2004 John Lescroart (P)2004 Brilliance Audio

I'm an IDIOT! Don't YOU be an idiot. Skip this one

As is my habit, when an author I like comes out with a new title, I go back and start from the beginning and listen to ALL of his books before listenting to the new book. As i went through the Dismas Hardy books this time, I wondered why I didn't have The Oath, The First Law or The Hearing in my library. I purchased and downloaded all 3 WITHOUT rereading the reviews. Then I found out why I had NOT purchased them previously. This is one of the all-time worse narrators every to record a book. It's even more horrible because a couple of these are key book in the series. He actually does a lisping detective (REALLY?!!) What purpose does that serve. Hardy's voice read by Lawrence is nasal and whiny. I can't begin to express how difficult it was to listen to these. BEWARE!

Enjoyable story, but the narration is pretty bad

Since when does Moses McGuire have a (bad) Irish brogue? I was a bit annoyed with the narration of this book. Lawrence also narrated The Hearing, which sounded terrible. This was a little better, but sheesh, the accents! Stop it! Especially when it makes no sense for the character!

As for the book itself, it was well-written, as always. I like Lescroart's mysteries.

A well-written story

The plot is decent, the details are adequate, and the characters are nicely developed. I think this book is a fairly typical Lescroart, and is money well spent.
The Oath could be considered a medical thriller, but the hospital is only the start of the action. This particular book is also short on courtroom drama, so if you really want some Perry Mason stuff this one is not going to please you. There are a few philosophical passages, but they are actually quite nice and not too long.
The Abe Glitsky twist towards the end was unnecessary.
Robert Lawrence has a somewhat sing-song style of narration, but, once I got used to the style I thought he was quite good. Despite all the adverse reviews about him, I will gladly pick up another book read by Lawrence.

Excellent Hospital Crime Drama in San Francisco

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

If you enjoy the Dismas Hardy series, I would definitely recommend this audio book

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Oath?

Oath starts out a little slow but often this is necessary, to set the various scenes.
I enjoyed this audio book and once i got to part 2, I could not stop listening

Which character – as performed by Robert Lawrence – was your favorite?

I thought the Hospital CEO , who was corrupt , was fascinating.

Good and Bad

The beginning of this book dragged with many characters that I found difficult to remember. That difficulty stemmed from narration that I would consider to be not the best. Differentiation was created more by accents that I was not sure were true (southern, english, etc.) and the female voices were awful.

However, the story is a good one and worth the listen. I look forward to other books by this author, but not by this narrator.

smart, fast paced, still very timely!

explores many of the issues in the current healthcare debate in the context of a real "page turner" of an audio book. The reader did a great job w/the different characters... you could always tell which character was speaking by the voice, and there were plenty of them!
as a heath care worker intimately familiar w/these issues, and an avid mystery buff, i really, really enjoyed this book!

I wish the narration was better

I don't want to completely trash the guy, the narrator made difficult to listen to the story.
The accents were bad and inconsistent, the speech drones.
I will skip the next book with this narrator.

horrible narration

the narrator ruined this book. he made the young, serious inspector into a mockery of the character.

Ruined

Like all the Hardy novels, this title is a great story of the Law in SF. However, the relentless machine gun monotony of the narration totally ruins it. Robert Lawrence gives the characters absolutely nothing, and his pacing is awful. Could we please have David Colacci read it? I would probably even buy the book again.

Good Book

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

Yes I would, it is a good story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dismas and Glitsky I also really like Frannie.

What three words best describe Robert Lawrence’s voice?

I was not crazy about his narration, I liked the previous narrator much better.

Any additional comments?

This book was good, however, in this book we are led to believe that Glitzky was killed but in the next book Glitzky is alive, kinda different.