Paul Goldstein

I'm not a a regular reader of legal thrillers, but I heard the author speak and because my husband is a patent attorney, I decided to give this book a try. Well, it definitely sucked me in, so much so that less than half way through I couldn't resist peaking at the end to see how it turned out. Spoiler alert: it does have a satisfying ending. Some of the myriad plot twists didn't seem necessary, but I still enjoyed this novel and would recommend it highly. Great descriptions of San Francisco show more and the various characters are a bonus. show less

This book was very favorably reviewed on NPR's All Things Considered, and I generally trust, if not entirely agree, with its reviewers. But this book really under-performed against the high expectations I brought to it. The book is certainly a departure from the routine legal thriller, and Goldstein is to be admired for even trying to make something interesting out of a civil patent rights trial. But as much as he accomplishes in making *something* interesting out of the topic, it's just not show more quite good enough. The story is a bit convoluted. It depends a little too much on Goldstein's good, but not great, shorthand lessons in intellectual property law. And it depends on quite a few too many great leaps of logic or insight on the part of our hero, Michael Seeley. The book's ambitions are also sort of a mish mash. It's part family drama, part courtroom drama, part romance, part murder mystery. It's too much of too many things and not enough of any one of them to really make an impression. If I were advising other readers, I'd suggest you wait for it to play on cable, so to speak. show less

This book by Paul Goldstein really grabs you and gets you into the plot along with characters that are believable. It was an enjoyable read, one that kept me turning the pages and not wanting to put the book down. It is a legal thriller, and I really enjoyed it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'

1st in the Michael Seeley series. Seeley is an attorney specialising in intellectual property. His life is not going so well lately: his wife has left him, as are his paying clients, he drinks too much and an angry judge wants to see him disbarred. So maybe getting away for some days to work on an Error and omission report for a movie studio would be a good idea... But things are not so easy when he discovers that the author of a scenario in litige may not be the real author...

As an show more intellectual property manager, I was really interested to read that book. As Seeley goes to Europe to meet with the real author so he can sign an authorship declaration, he also must face his own reality. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward for the next in the series. I gave it a 4. show less