5650. The Judgment, by D. W. Buffa (read 20 Sep 2019) This is the third Buffa novel I've read. Joseph Antonelli is a seasoned criminal defense lawyer in Portland, Oregon, who practices before a couple of evil judges. When evil Judge Jeffries is murdered he is succeeded by another evil judge Much of the book (especially Antonelli's love life) is boring before the accounts of the trials which I found full of interest. I could not help comparing the trial narrative with trials I have had. In our jurisdiction a local rule is that the lawyer examining a witness shall do so while seated at the counsel table except it handing an exhibit to the testifying witness. As I followed the trials in this novel , with the examining lawyer prancing around the courtroom during examination of a witness I felt that our rule was a good one The sequence of events is pretty incredible but does make for attention-holding interest. . ( )

In The Judgement, Judge Calvin Jeffries is murdered. He had a brilliant legal mind, but was a villainous, evil person. Defense attorney Joseph Antonelli has had his share of run ins with the late judge and is none too sad to see him gone. After a second judge is killed and a homeless man who can barely speak is accused of the murder, Antonelli takes on the case. All of this traces back to a former legal associate of his, who is now in a home for the criminally insane after attempting to kill Antonelli years back.
The plot in this novel is clever and well developed. I enjoyed seeing the development of who was behind the killings and how it was unveiled. It was interesting and atypical. The characterization was also well developed. There weren't many characters, and the ones that were in the novel seemed to count. The novel is fast paced. The ending was climactic but I thought it left a little to be desired. I didn't care much for the Antonelli romance in the story. It seemed thrown in and didn't really add anything. It seemed as if the author felt obligated to have a romance and just added it in. Otherwise, a strong thriller worth reading.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street ( )

Boring, did not hold my interest. It was hard to get into the main character ( )