James Sheehan (1) (1949–)

The Lawyer's Lawyer is the third and final (as of writing) book in the Jack Tobin series. James Sheehan also wrote The Alligator Man which features Tom Wylie from this book, and takes place in the same setting, chronologically after this, with a brief mention of Tobin and contains spoilers about the outcome of this novel.

In this installment we see Jack Tobin convinced to take on a serial killer's death row case by the advocacy group he works with, Exoneration. Initially Jack is not too keen on taking on a case where the client may not be innocent, but is convinced to review the file and finds glaring problems with the prosecutions case.

This leads to a rather enthralling chain of events that eventually sees Jack facing first degree murder charges and finding for his freedom in court.

As with the last installment, the writing style has continued to develop and I found this to be the best of all three, to the point that I ended up reading it cover to cover in one day putting off sleep to finish it off.

Whilst it's possible to read this on its own, you'd definitely benefit from reading the first two books in the series first which give a great deal of depth to the characters.… (more)

The Law of Second Chances is the second book in the Jack Tobin series following on from The Mayor of Lexington Avenue.

The author has clearly continued to hone his craft as I found this to be even better than the former which was already excellent; the only thing I didn't particularly like in the former was the flash backs to the past. In this installment however they seem to be much better integrated into the story serving a greater purpose than they seemed too in the former. I certainly enjoyed the structure of this book and the way the two main plot lines dovetailed into one another.

Utilising many of the characters from the original novel, this installment brings them back together to fight another case against a seemingly corrupt group hell bent on railroading a small time criminal for a murder with dubious eyewitness evidence and no hard evidence linking him to the crime.

It's quite hard not to just plough through this in one sitting as the way the story unfolds is quite captivating and keeps your attention throughout the unfolding lead in, the investigative process and the court maneuvering.

Looking forward to the next novel in the series.… (more)

William Fuller lost his job, pension, health insurance, home and wife. Now he might lose his freedom.

Roy Johnson, once drug dealer now corporate criminal and the ex-CEO of Dynatron whom Fuller used to be an employee of before Johnson looted 100 million dollars and let it collapse has gone missing. Tattered clothing is found in a canal frequented by alligators and a tip comes in that a teenager saw a hit and run bowl him into the canal. A grey car matching Fuller's was the vehicle responsible, and he's been getting drunk in a nearby town mouthing off that he's going to 'kill him'.

It's an open and shut case, or is it? No body, no hard evidence - it's all circumstantial and Fuller doesn't think he did it, although he was drunk. Enter Kevin Wylie, he's in town visiting his father who he hasn't seen for 28 years after a run in with his crooked boss leaves him with ample free time having lost his job. He reconnects with Fuller who he knew in the past and decides to take on the case with the assistance of his estranged father who he's now just getting to know, who is also dying of cancer.

There's a fair bit going on in this novel, but it ties together in a complete and full manner which gives the story quite a vivid life. I've previously read The Mayor of Lexington Avenue and really enjoyed it deciding to check out some more Sheehan and I'm glad I did as this, Alligator Man, is also an excellent book.

If you enjoy John Grisham's novels, you'll definitely enjoy James Sheehan's novels.… (more)

I very much enjoy a good legal thriller and was a little put off by the seemingly odd title to this novel, however after sitting on my shelf for awhile I got past the odd title and stepped into a rather good story line. The initial lead in of the story makes use of flashbacks to the past in order to background one of the main characters and his friend which I wasn't too big a fan of, I much would have preferred some sort of prologue or narration to cover the past aspect, but that's just me.

Once the lead in was done however the story really takes off with the murder of a local woman in a Florida backwater town called Bass Creek. A slow, almost retarded man is set up for the crime by a corrupt and lazy police officer and as the story unfolds we see a struggling mother try to raise the funds to provide for a defense lawyer, a lazy district attorney wanting to leverage the case for his career path and the failure of the justice system.

The story is quite moving at times and gets more gripping as it unfolds, if like me the flashbacks turn you off, you will be rewarded with an excellent legal thriller and court room drama if you persevere. Really enjoyed the way the story unfolded and the narrative expanded past the initial murder case into something more (I would say more but I don't wish to spoil it!).… (more)