This is a review of False Convictions, by Tim Green. Copyright © 2010; fiction. List price: $25.99. ISBN 978-0-446-40152-4.
Casey Jordan is a high-profile attorney who has taken on notorious cases in her career. In False Convictions, Casey is hired by billionaire philanthropist Robert Graham as an attorney for the Freedom Project, a nonprofit organization designed to provide free legal help for the falsely convicted. Graham provides a seemingly open-and-shut case of wrongful conviction, a twenty-year-old case complete with racial profiling and shoddy investigative procedures. Casey and an investigative journalist, Jake Carlson, stir up hornets nests, get on the wrong side of the locals, and eventually end up fighting for their lives and reputations when things go south. Casey learns the hard way that things – and people – aren’t always what they seem.
Analysis:
The first chapter, set 20 years ago, opens with intrigue and action – the reader wonders where the character was, what he was doing, and feels outrage at the racial tension that erupts. This tension seeps through the book, and adds interesting dynamics to conversations, interactions and events that occur throughout the duration.
Chapter Two fast-forwards to present day, where the rest of the story takes place. We are introduced to Casey Jordan. “Introduced” might not be the correct term, since we don’t actually learn much in the way of specific, concrete details about Casey Jordan. It took me about 30 pages to realize this book is part of a series of books about this character. I’m not sure I’m intrigued enough by Casey to read through any of the previous books. We learn that Casey is a lawyer, that she is occasionally on television or portrayed by someone else on television, that she’s somewhat involved with a man named Jose, who apparently has a problem with alcohol, and whom we don't even think about for the rest of the book. Casey has dinner with the billionaire Graham, cementing her commitment to the Freedom Project. During this dinner meeting, the conversation makes the reader feel as though we are the third wheel being deliberately being left out.
When Casey reads the file on the convict she’s been hired to free, Dwayne Hubbard, the reader is again left out of the specifics of Hubbard’s history, case, trial and conviction. We only learn the few tidbits that Casey throws out in conversation with Graham. As an avid reader of mysteries, I prefer to try to work out the “whodunit” as the characters do; without the information, it’s nearly impossible to feel as though you have the tools to solve the case. The story now takes place mainly in Auburn, New York. There is some description, but the setting is flat and lacking – having never been to Auburn, I found myself confused as I tried to place the characters and events in the setting.
I liked the character Marty, the young and eager attorney/CPA assigned to assist Casey; this character added some quirkiness to the interactions. His presence is justified by his connections to everyone in the small town of Auburn, therefore, we pretty much only see him when Casey needs something. We are also introduced to Jake, a reporter who ends up unofficially partnering with Casey to solve the mystery. Jake seems like a no-holds barred type of reporter; he takes risks and gets into some trouble, but apparently, always gets the story.
The police and townspeople are the stereotypical small town folk we find so often in books – overweight, sloppy, use poor English when they speak. They, of course, put up roadblocks as Casey tries to investigate the old case. She threatens them with the usual lawyerly threats, which hardly leaves them quaking in their boots, and ends up not following thorugh on the threats, since she conveniently finds a way around them.
When the case takes an unexpected turn, Casey needs to decide who to trust, and who is playing her (somewhat badly) like a fiddle. The quickly solved Hubbard case seems too easy to the reader; it takes Casey and Jake a little longer to figure this out themselves. Once they finally lumber to the conclusion, they have to determine where the truth was warped and what they missed. The truth is gift-wrapped and handed to them, justice served in a trite but (implied) gruesome way, and the reader finishes the book feeling confused, as though they missed something.
All in all, I think this book was meant to be something more. Most of the plot elements are someone formulaic, as though they are samples of elements found in other suspense thrillers that are served together in an attempt to make a meal. All in all, I felt as though the story had potential, but either the potential was stifled, or it wasn’t explored thoroughly enough. Being only 292 pages, this novel is a fast read. The story moves along quickly, but it feels too condensed. More than once, I felt as though the author had written a much longer, more detailed and cohesive story, but that it had been pared down to fit a certain page requirement. The dialogue was stilted, the interactions between characters superficial and one-dimensional. The story felt forced to me. While I liked the plot twists and turns, and thought the overall tale was a good one, I felt that these elements were not explored as thoroughly as they should have been. The conflict was downplayed, the fear factor was unauthentic; in the end, the resolution of the ultimate conflict was weak, at best.
I hope this is just a fluke, that the rest of the books in this series are better written. I'll probably pick one up, since this one was such a quick read, just to see. I'll keep you posted.
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