Deadlocked

Once you pick up this thriller, it will take time to set it down while you anxiously wait to jump back in. It is too exciting to read without taking a break. Joel knows how to create suspense and keep you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a mystery,

Goldman's first three Lou Mason thriller/mysteries were well-plotted page turners, but the author has really found his stride in this latest opus. The characters are well-developed, and Goldman creates in the Lou Mason series something too often missing even from prize- and award-winning books: the reader CARES about these people! Warning: don't start this book in the evening, or you will find yourself still reading at 4 a.m., as did a good friend of mine! My law student daughter and my octegenarian mother both said they could not put the book down. Can we spell multi-generational appeal? My only distraction while reading through the intricately woven and believable plot was imagining which actors and actresses would be best suited to portray the convincing, multi-dimensional characters. If ever a book screamed for film treatment, DEADLOCKED does so! The ending was truly satisfying, and left enough mystery to provide fodder for to-be-hoped-for sequelae.

It's simple, folks. If you've read any of the other Lou Mason novels and liked them, you'll like this one. Everything that makes Lou such a great character is here. That wise-cracking, foot-in-the-mouth guy who somehow manages to get in way over his head is back at it again. And if you haven't read any of these books yet, this one is as good as anywhere to start. Try it. You won't regret it.

Death row inmate Ryan Kowalczyk tells Father Steve that he does not believe in God or why would he be here when he is innocent. Ryan's co-defendant Whitney King turned state's evidence insisting that his accomplice killed Graham and Elizabeth Burns fifteen years ago. While Whitney was acquitted of the crime, Ryan was convicted. Witnesses to the execution include attorney Lou Mason, police officer Harry Ryman, Nick the eighteen years old son of the victims and Ryan's mother Mary. Ryan's last word to his mother is "innocent". Afterward Nick shakes Lou as they discuss the mutual deaths of their parents when they were both three with the former insisting adults hide the truth behind the façade of an alleged accident. Lou wonders if that happened to him. The next day Mary hires Lou because she believes her son is innocent and wants the governor to exonerate Ryan. Nick hires Lou to prove that Whitney was involved. Lou uncovers shocking information that makes him wonder if the state committed a wrongful death (obviously this is not Bush's no mistake Texas). Now someone wants Lou dead to end his investigation. The latest Mason case is a terrific investigative thriller that makes a clear plea on the use of capital punishment; one error is one too many as there is no way of correcting a DEADLOCKED mistake. Lou is at his hardboiled best making inquiries into the Burns murders while also questioning the deaths of his own parents. The story line is action-packed yet challenges the use of one person turning state evidence as enough for a conviction (even the bible says two witnesses). Joel Goldman makes a strong argument for sanity in death row cases before others are DEADLOCKED inside a fantastic mystery. Harriet Klausner