No Hollywood Ending Here...

I found this on a friend's 'moving back to the States' sale. It was moldy, but sounded interesting. It was only after reading the first twenty pages that I realized I had seen the movie based on this account. It had been years since I had seen the movie and had trouble remembering the closure so I pressed on.

The account has all the drama and thrill of a Grisham novel or Hollywood thriller, but it certainly lacks the Hollywood happy ending! The author does a fabulous job of presenting a glimpse into the depth of this case, without burdening the reader with every minuscule detail. I found myself alternately amazed and disgusted at the inner workings or our judicial system, especially that which revolves around our lawyers. This work presents them as they are talented, obnoxious, determined, proud, intelligent, cocky and greedy. Certainly I walked away with a strange mixture of respect and disgust toward lawyers.

Mr. Harr's account of the events allow you to walk in the shoes of these lawyers as the move through the long and painful process of going against big business. I found myself wishing that some of the men involved would simply humble them selves and admit their wrong with integrity. Yet instead in the face of obvious wrong doing cowardly hid behind millions (and billions) of dollars and lawyers, refusing to see to pain and death they had caused. I think it is for this reason when I finished the book I felt depressed and a renewed sense of man's depravity.

The book is an engaging and quick read. Its almost 500 pages flew by in record speed for me. I suggest this as a great reality check to all the Grisham readers out there. I give it 4 out 5 stars for it's well written and gripping account of real life events.

What really went on here?

A local man living in the Woburn area at the time Harr was writing this book began doind research at the Woburn library. Not long after,plainclothes often sinister looking men began appearing and looking over his shoulder at his microfilm research offering no explanation. Later a bizarre series of events unfolded in the man's life eventually leading to a series of internet postings in a desperate plea for help. These postings appeared to trigger an investigation into the man.

Why would basic research using publicly available resources trigger an investigation into a library patron?

Way drawn out and just doesn't flow..

I'm no literary critic, but this book just didn't do it for me. I'm somewhat amazed by all the acclaim it's received, but in no way did I consider it a thriller. The story is good, but the characters just never came to life and the facts and descriptions were just way bogging and boring-- and I can't help think it could have been much more readable despite the complicated facts.

Oh well. I breezed through Pelican Brief in a couple days. This one took me about 4 days... and I had to force myself to read it at times.