Power In The Hands of Dishonest Prosecutors

Power in the wrong hands can prove deadly! Street is a good guy that anyone and everyone will want to root for. As Jean of Santa Cruz, CA noted about the author, "Pratt does not hide the cynicism he has for the system, and how easy it is to get lost when facing the power of the government."

This legal thriller is primarily about the abuse of power in our judicial system. The protagonist is Darren Street, a criminal defense attorney who years ago had ousted an abusive district attorney from office. Now, years later, the ousted district attorney devise a plan to get even with Street.

Darren Street is plunged head-long into the criminal justice system where he has to contend with false accusation, humiliation, indignity, government sponsored isolation and torture, beatings and stab wounds until the wheels of the justice system nearly grinds him to dust. This legal thriller literally grabs you by the ears from first words and never let go. It is fast paced with excellent character development and twists and turns that propels the story forward and keep you on the edge of your seat and listening.

The narrator is really good! In the beginning I thought "oh boy!, I'm not going to like this narrator but, once again, I was wrong. Nick Podehl is really good.

47 people found this helpful

Best Scott Pratt yet

I was completely engrossed from the beginning. All the author's books are good reads, but this one was even better. I have been unable to listen to the previous titles due to the poor narration, but this narrator is perfect. You won't be disappointed. I hope this turns into a new series.

33 people found this helpful

Fan of Scott Pratt

I have read the Joe Dillard series by Mr. Pratt and have enjoyed all of them. This book is different, still well written and riveting, but it is quite different. It is raw and difficult to get through at times, but if you like Scott Pratt's work I think you will like this one as well.

10 people found this helpful

Justice Redeemed

I am a Christian. This is not a Christian novel, nor was it intended to be. Nevertheless I gave it four stars because if any of the story content reflects the truth about the penal system and what could happen within the justice system it is worth the credit. There was foul language throughout and one scene with a hint of sexual promiscuity. I hope this helps.

13 people found this helpful

4 with a footnote

This thriller takes off quickly and just doesn't slow down anywhere. IIt's a legal thriller - though it does not have the depth of some other authors I've read. Hillbillies with hearts of gold and public officials with black hearts chase each other and our hero through sticky plot actions. The hero fights his way through courts and prisons and just may find himself in a movie version of the book. It's hard to put down.

27 people found this helpful

Darn, Scott Pratt writes superb legal thrillers!

Justice Redeemed is a stand alone novel about young lawyer Darren Street rather than part of Pratt's terrific Joe Dillard series. The novel is likely the best legal thriller I have read; it is certainly much better than Grisham's best recent novels. In Justice Redeemed Street embarrassed a crooked prosecutor and finds himself convicted of a murder he did not commit.

There is likely a lesson all should learn from this novel: a dishonest or partisan federal prosecutor who goes after a citizen can and will find a way to ruin that person's life. The real power in our justice system is held by prosecutors and some of them are dishonest and spiteful.

Nick Podehl does a fine job of narration.

Highly recommended. I have purchased and plan to listen to the rest of Scott Pratt's novels.

32 people found this helpful

Great Tale

Again, Scott Pratt grabs you by the ears with a new character and cast. Tops! Couldn't stop listening ,, I strongly recommend and loved the narrator.

11 people found this helpful

Riveting

This is the first time I have read this author. The book is a standalone legal thriller. Our protagonist is Darren Street, a criminal defense attorney who is defending a child killer. Apparently the killer is murdered and Street is the suspect. Street had made an enemy of the District Attorney who now is working as a Federal Prosecutor. The main theme is that those in government or who have its backing, the right evidence and the power of persuasion can convict innocent people. In other words justice is jaded.

In this story, the author also goes inside the penal system and provides his own viewpoint. While it is not told in a soapbox fashion, Pratt does not hide the cynicism he has for the system, and how easy it is to get lost when facing the power of the government. Pratt does toss in some humor to even the despair of the story. The courtroom drama is exciting and is the part of these stories I like the best. Pratt provides excellent character development and dialogue usage to propel the story and keep things fresh throughout. The story is well crafted with lots of plot twist to keep the reader listening. This is my first experience with Nick Podehl as the narrator; he does a good job. I am impressed enough to read more of this author and listen some more to Podehl the narrator.

26 people found this helpful

I Tried

What disappointed you about Justice Redeemed?

After reading "An Innocent Client", I started skimming the titles of Scott Pratt's other novels and came across this one. The premise was interesting and I had enjoyed "Client, so it was expecting another good read.

Yeah, I think I made it through the first chapter but that was hard. I just kept going 'that's not how privilege works' and considering it's the entire basis for how the protagonist finds himself in this situation, it was a hard detail to overlook. If your client threatens someone, that threat is not privileged. If your client is no longer your client because you quit the case, anything he tells you after that relationship is over is not privileged. The entire thing could have been handled with a call to the cops or FBI.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Currently listening to Adam Mitzner's newest, "The Girl from Home".

Which character – as performed by Nick Podehl – was your favorite?

The protagonist. Unfortunately, I've forgotten his name. I like Nick, though. He's narrated a few other books I've listened to.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The writing is good. I liked the protagonist well enough. I just couldn't get past the privilege issue. It just didn't make sense.

46 people found this helpful

If the premise is false, the story falls apart

The premise is that a bad guy has retained our legal hero to defend him - a pedophile - against two truly horrible murders - small boys. As soon as our hero realizes what bad guy wants, hero fires client. He wants no part of it.

But bad guy refuses to accept it and walks out, leaving $50,000 cash retainer behind and threatening our hero and his 6 year old child. Does our hero immediately call the cops? Oh, HECK no! Because he was bad guy's attorney for about 4 minutes, he feels he can't turn to the police for help with a threat to his child because of attorney/client privilege!

Wait... what? That's not how privilege works!

Hero then begins making a series of really stupid decisions. I mean I'm saying out loud, "That's stupid! Why would you do that???"

He also has the most relentlessly horrible wife (who is also the world's worst mother) so he gets no help from her! By the time he's finding an ex-client to put out a contract on bad guy (who is now stalking him) instead of calling the damned cops, my eyes rolled for the 4th time, so I'm giving this back to Audible.

The narrator doesn't help. His male voices are OK but his women are pretty awful.

The premise is bad. The protagonist's behavior is simply not believable as a plotline. The amount of gratuitous violence to wade through is unacceptable. And the narrator is poor.

I'm done.

12 people found this helpful