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Summary and Reviews of The Hearing by John Lescroart

The Hearing by John Lescroart

The Hearing

by John Lescroart
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Apr 1, 2001, 464 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2002, 560 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A rising star in San Francisco's legal firmament is found shot in a dark alley. Dismas Hardy warily takes on the defense in a case that will send shock waves through the city of San Francisco - the hearing is just the beginning.

The call comes at midnight. It looks like a tragic and petty murder--a rising star in San Francisco's legal firmament found shot in a dark alley. But for homicide lieutenant Abe Glitsky, the crime cuts horribly close to home--unknown to anyone, the victim was his daughter. Seething, Glitsky leans hard on his only suspect--a homeless heroin addict found lingering over his daughter's body, with her jewelry in his pocket and a smoking gun in his hand.

The city's embattled, ambitious D.A. Sharron Pratt sees an opportunity to revive her troubled administration by publicly declaring war on the killer and vowing to deliver the death penalty, putting the case on the fast track to certain conviction. Unable to watch a man die for Pratt's political gain, Dismas Hardy warily takes on the defense. But as Hardy's crusade to secure his client a fair hearing ensues, a lethal web of political corruption, legal conspiracy, and cold-blooded murder begins to unravel. In a case that will send shock waves through the city of San Francisco and echo in the private lives of its most prominent citizens, the hearing is just the beginning.

Chapter One

Next to Lieutenant Abraham Glitsky's bed, the telephone rang with a muted insistence.

A widower, Glitsky lived in an upper duplex unit with his youngest son Orel and a housekeeper/nanny named Rita. During his wife's illness, he'd deadened the phone's ringer so that it wouldn't wake anyone else in the house when, as often occurred, it rang in the middle of the night.

He located the source of the noise in the dark and picked up the receiver, whispering hoarsely. "Glitsky. What?"

Surfacing slowly into consciousness, he didn't really have to ask. He was the head of San Francisco's homicide detail. When he got calls in the dead dark, they did not tend to be salespeople inquiring about his satisfaction with his long-distance service provider. It was nearly two hours past midnight on Monday, the first day of February, and the city had produced only two homicides thus far this year--a slow month. In spite of that, Glitsky spent no time, ever, wondering if his job was...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Bookpage
The Hearing will be an irresistible read for...all those who appreciate a well-crafted courtroom drama.

Kirkus Reviews
[Lescroart] lays on the political intrigue as fearlessly as if he were writing exposé journalism rather than courtroom drama.

Library Journal
In this sixth offering in the series and the follow-up to Nothing but the Truth, attorney Dismas Hardy not only defends confessed murderer Cole Burgess but is forced to confront the fallibility of his friend, Abe Glitsky, chief of the San Francisco Police Department's homicide division. The author deftly continues to build upon the personal and professional relationships among his ensemble cast, adding a new, featured player in the person of legal secretary Treya Ghent.

Publishers Weekly
Another satisfying, character-driven legal thriller will be happily embraced by new and longtime fans of master plot-weaver Lescroart (The 13th Juror).... The richness and diversity of the large cast neither slows the pace nor confuses the narrative, as even minor characters take on memorable presence and depth. Readers will savor the mounting tension and the many twists and turns along the way to the surprise ending.

Reader Reviews

Mark VW

This book works better from a dialogue and character analysis than by its plot, which is, really, pretty far out there (I can't tell you what happens, but even by cynical big-city standards, it's a little over the top). But forget all that. Lescroart...   Read More

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