Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture

Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture
Average customer rating:

Lurid

An excellent cross-selection of crime and punishment

About DARK JUSTICE
Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture
Karen Farrington
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Law | Subjects | Books
Penology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The History of Torture

ASIN: 0765199106

Customer Reviews:

Lurid.......2007-04-26

The content is excellent, unfortunately, it is minimal in detail. This is a survey rather than an indepth study.

An excellent cross-selection of crime and punishment.......2000-01-19

This is a wonderful starting-point for research into the history of crime and punishment. It's a coffee-table sized book, and is chock-full of illustrations. Frankly, it's the illustrations you want to see when reading about a subject like this. There are photos and descriptions of torture implements, woodcuttings of torture chambers, and observers' accounts.

This is not the stuff of pleasant dreams, but it is what thousands of people have experienced.

About DARK JUSTICE.......1999-02-07

DARK JUSTICE is a book for an older person. This book is about what they did to people in the Middle Ages and earlier. It tells what a person would suffer if he was a warlock or she was a which. Any crime that you could think of is in this book. It tells also what would happen to the person if he or she was to commit a crime. Usually it was a painful and slow death. This bood is definitaly for older people.

Average customer rating:

Couldn't Put it Down
Mini-Review: "Dark Justice" by Jack Higgins
This is the "great" Jack Higgins?
Higgins is slowly revealing his age.
If I could give it zero I would

Dark Justice
Jack Higgins
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Without Mercy
Brought In Dead
Hell Is Always Today
Bad Company
Midnight Runner

ASIN: 0425205088

Book Description

Jack Higgins pits the heroic covert intelligence team of Blake Johnson and Sean Dillon against a hidden foe in a very different kind of game-- with a very different set of rules.

Download Description

Jack Higgins pits the heroic covert intelligence team of Blake Johnson and Sean Dillon against a hidden foe in a very different kind of game-- with a very different set of rules.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't Put it Down.......2007-01-28

The story starts out in the United States with a failed attempt on the President's life. It evolves from there with the who, how, why of how the plan was foiled. The story continues across the ocean with the original plotters upset at having their plans destroyed. This book is well written, keeps the reader in suspense, has intrigue, would be terrorists, heroes in wheelchairs, former IRA members, Russians, and more. This will go on my bookcase of keepers.

Mini-Review: "Dark Justice" by Jack Higgins .......2006-04-06

I continue to plow through Jack Higgins titles at a fairly brisk pace. His novels of intrigue and espionage are like an open bag of potato chips; you just can't eat one! With "Dark Justice," Higgins addresses the post-9/11 world of anti-terrorism - both in the U.S. and in the U.K. In each nation, the response to heightened threats of terrorism has been to create a shadow counter-terrorism team - one reporting soley to the U.S. President, the other reporting to the Prime Minister.

The plot ingredients for "Dark Justice" include a former IRA terrorist who now works for the Prime Minister in combatting terror, a Russian oil mogol who is a friend of Putin, a failed assassination attempt on the American President, and internal conflict within the Prime Minister's shadow team about the moral dilemma of operating "above the law" in order to have a fighting chance to thwart the terrorists.
As always, Higgins adds his own special blend of spices - well-drawn characters and unanticipated plot twists that makes this "bag of potato chips" delicious, crunchy and satisfying.

Al

This is the "great" Jack Higgins?.......2006-03-22

I'm so happy to see others panning this book. I picked it up to get a feel for his work which is so popular (every book seems to find itself on the NY Times bestseller list). I've been consistently astonished with how poorly it reads. I have trouble even maintaining my concentration while reading it. I'm going to try others - there has to be something here - but not too many.

Higgins is slowly revealing his age........2005-11-29

This is another good but not great outing by my all time favorite author. Jack Higgins is usually really up to par. Here, he is what I thought was a great book, was an ok job! I was always interested in finding out how each book could end, here I found out how the book actually ended. Great Characters, situations, and yes his hero is back. Dillion is here. He is slowly revealing his age. Usually I am very busy reading every book this author comes up with.

If I could give it zero I would.......2005-10-23

The plot is basic, involving trips to Iraq, London and Ireland.

The book is full of 2-dimensional characters that you don't care for. The dialog is lacklustre; the "action" is simplistic and by-the-numbers. Even the grand finale is over in a few pages.

Dillon runs around the world saving everybody except the US president. There's nothing "thrilling" about this story at all.

I wouldn't have believed it was a Jack Higgins book if it didn't have the name on the front cover.

Don't waste your money.

Average customer rating:

Stay out of the woods
Trite and Untrue
Good start, slow finish
Dark Justice
by Robert B. Bruno (author of Double Dealing)

Dark Justice
William Bernhardt
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Legal | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Extreme Justice (Ben Kincaid Series, No. 7)
Naked Justice
Cruel Justice
Perfect Justice
Murder One

ASIN: 0345434765
Release Date: 1999-12-07

Book Description

Suffering from courtroom burnout, attorney Ben Kincaid heads to the picturesque Pacific Northwest for some much-needed R and R. But Ben's blissful getaway becomes a busman's holiday in the small town of Magic Valley, where a pitched battle between the local logging industry and crusading conservationists has led to brutal murder.

Years earlier, professional activist George Zakin was successfully defended against a charge of murder by a fledgling attorney named Ben Kincaid. Now, accused of viciously killing a lumberjack, Zakin is counting on Ben to duplicate that long-ago courtroom coup. With the odds stacked against him, Ben walks into a war zone in the courtroom . . . and a potential killing field in Magic Valley, an explosive place where allies and enemies are hard to tell apart--and digging for the truth is as good as digging your grave.

Customer Reviews:

Stay out of the woods.......2006-02-16

Bernhardt probably read an Edward Abbey book and got the idea for this poorly researched novel. I doubt if he ever got closer to the Pacific Northwest forests than his booksignings. There are numerous errors of fact and a lack of comprehension about the area. At least Abbey wrote his wonderfully skewed views based upon actual experiences that vividly capture the environment. Perhaps the protagonist's aversion to the outdoors is shared by the author. It certainly appears so based upon really dumb statements and scenarios. Perhaps all the research that he brags about was just ineptly integrated into this one location. I think the Tulsa chair-bound author may have heard of the farms that raise hybrid trees for pulp harvest within a few years of planting. They use machines that cut up to 12" trees for paper production. An old growth virgin forest in the Pacific Northwest would most likely be Firs, 3 feet or more in diameter, used for lumber production. You don't see much gasoline powered heavy equipment in a diesel world. Who ever heard of a pine baseball bat? Perhaps I'm picking nits but the list of errors is too long to go further. I normally enjoy reading Bernhardt, but the unreality of so much of this book that is outdoors, spoiled it for me.
On the other hand, Eco-terrorism is terrorism. Understanding a defense for our environment is reasonable and supportable. There is a valid drama here that needs to be explored. A ridiculous, trite tale of misguided 'heros" and ignorant, savage lumbermen is just frustrating. Please Mr. Bernhardt, stay in the courtroom that you know, or at least stay indoors.

Trite and Untrue.......2005-04-03

Having read and very much enjoyed this series in the order that they were published, I was extremely disappointed with this book. While the environmentalist side of the issue is presented reasonably well, the lumber industry portion seems to have been extracted from an Earth First comic book. Bernhardt apparently didn't see fit to research the "other side" at all, because errors (both technical and philosophical, major as well as minor) flow endlessly from page to page. I have always admired authors who can get the details right. Based on that test, Kincaid needs to stay in Tulsa, not in timber country.

Good start, slow finish.......2004-03-10

Though this book had a good start, the trial to the end of the book was slooooow. I ended up skimming through most of the latter parts of the book and still managed to get the story line. The scene of the fire at the cabin was oh too unbelievable. The author and story lost credibility with me there. Also, the confession by the murderer was too speech like as a previous reviewer noted. Not natural. The relationship between Christina and the Sheriff was fine, but why did the author feel he had to belabor Kincaid's opinion on that relationship? For goodness sake, enough is enough. I didn't feel the book was too pro-environmentalist and preachy though. I felt the writer did a good job in that respect of illustrating both sides of the economical vs. conservation conflict. I did enjoy the story for the most part, mostly because it wasn't the same trite plot that is in most murder mysteries. The loggers vs. conservationists battle does continue to rage on and I was eager to hear more about this. The author did a good job in this respect of including facts into the story so you could learn as you read along, more about what goes on with respect to logging. Aw yes, a few details re: facts were off, but as a previous reviewer stated that didn't affect the story, and last I checked, editors are still human.

Dark Justice.......2003-11-13

I wouldn't give this book even one star. It was preachy, formulaic and totally predictable, even down to the murderer uttering what was supposed to be a confession brought on by stress yet he sounded as if he had been coached by a professional speech writer. And Ben Kincaid's "Aw shucks" character was just a little too much.

by Robert B. Bruno (author of Double Dealing).......2003-01-20

Ben Kincaid, attorney of the lost cause, shines as the harbinger of justice in a small logging town called Magic Valley. With the help of his faithful assistant, Christina, Ben shows his fortitude and ingenuity while defending a Green Rager activist known as Zak. Loggers versus environmentalists sets an intriguing background to a murder trial with an unscrupulous and voluptuous prosecutor with the unlikely handle, Granny. Just when the cause is hopeless and the client is to fry, an unexpected surprise saves the day.

Book Description

The history of punishment and torture makes for macabre and mesmerizing reading: retribution without mercy, medieval justice, hellish prisons, and ingenious methods of inflicting torment upon the body and mind. Trace a path from the days of harshest penalties to more modern methods of reforming wrongdoers. Images graphically capture the plight of prisoners forced to walk treadmills till they went insane; bodies nailed to crosses; suspects tied to ducking stools; and the courts of the Inquisition, which left no stone unturned in their efforts to exact a confession. Discussions of human sacrifice, ordeal by fire or water, the dark days of juvenile justice, the pillory, and capital punishment reveal the astonishing array of clever and cruel sentences devised by those determined to deliver the ultimate punishments.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely illustrated but uninformative.......2007-03-01

A ghoulish item for the coffee table with lots of pictures but little in information. Of no use to the scholar of this subject or of history in general.

Overall, not very good.

Read it if you dare..........2006-04-06

This is a dare-kind of book, full of excellent illustrations, line drawings and plates. And when a picture is worth a thousand words, then few additional words are required. Ms. Karen has stuck to this rule, and has been mercifully brief.

Not that she doesn't like writing or can write well. The 180-odd pages are full of full-page and half page illustrations, most of them of high quality. The accompanying write-up is also of good quality. It tends to be descriptive / narrative. Not much analysis is added, but then none is expected in a book of this kind.

The title of the book indicates a claim of universality: History of Punishment and Torture. However, as happens with most works of this kind, the history is only partial and limited to Western Christian societies. For instance, there is no mention of torture in non-Christian societies such as Arab countries, or Japan, China, India or South-east Asia or many of the tribal societies. American Indian tribes are also not covered. Russia is briefly mentioned but Mongolia has been left out, not even mentioned. So really, the book should have had a sub-title: History of Punishment and Torture - Last 2000 years in the Western Societies.

However, there are some gaps even in this. Nazi torture of Jews has been left out. Some juicy tid-bits of the Colonial period have also not been covered. Perhaps the author's intention is to throw a good scare into the ordinary Western reader, and in this she appears to have won hands down.

The book has been designed around seven main headings, including one on inquisition, another on witches, and then a rather long one on capital punishment. Each of the headings is sub-divided into topics. The style of writing is racy - Ms. Karen is a journalist, so this comes easy.

All in all, a good buy. Try to avoid reading it before or after a heavy meal, though.

broad and shallow.......2003-06-10

The book is both broad, covering a lot of ground, but intensely shallow. The pictures are almost worth the price of admission, but the details are seriously lacking. Reads like a Time/Life book which tantalizes but does not produce anything. I bought it as research for a novel in progress and was very dissatisfied.

Beautiful yet horrifying.......2002-10-29

The book is very well illustrated and done in full color throughout. It is fascinating and gory; a great reminder of how civilized we have become and how safe a world we live in now. Read it in doses because too much of it at once is apt to make you sick and disgusted with the human animal.

Creepy coffeetable book.......2001-01-02

This is a wonderful starting-point for research into the history of crime and punishment. It's chock-full of illustrations. Frankly, it's the illustrations you want to see when reading about a subject like this. There are photos and descriptions of torture implements, woodcuttings of torture chambers, and observers' accounts.

Average customer rating:

Defeatist Attitude to Life
Well Written, but Not Much Mystery or Suspense
A well written, downright creepy psychological thriller!
Dark House
The Old Dark House

Dark House (Paris Murphy Mysteries)
Theresa Monsour
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Police Procedurals | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Cold Blood
Stripped
Triptych
Speak No Evil: A Novel
The Kill: A Novel

ASIN: 0399152903

Amazon.com

Detective Paris Murphy is back in her Twin Cities precinct for the third time (Clean Cut, Cold Blood), but if her husband has her way, it won't be for long; he's pressuring her to move to Arizona, where he's been offered a new job, and if she doesn't agree, it's likely to mean the end of her marriage. She's almost ready to agree when clues to a bar killing in a north country backwater in the ice-locked Iron Range point to a couple of suspects who may be headed her way--a female university professor who's a colleague of Paris's father-in-law, and a young man never prosecuted for the shooting death of his own father in a hunting accident. "Catch" Clancy might be Serene Ransom's lover, her hostage, or her partner in crime--or maybe, as Paris surmises, all three. While Paris is pondering her own emotional stability, it's a lot stronger than Serene's; the no longer young but still beautiful academic is about to be fired for inappropriate relationships with her male students. But it's her strange hold on the bartender whose attempts to save her from a late night assault by a gun-toting snowmobiler who forced his way into the bar just as Clancy was closing up, along with her subsequent descent into madness, that is portrayed in chilling detail. He manages to win the reader's sympathy despite his role in Serene's murderous activities, but there's no way it can end well for him, even if by the last page Paris manages to resolve her own dilemma, at least until her next outing in Monsour's series. --Jane Adams

Book Description

Paris Murphy, the brilliant homicide detective who pursued serial killers in Clean Cut and Cold Blood, tracks an intimately involved couple in a very different kind of murder case.

Theresa Monsour's precise and tough-minded storytelling has been praised by superb thriller writers-among them, Sandford himself, Jeffery Deaver, and Daniel Silva-all of whom welcome her as a peer. Her heroine, Paris Murphy, is a police detective known for her skill, her unerring intuition, and her reckless willingness to use herself as killer bait.

In Dark House, Paris tracks an unholy pair. Blond, sexually driven university professor Serene Ransom comes on to bartender Catch Clancy in a small rural hangout. When a snowmobiler holds up the place, Serene pushes Catch to kill the guy, then takes Catch home to St. Paul where she has plans for him, plans that result in even more violence.

Customer Reviews:

Defeatist Attitude to Life.......2006-08-04

The story line reminded me of Thomas Hardy's classical work "Jude the Obscure" about a man's defeatist & self-destructive attitude to life. Chase is the Jude in this case. His sidekick is the English professor Pink Lady or Serena Ransom. An excellent family name as she holds Chase ransom to her demands. My interest was not sustained throughout the book and I felt like giving up as I knew how the story would pan out. There were no surprises or shocks along the way that would give this book the wow factor.

I found the plot too draggy. Too much emphasis on the oddball characters that soon lost its fizz after you got the hang of it. The plot was thin without any twists and turns.

Well Written, but Not Much Mystery or Suspense.......2006-07-20

I've never heard of Theresa Monsour, but I thought I would try reading this book, since I'm always on the lookout for new authors who write good mystery/suspense.

After reading this book, I believe that Monsour is a very good writer. This book was very well crafted. She mainly writes in very short sentences and fragments, similar to the way Lee Child does. This style makes her work highly readable, but it does get annoying after a while, especially when she describes highly mundane activities in great detail (see one of the reviews below for a funny example of this style).

The major downside of the book was the plot. There is absolutely no mystery in this book at all. The reader knows exactly who the "killers" are. The lead character is never in any real danger, so there is also zero suspense. The villains of this book are so dysfunctional that they comes across as more pitiful than dangerous.

This book, in some ways, reminded me of the movie FARGO, which was more of a dark comedy than a crime thriller. If you're in the mood for that type of experience, then I recommend this book. But if you're looking for thrills, then I would skip this one.

A well written, downright creepy psychological thriller! .......2006-04-22

Catch & Serene ...what a pair!!

He is a bartender with a violent streak, suicidal tendencies and a terrible secret. He used to be a terrific hockey player though.

She is an Associate Professor of English Lit. at the state university with impeccable credentials from Princeton and a few publications under her belt, notably "Romance or Reality? How The Divided Soul Pains the New Prometheus." Well, I don't know much about the divided soul...but Serene Ransom, a.k.a. "Pink Lady," is acquainted with the divided self. Oh...and she also prefers her men young - very young.

"Catch," a.k.a. Enda Clancy, is young and Greek god handsome, although he is not Prometheus nor is he as young as Serene usually prefers her boys. However, he has been known to gravitate toward older women. So...it's a match made in heaven - or hell!

The two meet late one night in Maggie's Red Door, the bar Catch tends, located in Northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range. When a drunk snowmobiler with a police record decides to cause a bit of excitement as the joint is closing, he gets more than he bargains for. Before Catch locks up for the evening, he and his new girlfriend, (with a penchant for pink, cats and S & M), commit murder, conspire to conceal both the body and the evidence, clean up, clear out the cash register, claim the shotgun under the bar and takeoff for the Twin Cities. This is obviously just the beginning of their spree.

Detective Paris Murphy of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area Police Department gets the case. This is Detective Murphy's third appearance in a Theresa Monsour police procedural and my introduction to the intelligent, feisty, part Irish, part Lebanese law officer. Paris is a more complex character than most female protagonists in series novels. There is more to her than the same old "tough but vulnerable" facade. I am definitely planning to read books one and two, ("Clean Cut" and "Cold Blood").

Not only am I taken with this three-dimensional take charge lady, but I like her husband, family, colleagues, boss and problematic love life. The dialogue is realistic, the plot is gritty and fast paced - some nice twists. Ms. Monsour, an award-winning journalist for a St. Paul newspaper, gives us a vivid look inside the heads of two totally wacko individuals, one a serial killer - and the view is chilling. The writing is quite good! What's not to like??
JANA

Dark House.......2006-03-04

It was a very good book, well written. It was interesting to follow the story because of the locations in the story as I live in the same area.

The Old Dark House.......2005-11-17

You don't often read books about women who live highly respected professional lives but who have a weakness for underage men who look more like teenage boys, but hey, every week or so it seems they catch another school teacher in bed with a middle school pupil, so why not Serena Ransom, "Lady Macbeth's finest pupil," who walks into a bar in St. Paul on a cold, cold night and brings down a firestorm of blood and bullets. She's quite a character and, if truth be told, she outshines Paris Murphy, Theresa Monsour's tough, dedicated half-Irish half-Lebanese cop.

Ransom's boy toy observes her through a musk of male hormones, and in Monsour's inimitable noir style, the sentences get so excited they lose their particles and articles: "Eyes the color of blue Popsicles. Lips that looked swollen and chewed on. Vanilla ice-cream skin." You can tell she's sort of a cold person.

Not so Paris Murphy, who goes to a chiropractor halfway through the case and gets the massage of her life! Paris is a little bit like her namesake, Paris Hilton, always ready for a tumble. "Can you loosen your jeans?" murmurs the chiropractor guy. "I need to reach that lower-back area that's been bothering you." Note: she's undercover and doesn't really have any back problems. It's just a ruse to get her undressed. The tension between the two stories drives Monsour's third novel to a rackety finish. If only Demi Moore would consent to play Paris Murphy, and for Ransom, the producers should hire Uma Thurman.

Alone in the Dark (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1327)(Cavanaugh Justice series)

Average customer rating:

She didn't want to get involved with a cop

Alone in the Dark (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1327)(Cavanaugh Justice series)
Marie Ferrarella
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

Romantic Suspense | Romance | Subjects | Books

Silhouette Intimate Moments | Series | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Dangerous Disguise : Cavanaugh Justice (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1339) (Silhouette Intimate Moments)
Internal Affair (Cavanaugh Justice Series)
Cavanaugh's Woman (Cavanaugh Justice) (Silhouette Special Edition, No. 1617)
The Strong Silent Type: Cavanaugh Justice (Silhouette Special Edition No. 1613) (Silhouette Special Edition)
Racing Against Time: Cavanaugh Justice (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1249) (Intimate Moments)

ASIN: 0373273975

Customer Reviews:

She didn't want to get involved with a cop.......2004-12-14

Pretty and outgoing veterinarian Patience Cavanaugh had rules that she lived by and refused to break. Rule #1 - don't get involved with a cop. Even though most of her extended family were police officers, Patience had grown up with an emotionally distant, sometimes abusive cop for a father, and she didn't want to live like her mom had. But when she confides in loner Brady Coltrane that she was being stalked, she found herself wanting to get to know the K-9 cop much better...

Brady Coltrane was a loner. He didn't get involved. The only living being he allowed himself to deeply care about was his partner, King, a German Shepherd. But when Patience tells him that she's being stalked, he agrees to help her so her family won't get involved with the mess. She thinks the stalker is harmless, but Brady knows better than that. He knows how violence can destroy lives. As Brady gets to know Patience a bit better, he feels the walls he constructed around his heart begin to crumble. He thinks the noble thing to do is to walk away from Patience, but how can he do that with her stalker on the loose?

This book really deserves 4.5 stars. It was shorter than it may first appear (the font was big and the lines were spaced wide), so it was a quick read. It kept my interest from the first page all the way to the last. Brady was a great hero, I just wish that his turmoil had been fully explored; instead, he appeared rather two-dimensional for part of the book because his emotions about what had happened in his past were never fully tapped. I liked Patience and could identify with her.

The book didn't get five stars for two main reasons. One, Brady's past wasn't treated with the depth I think it deserved. Two, I knew who the stalker was as soon as he was introduced in the book. So it was very frustrating to know who the stalker is, and yet the characters in the book had absolutely no idea who he was and were going down the wrong path for much of the story. I wondered why neither of them could think a little harder and get to who was really sending Patience the flowers and spying on her. Oh well. It was still a great book, one that I'll probably read again, and I'm definitely interested in reading Patience's brother's story ("Internal Affair," by the same author).

Jack Higgins CD Collection: The White House Connection, Dark Justice, and Without Mercy

Average customer rating:

Jack Higgins CD Collection: The White House Connection, Dark Justice, and Without Mercy
Jack Higgins
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Eye of the Storm
The Collectors
Step on a Crack

ASIN: 1423316770
Release Date: 2006-10-29

Book Description

The White House Connection:
Someone is killing off the members of a splinter group known as the Sons of Erin, normally not a cause for much concern, but the consequences are much greater than anyone realizes. For in these actions lie the seeds of disaster: the fall of two governments, the derailing of the Irish peace process. Dillon and Johnson must stop this unknown assassin, the heads of state agree, quickly, quietly, before all hell breaks loose...

Dark Justice:
Someone is recruiting a shadowy network of agents with the intention of creating terror. White House operative Blake Johnson and his opposite number in British intelligence, Sean Dillon, set out to trace the source of the havoc, but behind the first man they find another, and behind him another still. And that man is not pleased by the interference. Soon he will target them all: Johnson, Dillon, Dillon's colleagues. And one of them will fall...

Without Mercy:
As Detective Superintendent Hannah Bernstein of Special Branch lies recuperating in the hospital, a dark shadow sent by a figure from the past steals across the room and finishes the job. Consumed by grief and rage, Dillon, Blake, Ferguson, and all who loved Hannah swear vengeance, no matter where it takes them.

Down and Dirty Justice: A Chilling Journey into the Dark World of Crime and the Criminal Courts

Average customer rating:

Expediency Writ Large
An all-too-real presentation of the American judicial system
Law and [Dis]order: This Is the Real Thing
Informative and Thought-Provoking Book!
Excellent Read

Down and Dirty Justice: A Chilling Journey into the Dark World of Crime and the Criminal Courts
Gary T. Lowenthal
Manufacturer: New Horizon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Legal Profession | One-L | Law | Subjects | Books

True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Ready for the People: My Most Chilling Cases as a Prosecutor
Crime Control as Industry: Towards Gulags Western Style
Convicted Survivors (Suny Series in Women, Crime, and Criminology)
Trial of Leonard Peltier
The Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America (New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law)

ASIN: 0882822357

Book Description

When Professor of Law Gary T. Lowenthal takes a sabbatical and descends from the ivory towers of academia, he finds himself in a very different system of criminal justice than the one he trains his students to expect. Working in the trenches at the county attorney's office, he becomes entangled in a provocative kidnapping trial, one that takes him deep into a dark and disturbing world of criminals, victims, attorneys and judges, where innocence isn't always the best defense.

Customer Reviews:

Expediency Writ Large.......2004-05-03

Gary T. Lowenthal, a law professor in Arizona, spent his sabbatical as a prosecutor in the Phoenix (Maricopa County) prosecutor's office, the office of County Attorney Rick Romley, who, according to his web site, has held office since 1989. Surprisingly naïve for a law professor who says he has taught criminal law and criminal procedure, Lowenthal tells a tawdry tale of expediency and laziness that permeates that office.

The book is thus a must-read because it exposes a plea-bargaining-based expediency that not only encourages crime by failing to adequately punish and deter criminals, but also extorts guilty pleas from persons who may not be guilty. The excuse is that plea bargaining saves money and resources. There are two main reasons why that is not true: (1) criminals who plea-bargain their way out of prison are free to continue to prey on their communities; and (2) revolving-door "justice" means that the same criminal has to be processed over and over again.

As Lowenthal admits time and time again, however, it is just plain easier to plea-bargain a case with an offer of often unjustified leniency than to try the case and get the justice the defendant, the victim, and society deserves. For most defense lawyers, of course, plea bargaining is the only way they can make a buck-it just doesn't pay for them to spend the time and effort defending their clients in a trial.

Although the book's main focus is a case that Lowenthal did try, the real story he tells is about the lame excuses he and his fellow prosecutors marshal to justify either not charging crimes (including one Lowenthal declined to charge even though the police arrested the defendant red-handed in a stolen truck) or to justify probation for folks whose crimes warrant lengthy prison terms. "Down and Dirty Justice" paints an ugly picture of how justice is bartered in Phoenix. If accurate, Phoenix should get itself a new chief prosecutor.

An all-too-real presentation of the American judicial system.......2004-03-07

Knowledgeably written by Gary T. Lowenthal (a law professor who dared to venture from the ivory towers and work for the Arizona County Attorney's Office), Down And Dirty Justice: A Chilling Journey Into The Dark World Of Crime And The Criminal Courts is an all-too-real presentation of an American judicial system which is chronically riddled with failures, brutality, the ruthless prosecution of the innocent, and the slap on the wrist to the guilty. Forced to conclude that it is the plea bargaining prosecutors, not the judges nor the juries, that rule the criminal justice system Down And Dirty Justice is a chilling and much needed expose and warning of just how bad the system is now -- before it gets any worse within the context and pressures arising from the current "War on Terrorism" and "Patriot Act" legislation.

Law and [Dis]order: This Is the Real Thing.......2004-01-06

This book provides insight into the way the criminal justice system really works. It's format is like Law and Order's in that it follows a case from the investigation stages to sentencing. It also features a gripping case. But, unlike Law and Order, this is the real thing. Resources and relationships -- between police and prosecutors, prosecutors and defenders, defenders and clients -- are strained. People are overworked and underpaid. Rigid policies and harsh mandatory sentencing laws prevent judges and prosecutors from fashioning punishments that truly fit the crime. Lowenthal has written a compelling, true account of our criminal justice system. I recommend it for those who want to learn more about the criminal justice system or those who just want to read an interesting true crime story.

Informative and Thought-Provoking Book!.......2004-01-05

This book is an entertaining, compelling, and somewhat grim look at American jurispudence today. Down and Dirty Justice is the riveting experiences of an experienced, ivory tower law professor thrust into the realities of today's legal system as a novice prosecutor. Early in the book, the author makes the point that his view of our legal system, though more informed than most, was still heavily colored by television. Like most Americans today, that was how I viewed our legal system, but as the author shows, TV shows such as Law and Order and The Practice, though supposedly true to life, give a far from true picture of the court system.
Mr. Lowenthal focuses on one particular case, an assault/kidnapping case. It is not glamourous; it is not high-profile. It is, however, fascinating. In his erudiate, well-written account, Professor Lowenthal details and highlights the often convulted and somewhat strange route to a kind of justice and resolution, which at times during this book were unlikely.
This book is not only well-written, but Mr. Lowenthal's insights into the legal system of today are deft and knowledgable. It is a book that anybody who has contact - or might have contact - with our legal system should read.

Excellent Read.......2004-01-04

This is an excellent read and an informative book. I knew our criminal justice system was flawed but I did not realize the breadth of the problems. Though neither the victim nor the defendant is a particularly sympathetic individual, the system abused each of them. Any thoughts I had that justice usually occurs were eliminated. The author writes clearly and intelligently about a bureaucratic, political and often arbitrary legal system.

Petit Apartheid in the U.S. Criminal Justice System: The Dark Figure of Racism

Average customer rating:

Petit Apartheid in the U.S. Criminal Justice System: The Dark Figure of Racism

Manufacturer: Carolina Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0890899517

Book Description

"Petit apartheid" describes the more hidden, invisible, covert, and informal forms of discrimination that exist within the criminal justice process. Russell and Milovanovic investigate these forms of "micro-aggressions" and makes them visible for critical social science scrutiny and change.

Average customer rating:

Graphic SF Reader
A High-Tech Plot in a High-Tech Comic

Batman Digital Justice
Moreno
Manufacturer: DC Comics, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

Batman Broken City
Batman: Snow
Batman: Evolution (No Man's Land)
Annihilation, Book 3 (Marvel Comics)
Justice, Vol. 1

ASIN: 9991837574

Customer Reviews:

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

This was around the time of the massive Bat-craze. The book was a look at all digital and computer art, and that was also the premise of the story.

In the future, the Joker is a computer virus, and the Batman of that time and type has to try and track it down and stop it from doing crazy Joker type things.

A High-Tech Plot in a High-Tech Comic.......2001-03-30

This hardbound graphic novel by Pepe Moreno is sophisticated and intriguing. Developed in 1990, this book takes the legend of Batman and gives his spirit life in the grandson of Commissoner Gordon, Sgt Gordon. Gotham may be high-tech, but it is still swalloed in crime.

Sgt Gordon is after serious criminals and part of the enemy is not human; but a computer virus established by the Joker himself to cause such havoic in the city. The art work is computer generated and the paper it is produced on is high gloss.

The plot is well developed and even though so many things are going on, it is easy to follow. This comic has some neat little extras after the story that contribut to a well made book just right for any comic fan. A must have.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books