Dismas Hardy returns in the third book from John Lescroart's series. The opening finds Dismas and Frannie married with baby Rebecca and another baby on the way. Dismas has left bartending behind and is now working for the San Francisco Prosecutor's office as an assistant D.A.

Dismas is the low man on the totem pole in the D.A.'s office so he's dealing with the crap cases. That is until he discovers a hand in the belly of a dead shark. When the rest of the body washes ashore with bullet holes, Dismas is assigned to work with Elizabeth Poolios (sp?) to prosecute the victims call-girl girlfriend. At least that's the side of the court room Dismas starts out on. By the end of the novel, he's working from the defense table.

I listened to this Hardy novel on audio book, which was read by David Colacci. He did a fair job but his range of voices isn't quite sufficient for the number of characters in this novel. Some of the characters begin to sound alike. But otherwise he does a decent job. He narrated both novels prior to this one as well, and I've come to associate his voice with Hardy.

There isn't a great change in characters for this novel. Dismas' ex Jane and her father Andy are back. Elizabeth Poolios becomes a major player in this novel and she falls into a stereotypical female with power role. For the most part I really enjoy Dismas as a character, but as a female reader his brush with infidelity rubbed me a little the wrong way. I wonder if that differs for male readers? I guess deep down somewhere I'm just an old romantic at heart!

The plot takes on a number of twists, but I was able to figure out the end quite early. It was still an enjoyable book to listen to and I'm interested to see where Lescroart takes Hardy from here. ( )

I recently finished reading this book by John T. Lescroart, and I must say it was quite good. The book is your "typical" court room/crime book, with some twists that I never saw coming. I highly recommend it for people who enjoy a good crime story. Though it is a crime story, there is also more than that to it. There are well created characters, and other plot lines. ( )