Summer Reading: Kill All the Lawyers by Paul Levine

If I started it before Labor Day Weekend, it counts, right? For the record, it's not that I've stopped reading since July 27, my last Summer Reading post--but it seemed that no one really cared, as much as I found the discipline helpful (even had a complaint or two). So I'll limit these to the books I really want to talk about. 'Sides, school's back in session, and I don't have that much time for extra-curricular reading period (but one of my professors last year impressed upon us the importance of doing so to keep our minds fresh. So I'm going to try).

Enough of that. Steve Solomon, Victoria Lord and all the rest are back for #3 in Paul Levine's series about mystery-solving lawyers in love, Kill All the Lawyers. Weighing in at an anemic 368 pages (the first book was 576!), I wondered if it would stack up as well. It did.

The weaknesses I felt about book 2 weren't present. First, there was more Bobby. The heart of the series is Bobby. Period. Let Steve grow/mature. Let Victoria loosen up/accept Steve. Let the supporting cast become more well-rounded characters. Fine. But the emotional core will always be Bobby. He has to be a player in each book. Just don't see who Levine can pull it off otherwise.

Secondly, there was a real element of risk involved. Trying to avoid spoilers, I'll put it this way. The bad guy set out to frame someone for a horrible crime. And it really looks like that person was going to fall into deep legal trouble--maybe so much so that it'd have to be resolved in the next book. Sure, utlimately, there's no doubt that the team of Solomon & Lord will save the day at some point. But I fully expected arrests, interrogations, trials, fall out, etc. I just didn't get that feeling last time out.

Character-wise, I did think Victoria got the short end of the stick this time out, but not sure where Levine could've stuck more of her in. Maybe in Book 4, which the back cover assures us he's hard at work on. Although I didn't mind too much. Rather have Steve's voice than hers dominate the book. They were on their home turf--so most of the supporting cast from Book 1 was back, just not as prominent. Which was good, Levine needs to use them regularly, but sparingly.

The pacing was excellent, yet again. Note to my writer friends out there who haven't picked Levine up: You should just to study this aspect (and you'll discover yourself enjoying the read anyway). The way he can jump between having you chuckle and having you lean forward in anticipation. Good action scene to wrap things up.

Another solid outing for the team, looking forward to the next..