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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780451204516
ISBN number: 0451204514
Label: Signet
Manufacturer: Signet
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: January 07, 2003
Publishing house: Signet
Release Date: January 07, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 334008
Studio: Signet
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Twelve years ago, the brutal murder of a young wife and mother rocked the quiet coastal town of Stuart, Florida-and a local troublemaker was sentenced to death for the crime. Now, new evidence has come to light, and Miami attorney Gail Conner agrees to take the case-against the wishes of her fiancé, top criminal defense lawyer Anthony Quintana. One look at the trial transcript convinces Gail that her client was wrongfully convicted. But to save his life, she'll have to push the law to the breaking point.
Amazon.com Review:
In this latest entry in Barbara Parker's series featuring lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana, Gail gets guilt-tripped by an old family retainer into taking on a case everyone else warns her is not winnable, including her boyfriend, criminal attorney Anthony. But Gail, whose legal practice is primarily civil, nevertheless agrees to represent death-row inmate Kenny Ray Clark, scheduled to die by lethal injection in less than a month. Before she's even read the trial transcript, Gail is convinced Kenny Ray didn't stab Amber Dodson to death. Once she does read it, she's even more certain that he was done in by shoddy police work and poor lawyering, if nothing else.
Gail's no slouch at doing some guilt-tripping herself. She tells her besotted sweetheart that if he really loved her he'd help with Kenny Ray's appeal, and she's not above a little sexual teasing to make her point. Anthony agrees to help, which is lucky since Gail seesaws wildly from being confident she can keep Kenny from his date with the executioner to dissolving in tears when she's certain she can't.
The real culprit is clear from the outset--it's up to Gail and Anthony to get the goods on him. Most of the heat in this thriller comes from the couple's occasional clinches and the steamy Florida weather. Anthony Quintana, Gail's complex, sexy, Cuban-American boyfriend, gets a bit more ink than usual in this outing. That will delight fans who find him as fascinating as Connor. Unfortunately, freeing an innocent man from a date with the death chamber doesn't allow enough time for Anthony to carry out his plan to accompany his ailing grandfather back to the island of his birth; fans of the series will have to wait for the subsequent book to find out what happens when he does. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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Barbara Parker's books are always fast-paced and move along at a great clip. This one is no exception.
However, I found little things annoying me. Too much legal jargon which wasn't explained for the non-lawyer readers. Too many Spanish phrases that weren't translated -- I speak a bit of Spanish and had to stop reading to think through what was being said; I'd find it more annoying if I didn't speak Spanish at all. And Anthony seems to be nothing but a stereotype -- a wealthy Miami Cuban who's a flashy prince of the city without much substance beneath the gold rings and cufflinks. I'd love to see him do something out of the "norm" to show another dimension to him.
Still an enjoyable read.
Rated by buyers -
The political question of the appropriateness of the death penalty is intertwined in this complexly plotted but ultimately unsatisfying work. Without revealing too much, I will say that there are only two possible outcomes in any "innocent man on Death Row" work. The choice an author makes usually relates less to the appropriateness for the work itself than to the views of the author on what is ultimately a political question.
Here other plot choices clearly could have been made. The problem is that the factual innocence of most of the newly freed from Death Row have come from DNA testing, and not lawyer theatrics. Parker commits to a lawyer-centric plot for obvious reasons, and it is in this mode the work and its ingenious plot slips a bit.
Entertaining to the end, its at the end that you yearn for what could have been.
Rated by buyers -
Another interesting novel in the series featuring Gail Connor, attorney, and Anthony Quintana, defense lawyer. Gail and Anthony are sort of engaged to be married, but in the last edition of this series, she threw his ring into a murky pond at the country club, and although they're still seeing each other, marriage plans are on hold.
Gail is approached by a dear old friend, who had been their housekeeper years ago, to handle the appeals for her grandson, Kenny Ray Clark, who had been convicted of the brutal stabbing death of a young woman 12 years ago. All of his appeals so far have been unsuccessful, and this is his last chance to avoid execution.
After just a cursory investigation, Gail realizes how flimsy the evidence was and is convinced that Kenny did not receive a fair trial and is innocent. Gail becomes obsessed with stopping the execution. Anthony tried to warn her not to become involved, because he knows her so well and realizes that she will be overwhelmed by the appeal process and her own emotions. But eventually, when he sees that she cannot be deterred, he agrees to help.
Gail also involves her cousin Jackie Bryce who is now a rookie cop in the police department headed by her father who was in charge of the murder case 12 years ago. When the execution date is set, the action and pace intensify as Gail races against time to discover who really killed the victim. There are many people who want the crime to stay unsolved and for Clark to be put to death, and none of them are happy with Gail's meddling and probing.
This legal thriller is provocative, well paced and believable, and I'll look forward to more installments in the saga of Gail and Anthony.
Rated by buyers 
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This was my very first Barbara Parker novel and I found it to be an exciting, action-packed, suspense-filled, legal mystery. It included romance, legal battles, family issues, honor, mystery, and corruption. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and the plot involved multi-generations of people. It really made me think about the death penalty. I don't read a lot of mystery novels, but this was the same type of enjoyment as a John Grisham or James Patterson book.
Rated by buyers 
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Into NOT enjoying Barbara Parker's 6th outing for the legal couple, Anthony Quintana/Gail Connor. It is certainly a stretch to believe that Connor, a civil attorney, and a sole practitioner at that, would become involved with a death-penalty appeals case. Forgiving that, sit back and enjoy what is Parker's most ambitious and well-written tale of the series!
In it, some of the past jealousy dances over Connor's relationship with her ex-husband do not play a role, and her civil practice and single parenting responsibilities don't dominate the story line, as they have in past outings (this is positive; Quintana's jealousy does not become him). Nor does Quintana appear as self-assured and in control of situations in the "wilds" of northern Florida, as he does in his native
Miami. One of the most important and touching passages of the book deals with his realization and communication to Connor that she is a better attorney than is he, himself, because of the passion and dedication with which she serves her clients.
The client, Kenny Ray Clark, is on his final stretch of death row in Florida for a murder it becomes obvious he did not commit. Central to proving this is the role played by a new character, Jackie Bryce, a local deputy, and Connor's cousin.
Connor's family relationships are the background focus of the tale, and the sense of desperation the group feels while racing the clock to prove that someone else killed Amber Dodson and covered up the murder by blaming Kenny Ray, is palpable. Although there are a lot of victims in this tale, few are as tragic as the Mendozas, a local immigrant family who found themselves in the way of a land grab by the real perpetrator's of Amber's murder. You'll find yourself unable to put the book down as Connor and Quintana peel away the layers of the cover up, in a race against death.
Strong characterization, tense and thrilling plotline, and her signature byproduct of the incredible bond between Quintana and Connor all will heighten your enjoyment of this Parker
effort.
Read all 6, Parker is a terrific storyteller!
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