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Title: Death Row (Detective Series) by William Bernhardt, Jonathan Marosz ISBN: 0-7366-9464-1 Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2003 Format: Audio Cassette List Price(USD): $64.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (15 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: A Solid Mystery
Comment: This is my first venture into the world of William Bernhardt. It proved to be a rewarding one. The story is centers around a murder committed 7 years in the past. As a result, the man convicted for the slaying of most of a family is awaiting execution. As times draws near for the execution, the prosecution's star witness, the lone surviving family member, recants her testimony that put the alleged killer on death row. The rest of the story moves quickly, delving into the sins and secrets of the past. I found it a solid mystery that kept my attention the whole way.

Rating: 4
Summary: First rate
Comment: Author Bernhardt usually writes an interesting story, but
this effort is among his best, and he has risen to a higher
level of suspense and drama.

The story essentially involves the hero's attempts to block
an execution he feels isn't supported by the evidence, and
his hopes soar when the main prosecution witness visits him
to recant her testimony, and he prepared the paperwork to get
the case before a federal judge.

But as quickly as his hopes soared, they are dashed as the

recanting witness turns up dead. Before she can repeat her
story to anyone else.

Ben's whole office gets involved, and his partner Christina plays a more important role than usual, and they begin delving
into the whole background of the case. The murder that is at
the base of the planned execution was especially horrible, and
everyone involved, as well as much of the public, remembers it all too well, and those memories cause Ben and his staff much
trouble as they try to save a man's life.

The defendant's job as a food chemist allows us to see a new
side to our food and restaurant industry, and Bernhardt has done
a nice job of presenting such useful information in the context
of his legal thriller.

Very, very interesting story, and this is a book any reader of
thrillers will want to grab and read.

Rating: 4
Summary: Mildly Disappointed
Comment: What began as a suspenseful thriller, ended as a mild disappointment. Ben Kincaid, the Oklahoma defense attorney who is the primary protagonist in William Bernhardt's main body of work, is representing Ray Goldman, a man on death row who gets his final reprieve seconds before he is to receive the fatal injection. The witness whose testimony sealed Goldman's conviction has told Kincaid she lied when she identified Goldman as the killer of her family. After she is found dead from an apparant suicide, Kincaid is left trying to find the evidence required to overturn the conviction and save Goldman's life.

Having never read one of Bernhardt's books but seeing favorable reviews describing his work as "legal thrillers with suspenseful courtroom drama", I was surprised and disappointed with the dearth of actual legal proceedings.

The bulk of the story seemed to revolve around the many different interpersonal relationships of the characters and the other storylines while Ben and his staff looked for evidence. They included: Ben's longtime friend, police officer Mike Morelli and his new partner, sarcastic Kate Baxter; sex offender Gabriel Aravena, whose prescription of Depo Provera had essentially chemically castrated him, has had it discontinued; and the fast food industry's self-made billionaire, who created artificial flavoring to enhance the taste of the the animal parts used in his expensive upscale burgers, emerges as a possible suspect.

It is the attention author Bernhardt paid to the subplots that has created my ambivalence toward the story. While interesting in themselves, they didn't seem to be smoothly interwoven as integral plot ingredients. Therefore, DEATH ROW gets a lukewarm recommendation, but strong enough for me to give William Bernhardt one more try.