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Author name: James Sheehan

: The Law of Second Chances
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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780312366308
ISBN number: 0312366302
Label: St. Martin's Press
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: March 04, 2008
Publishing house: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: March 04, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 98478
Studio: St. Martin's Press



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Editor's Notes and Comments:

Product Description:
Jack Tobin, a Florida trial lawyer, is committed to justice for the innocent. But when he’s presented with Henry Wilson’s case, he’s unsure of the convict’s innocence.  Wilson has eight weeks to live, and Tobin has to decide if he can and will help him.



Benny Avrile is a small-time thief with his eye on an oil man’s big billfold. But Benny is way over his head on this one. The robbery goes bad, and the oil man ends up dead. Just when Benny’s fate is all but sealed, an old friend from Jack’s past reaches out…



The clock is ticking on Henry Wilson’s life, the cops are in hot pursuit of Benny, and back at home, there are dark clouds on the horizon for Jack and his beautiful wife, Pat.



The Law of Second Chances is a masterfully written legal thriller and an exciting successor to the critically acclaimed The Mayor of Lexington Avenue.





Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - I couldn't put it down
An excellent legal thriller right up there with John Grisham and James Patterson. What sets this book apart is the character development and the soulfullness with which it was written. I have and will continue to recommend it to all of my friends. I can't wait to read Mr. Sheehan's subsequent book.


Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - 1/3 of a good book
Never having heard of Sheehan, I bought this book on the strength of the book jacket's description, and the blurb reviews for his previous book.

Big mistake.

The biggest problem with this book is that Sheehan spends vast numbers of pages -- all written in italics -- rehashing episodes from his central character's youth on the streets of New York that, though they do ultimately tie into the legal battle that takes place in the last third of the book, are mind-numbingly boring. Further, they're not even really essential to the story line.

It got to the point that when I hit a chapter that was written in italics -- the flashbacks -- I'd simply skip the entire chapter. And voila! It had no impact on the rest of the story that was unfolding!

A lot of wasted trees, I'm afraid.

I did find the last third of the book pretty good as a legal novel; hence my review's title, and the second star I gave this book.

That's the best I can give it, and I think even that was generous.






Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - Similar to James Grippando
I had to notice some similarities between Sheehan's character Jack Tobin and Grippando's character Jack Swyteck. Both are lawyers living in Florida, and both have had "clients" who were on death row and were "gotten off" in an eleventh hour appeal. Both men were also black--Grippando's Theo Knight, and Sheehan's Henry Wilson. Both men are also now working for their attorney who successfully got them off death row. I think that Henry will become more of a side kick in some future books. (At least I hope so.)
That being said, I couldn't put this book down. It had some flash backs from Jack's (Johnny's) earlier life and I wondered what these flashbacks had to do with the story, but be patient, it will all come together. The book was fast paced and kept you guessing. The ending was a real surprise. I am impatiently waiting for more from this author. This book would be perfect for a plane.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - excellent legal thriller
Defending insurance companies against claimants made attorney Jack Tobin wealthy, but unsatisfied. He gave up that practice to defend death row inmates in Florida as he totally opposes capital punishment.

Seventeen years ago, poor grey Henry Wilson was convicted of murdering a drug dealer; Jack believes he is innocent and sets out to prove his assertion. He also decides to represent Benny Avrile, who has a long criminal record and on a robbery that turned ugly allegedly shot and killed oil mogul Carl Robertson; the case against him is air tight with no lawyer wanting to go near it. At the same that Jack steps in to represent Benny in a death sentence case that he knows will take up much of his time and have an emotional cost, he is also is distraught that his wife Pat is suffering from a life-threatening illness.

With more courtroom time than Jack's very first tale (see THE MAYOR OF LEXINGTON AVENUE), THE LAW OF SECOND CHANCES is an excellent legal thriller due the protagonist's deliberations on life and law; although at times he slows the pace with flashbacks to growing up in 1950s-1960s New York. Still it is the hero's balancing his emotions and time to defend capital punishment sure shot losers with the needs of his wife and (himself) that make this a terrific legal thriller.

Harriet Klausner



Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "AS GOOD AS GRISHAM AND PATTERSON AT THEIR BEST!!"
The author, James Sheehan sets lofty literary goals for himself when he embarks on his journey with three simultaneous plot lines. Sheehan not only keeps all three stories interesting, but makes you look forward to getting back to the other two tales, while you're still immensely interested in the current saga you're immersed in. The book starts out in New York focusing on Benny Avrile, a down and out, street-hustling, drug-abusing, pick pocket, street reprobate, who if you didn't count the abandoned building he slept in, you could also add "homeless" to the previous description.(Think of "Ratso Rizzo" from "MIDNIGHT COWBOY") As fate would have it, as Benny is stealing a credit card from an attractive woman at a bar, he is unknowingly, interfering with the unholy agenda of another beautiful upscale woman, sitting subsequent to his targeted victim, who has much higher criminal aspirations than Benny could ever dream of. Before you know it, Carl Robertson, a multi-billionaire oil man, is shot and killed and Benny is arrested for murder.

The protagonist is Jack Tobin, a lawyer who had made his money defending insurance companies and lives in Florida. After building up his law firm and selling it for millions of dollars, Jack now only defends people he believes are innocent and "destiny" has brought him to Starke, a maximum security state prison in Florida. A big, physically imposing, African-American inmate by the name of Henry Wilson, after being on death row for seventeen years, is now eight weeks away from being executed. After a harrowing meeting with Henry at the prison, and some follow-up investigation, Jack believes in Henry's innocence and takes on his case in the hopes of being granted an appeal.

In the midst of these two major storylines, the author deftly interjects "flashbacks" to more than thirty years before to Jacks adolescence in New York, mostly concentrating on his friends and acquaintances surrounding his neighborhood football team "The Lexington's". The teenage friendships made here, miraculously and seamlessly, tie in down the road during the fantastic culmination of this intelligently written crime saga. This taut legal drama encompasses lifelong love lost, lives saved, friendships renewed, murder, conspiracies, characters who change from client to sidekick to partner, all without the author missing a beat, and with the reader refusing to put down the book until they ride this multi-dimensional masterpiece to its conclusion.

I am a voracious reader and the recent products put out by Grisham and Patterson pale in comparison to this splendid story. The author has introduced and has in place some really interesting characters that hopefully will set the stage for a follow-up book with our newfound friends.


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