Fugitive

Con man Charlie Marsh manages to parlay a prison incident in which he saved the warden's life into a book called THE LIGHT WITHIN YOU, which generates a huge following. While on a book tour, Charlie has an affair with Congressman Arnold Pope, Jr.'s, wife. When Arnie ends up dead, Charlie flees to Batanga, Africa. Jonathan Davis uses his clear, low-pitched voice to depict the array of characters entangled in Charlie's life: Batangans, U.S. congressmen, New Yorkers, and the novel's heroes, a father-daughter team of lawyers, Frank and Amanda Jaffe. Davis is adept at providing unique, realistic voices, and his reading conveys all the story's suspense, drama, and emotions--not only in the courtroom but in the intrigue surrounding two dangerous people who want Charlie dead. Plot twists and a strong narration keep listeners engaged. S.C.A. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

April 13, 2009
When the editor-in-chief of World News
magazine offers Amanda Jaffe a $500,000 retainer to defend Charlie Marsh, an ex-con turned bestselling spiritual guru, in bestseller Margolin's entertaining fourth thriller to feature the Portland, Ore., lawyer (after Proof Positive
), Amanda can't say no. Marsh, who fled the country in 1997 after being accused of murdering Congressman Arnold Pope Jr., has spent the 12 years since in the African country of Batanga “under the protection of its benevolent ruler,” Jean-Claude Baptiste, whose threat to kill Marsh for sleeping with his favorite wife has prompted Marsh to return to the U.S. to stand trial. Toss in Pope's revenge-seeking father, several homicidal maniacs and the evil head of the Batanga secret service, and you've got a plot set on full boil. While some readers will figure out the identity of Pope's real killer early on, all will enjoy following the resourceful Amanda as she puts the puzzle pieces together.

Starred review from June 1, 2009
Charlie Marsh was a former prison inmate who reinvented himself as the Guru Gabriel Sun when he saved the warden's life during a prison riot. His newfound wealth and fame soon dissipate when he is suspected of murdering a U.S. senator, whose wife was having an affair with him. To avoid trial, Charlie flees to the People's Republic of Batanga, a small African country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Unfortunately, its ruler happens to be a cannibal dictator, and Charlie makes the mistake of sleeping with his favorite wife. His days numbered, Charlie seeks help from an American tabloid, which smuggles him back to the States, where he will have to stand trial for the senator's murder. His lawyer is Amanda Jaffe ("Wild Justice, Proof Positive"), whose father successfully defended the senator's wife. Amanda will now defend Charlieif Batanga's secret police don't get him first. VERDICT The pages fly in this violent, twisty tale of one man's journey through the legal system, and legal thriller fans will snap up Margolin's latest for their summer beach reads.Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Twelve years after fleeing a murder rap,"Satan's Guru" turns himself over to Portland attorney Amanda Jaffe, whose father successfully defended his alleged co-conspirator.

When Charlie Marsh vanished after shooting Congressman Arnold Pope Jr., his lover Sally's husband, he was rich and famed throughout America as the self-help guru who preached the power of Inner Light™. High-profile fugitives have to go a long way to disappear, and Charlie's path took him to Batanga, a no-extradition African dictatorship evidently modeled stone by stone on the Uganda of The Last King of Scotland. Made first an honored visitor, then a celebrity pet by President for Life Jean-Claude Baptiste, Charlie inevitably struck up an affair with one of Batanga's First Ladies, considerably shortening her life. Reading in her mutilated corpse his own future,"a fate too grizzly to describe," Charlie wangles a trip back home that involves a series of exclusive interviews with callow tabloid World News reporter Dennis Levy; an agreement to smuggle diamonds for Batangan rebels; and a surrender to Portland DA Karl Burdett. Still smarting because his case against Sally Pope was dismissed with prejudice over a decade ago, Burdett greets Charlie the way a starving man greets a juicy steak. But his legal troubles may be the least of Charlie's problems. Nathan Tuazama, Baptiste's fearsome enforcer, has followed him from Batanga. Mickey Keys, the literary agent who sold Charlie out to the Feds, wants another piece of him. Formidable Arnold Pope Sr. is determined to avenge his son's death. As Charlie's leaving his bail hearing, a sniper's bullet nearly punches his ticket. Can Amanda (Proof Positive, 2006, etc.) get her client off the hook? And does he deserve to go free?

Margolin's mishmash of plots is as messy as ever, with everybody apparently hell-bent on harming everybody else. Readers who persevere to the last chapter, however, are in for a nifty surprise.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2009
Oregon attorney Amanda Jaffestar of three other Margolin thrillers, including Proof Positive (2006)takes on the case of a lifetime when she is tapped to defend Charlie Marsh, aka Guru Gabriel Sun. Marshs past is legend: he was a prisoner whose freedom came abruptly when he saved the life of a guard during a riot. He then changed his name and published a book, The Light Within, in which he spoke of how you, too, could achieve personal transformation. The public, especially women, ate it up, helped by Marshs good looks, dangerous background, and newfound sensitivity. One of those swooning women was the wife of a U.S. congressman. After the congressmans murder, both his wife and Marsh stood trial for the crime. Before the verdict was read, though, Marsh escaped, landing in Batanga, Africa, where the U.S. has no extradition treaty and a heartless dictator rules the country. When Marsh finds he might be caught for bedding one of the tyrants wives (sense a pattern here?), he realizes that a trial in the U.S. bodes better for him than punishment at the hands of Batangas cruel ruler. With the exception of Jaffe and Dennis Levy, a reporter who covers the Marsh case, Margolins characters and premise this time are a little too larger than lifeto be believable. Lets hope he brings back both Jaffe and Levy in a novel a bit more grounded in reality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)