Above the Law

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Mr. Green chooses a new setting for his novel, Texas, Mexican border, a far piece from the upstate New York locale of earlier books. His main character, an attractive and gutsy lawyer who works for the welfare of the poor, is also a new move for him. The plot is fast moving, and Mr. Green did some great research on the behavior of gangsters along the border, and on the plight of the illegals who fall under the control of people of bad character. Great read.

When Senator Chase, a powerful politician, shoots an illegal Mexican immigrant in a hunting accident he tearfully apologizes and goes on with his life. When the wife of the victim goes to see Casey Jordan, now running a legal aid clinic, she has a different story. Tim Green has done a wonderful job with this novel. A well rounded and well written thriller. He seem's to get better and better with each novel. If you've read his novels in the past I'm sure you'll agree, if you haven't read one...I recommend you do.

This was a very good novel. It was exciting and suspenseful and really well written. The characters were well developed, though it was a bit confusing in the first two chapters until I figured out who was who. Once that was figured out, the rest was very interesting. The author also gave you a little taste of Mexico and the problems that Americans could face as tourists there. I really enjoyed this book and could hardly put it down.

Tim Green has built up an enviable bibliography over the past several years following a career as an NFL defensive end and concurrent with the practice of law in upstate New York. ABOVE THE LAW, his latest book, features the surprising and welcome return of a character from a previous work, with a few new twists and some intriguing turns. Casey Jordan appeared in Green's THE LETTER OF THE LAW. An attorney with a high-powered law firm, Casey found herself inadvertently being a party to a miscarriage of justice and set about to balance the scales, as it were, in an ingenious if slightly unorthodox manner. ABOVE THE LAW finds Casey in somewhat different circumstances, having left her white-shoe firm to open a women's legal aid clinic funded primarily by private contributions. Jordan undertakes the case of a pivotal client whose circumstances will soon change everything for her. Isadora is an illegal immigrant who faces deportation and separation from her child, born in the United States and regarded as an "anchor baby." Her husband, Elijandro, was recently killed in a hunting accident involving his employer, Senator Chase, a prominent Texas politician who has his eye on the Oval Office. Isadora believes that her husband was in fact murdered by the senator, who suspected his wife of being involved with Elijandro. Casey manages to keep mother and infant together, but as she and her legal investigator attempt to conduct their own investigation into Elijandro's death, they keep running into dead ends that are in fact cleverly constructed roadblocks: no one wants to take Chase on. Meanwhile, Chase is hiding much more than his deliberate murder of Elijandro. Illegal immigrants in his employ are quietly disappearing, taken in trucks in the dead of night to unknown destinations. Casey, assisted by her legal investigator Jose, begins turning over rocks that are only reluctantly dislodged as a monstrous scheme is uncovered, an event that will have far-reaching repercussions both north and south of the Rio Grande River. Over the course of his last few novels, Green has been favoring his expanding body of readers with more complex and interesting plots. This novel is no exception. The chemistry between Casey and Jose, both of whom are more troubled than they initially seem, is predictable, but Green takes them and his readers through some twists and turns, resulting in surprises that continue right up until the conclusion of the book. From beginning to end, ABOVE THE LAW gives more than its fair measure of money and time spent. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

On a ranch near Dallas, charismatic Senator Tucker "Chase" Dean shoots an undocumented migrant worker Elijandro "Ellie" Torres in what the police conclude is a tragic hunting accident. With tears and a catch in his throat the cherished politician tells what happened to the media and the public. His remorse makes him even more popular and enhances his road to the White House. However, the victim's family insists he was cold bloodedly murdered by the affluent senator. The police ignore her accusations, but Legal Aid attorney Casey Jordan decides to follow up after meeting the widow and baby before they are deported. Casey soon learns that Tucker's wife was visiting the deceased. She begins to make a case that the powerful senator's motive for murder was being the cuckolded spouse. When the DA rejects prosecuting the case, Casey sues in civil court. The star of twisting legal thriller THE LETTER OF THE LAW returns in another impossible scenario. This time Casey takes on a super power who manipulates everyone so that he is ABOVE THE LAW. The story line is fast-paced and like Casey's previous appearance filled with terrific spins. Although the support cast comes from legal thriller typecasting, heroic Casey is a delight as a modern day Dona Quixote fighting windmills. Harriet Klausner