Richard Dooling Books

How could anyone not love Cornell Woolrich? He ranks right up there with James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler as one of the godfathers of pitch-black noir. Unfortunately, Woolrich's voluminous short stories and his many novels for the most part remain out of print. No excuse exists to merit such blatant disrespect. Happily, several Woolrich works have begun to reemerge to the delight of noir fans. For example, Woolrich biographer and all around noir aficionado Frances M. Nevins edited a collection of fourteen delightfully bleak stories in the recent "Night & Fear." Now we have "Rendezvous in Black" thanks to the Modern Library publishing house. We can only hope that other novellas head to store shelves soon, specifically "The Bride Wore Black" and "Night Has A Thousand Eyes." But even more fascinating than his stories is the author's life. Cornell Woolrich lived from one black depression to another. He worshipped his mother, drank incessantly, and kept his true sexuality repressed. It was an overriding fear of his mortality and the cruel randomness of the world around him, however, which fueled his desolate visions. Sad to say, but Woolrich's miseries have given generations of fans something to sing about ever since.

"Rendezvous in Black" excels as an archetype of white knuckled, totter on the edge of your seat noir, a story even better than the author's phenomenal and oft copied "I Married a Dead Man." This yarn concerns the activities of one Johnny Marr, an ecstatic young man set to marry the love of his life. When his girl, Dorothy, perishes in a freak accident involving a bottle dropped from a low flying plane, Marr's sanity melts away. The desolate young lover discovers the names of five men who bear the blame for the tragedy that destroyed his life, and he promptly embarks on a mission to wreak bloody revenge on these strangers. Marr will go after the people these men love the most in life, using any tricks he can muster in an effort to avenge his shattered life. Woolrich makes sure the reader understands exactly how far gone Marr is in the first chapter, as we see the young man continue to turn up at the couple's favorite meeting place night after night, waiting desperately for a woman who will never show up. Marr's activities assume a mindless repetition, an unremitting yet senseless hope that Dorothy will eventually appear, thus setting the tone for his single minded, relentless revenge plots later on.

A rendezvous for each of Marr's enemies, five in all, unfold with cold, methodical precision. The first rendezvous achieves the least suspense of the five, a short chapter serving as a post-mortem of Marr's first act of revenge. It is here we learn how Marr will attack his enemies (through important women in their lives), and meet the cop, Detective Cameron, who takes on the case. The second rendezvous will set your nerves on edge as an illicit affair leads to disastrous consequences, including a vengeance seeking wife and a walk to the electric chair, for the second man on Johnny's list. In the third rendezvous, a wedge driven between a man and his wife results in a murder and a suicide. As the fourth act unfolds, a conceited, secretive daughter discovers the hard way that she should have listened to Detective Cameron and her parents. The denouement, the fifth rendezvous, involves that last man on the list and his childhood love. It also tries to show that nothing, neither running to the ends of the earth nor the best laid plans, will deter fate. If you feel like you've been chewed up and spit out by the time you reach the end of the book, don't fret. This reaction is normal when reading Cornell Woolrich. It is, in fact, exactly what you want to feel.

The strength of "Rendezvous in Black" comes not from its staccato prose and descriptive metaphors, although these elements do play a large part in the success of the novel, but in Woolrich's bleak cosmology built on an unholy trinity of love turned bad, paranoia, and crushing fate. The accident that claims Dorothy, a bottle falling from the heavens, and the subsequent disasters visited upon those individuals Marr deems responsible, displays the writer's belief in a unsystematic, frequently cruel world where events unfold with ruthless certainty. Love is a good thing, or can be a good thing, but too often it morphs into something that can fuel neverending hostility and destruction. Richard Dooling, the author of the introduction to this edition of the novel, does an excellent job explicating the numerous themes in Woolrich's writings, a better job than I could possibly hope to do in a short review. But you don't need really need an introduction to see that the mindset behind the book is seriously depressing.

The number of continuity errors, implausible events, and other mistakes in "Rendezvous in Black" leap off the page. I find it impossible to believe someone could drop a bottle out of an airplane as late the 1940s, for example. Too, I kept wondering whether Johnny Marr ever aged, as a considerable period of time passes from Dorothy's demise to the end of the book. How could Johnny possibly have wooed the teenaged Madeleine if he was in his late twenties? And considering Woolrich describes Detective Cameron as a bumbler, the cop possesses a tenacity that eventually pays off in the end. None of these problems takes anything away from the sheer power of the novel. There were times I literally felt like I couldn't stand the tension anymore, and any book that can cause that sort of sensation deserves attention. If you love noir, you need to read this one immediately.

On a mild midwestern night in the early 1940s, Johnny Marr leans against a drugstore wall. He's waiting for Dorothy, his fiancée, and tonight is the last night they'll be meeting here, for it's May 31st, and June 1st marks their wedding day. But she's late, and Johnny soon learns of a horrible accident - an accident involving a group of drunken men, a low-flying charter plane, and an empty liquor bottle. In one short moment Johnny loses all that matters to him and his life is shattered. He vows to take from these men exactly what they took from him. After years of planning, Johnny begins his quest for revenge, and on May 31st of each year - always on May 31st - wives, lovers, and daughters are suddenly no longer safe ... Cornell Woolrich's most justly famous novel is one of the true masterpieces of suspense. Johnny exacts his revenge in five meticulously planned and utterly unpredictable murders that Woolrich unfolds with an almost demonic fatalism while the marvellously unheroic police officer MacLain Cameron is in accelerating pursuit. Woolrich's prose is unique. His style is strongly visual - we'd now call it cinematic even though it prefigured much of the film-noir effects that render it, today, almost cliché. His syntax is occasionally tortured, his word choices odd. Yet as his biographer Francis Nevins has noted, Woolrich's imperfections are a happy marriage of form and function. Without the sentences rushing out of control across the page like his hunted characters across the nightscape, without the maniacal emotionalism and indifference to grammatical niceties, the form and content of the Woolrich world would be at odds. Between his style and substance, Woolrich achieved the perfect union. There are moments when the melodrama builds to such an intensity that it tumbles over into a kind of empathy, e.g. Cameron's late visit to Dorothy's childhood home. You know it's ridiculous, but you feel something all the same. As monstrous as Johnny Marr's revenge is, few readers will be able to damn him completely. This kind of amoral centre is the dark sun around which much of the noir world turns, and Woolrich gives us one of the genre's finest examples. The Modern Library's 20th Century Rediscoveries edition is particularly valuable for its Reading Group Guide, and for Richard Dooling's fine introduction which points to further reading and finds the origins of the novel in Woolrich's own startlingly sad biography. Strongly recommended.

RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK, one of the final novels in Cornell Woolrich's famous "black" series that have formed the basis for so many films noirs, is one of his most highly praised works. It is enormously suspenseful: an anonymous young man whose fiancée has been killed in a freak accident instigated by a group of wealthy hunters in a low-flying plane takes his revenge by systematically murdering the woman most beloved to each of the five men so they can share in his grief. Each of the five murders occurs in a different chapter and told in a different style: we know that a woman is going to get it and when, but we don't know how and sometimes we don't even know who. Simultaneously, a police detetctive begins assembling clues to catch the killer. Certainly Woolrich can draw out the suspense in each chapter, and the schematic narrative (which often refers to the characters as "the man" or "the woman") invests the narrative with an almost allegorical quality that makes the whole work seem over-the-top. But there's very little character development in the text, and the shoddy ironic twists in several of the stories seem telegraphed a mile away. Also, the misogynistic undercurrent to most romans noirs seems queasily overemphasized here: except for the first victim (who dies the most gruesome of the deaths), each of the killer's targets intentionally defies the dictates of male authorities in her life, as if to suggest she deserves what's coming to her. Although on one hand this seems almost a pure distillation of the operatic fatalism of the roman noir, it's simply not as good a work as Woolrich's more fleshed-out books like WALTZ INTO DARKNESS or I MARRIED A DEAD MAN--not to mention such superior suspense novels of the period as (for example) Kenneth Fearing's THE BIG CLOCK or Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's THE BLANK WALL.

The introduction to this novel says that Woolrich has been described as the "Hitchcock of the Written Word," but adds that maybe he wouldn't have liked this description. It might be even more accurate to say that Hitchcock is the Cornell Woolrich of the cinema - since many of Woolrich's works came before Hitchcock's, and Hitch even adapted one of Woolrich's stories into one of his most famous movies, Rear Window.

The point, though, is that this guy writes suspense like you've never seen. I say "seen" because reading his novels is really a visceral experience. I don't know how he does it but Woolrich can write a beautiful, elegant story that you can sort of just almost SEE unfolding like a movie --- a movie that will move you emotionally and also scare the bejesus out of you.

Rendezvous in Black contains six interlinked stories about six doomed love affairs threatened by violence. Five of these are labelled "The First Rendezvous" through "The Fifth Rendezvous." The sixth is the story that ties them all together (but it comes first in sequence). I don't want to spoil the experience of reading this book for anyone, but overall it is just amazing and I cannot recommend it more highly. Woolrich, as has been noted here already, was a protege of F. Scott Fitzgerald's. Like Dashiell Hammett, he's an author who makes mysteries somehow as beautiful as what passes for "literature" - yet so emotionally gripping that you hardly notice till you are done how beautiful the craft of what you just read really was. The characters are spectacular and each one is described with wonderful psychological details. One of my favorites is this description of the police detective:

"He was too thin, and his face wore a chronically haggard look...His manner was a mixture of uncertainty, followed by flurries of hasty action, followed by more uncertainty, as if he already regretted the just preceding action. He always acted new at any given proceedings, as if he were undertaking them for the first time. Even when they were old, and he should have been used to them."

Little gems like this are on almost every page of this book and they make for a wonderful reading experience you won't forget.

I envy anyone about to read Cornell Woolrich for the first time. This book is a great place to start.

This is a suspense story in which one knows the killer and his victims and where there is nothing random about his choice of victims. The murders are acts of revenge against an unpremeditated, accidental death - a death that one can only characterize as 'fateful.' A bottle has been thrown from an airplane, killing a young woman standing by a store window in a busy street. She is waiting for her fiance. Out of the hundreds of people walking that street, it is she who has been dealt this fatal blow. It is an accident that could not have been foreseen, though it can be argued, that its negligence might have been anticipated.

That is the beginning of the story. Woolrich wastes no time in setting the psychological tone. Her fiance arrives at their place of rendezvous, the scene of the accident, looks at the stricken woman, denies that it is his "Dorothy", then leaves the scene. Despite this initial denial, he knows, of course, that it is she, and from that moment a cataclysmic change occurs in his personality and his present world falls apart - a world of romance, marriage and well being. He sheds all innocence and becomes a man singularly possessed - a man seeking revenge against the carelessness of other men - determined to have them pay for this carelessness in the same way he has been forced to pay - destruction of what they prize most.

It is a story, wonderfully told - direct, gripping and so thoroughly credible that you read through it quickly, hoping against hope that it will have a happy ending. But it doesn't.

My husband had an aneurysm and can not longer read. He was a college professor and loved to read short stories. This CD has been a godsend.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, particularly the first story. It had me laughing out loud! There is a good variety here, I would say something for everyone. of the 6 stories, only 1 did I think was so-so, the other 5 were great! Overall, a great audiobook for the car on a long trip.

"Men Seeking Women" is a genuinely entertaining collection of stories that all, in one way or another, center around sexual relations on the internet (with the curious exception of the last story by Po Bronson which, while good, doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the collection). This is a really strong group of stories that explores the impact of the internet on the interactions between the sexes in a variety of different ways and from a variety of different angles. Some of the stories were better than others, of course, but I particularly liked "Payback Time" by Gary Krist, which takes as its theme the way men develop powerful crushes on enigmatic women they encounter on-line but of whom they know nothing; "Minesweeper" by David Liss, which is about a serial internet liar and how he justifies his awful behavior to himself; "The Face in the Glass" by Paul Hond, which is basically just effective and creepy; and "Prisoners of the Heart" which is, perhaps, not particularly realistic, but a whole lot of fun.

Don't get sick. That's all I can think after reading this book.

My wife used to work as a hospice nurse. She's out of it now, totally burned out. Most of her patients were just fine to work with, she says, it's the family that drove her nuts.

Families don't come off well here: they either keep people alive waaaaaay to long, or want them immediately dead in order to get their inheritence.

Mind you, doctors don't come off so well either. The main protagonist is a doctor for want of something to do with his life. His immediate supervisor - another doctor - is clueless but has great style. The main admitting doctor is a chronic alcoholic.

The patients? Well, they're suffering from fat, cigarettes, booze, or old age.

Only one nurse comes off at all well.

This is one damned cynical book. Like I said: don't get sick.

Writing Excellent
Plot Excellent
Pace Moderate

I love this author's work -cynical, black humor, my personal favorite. He writes exceptionally well. His writing could make an insurance brochure interesting. The plot itself often takes a back seat to his cynical description of the medical field. As a professional in the health care field, a lot of this stuff is sad but true. The plot moves along well even though it's frustrating watching the protagonist sink into a quagmire brought on by his bad decisions. This book is an excellent read. That being said, dark humor is definitely an acquired taste.

I plucked this book off a library shelf in 1996 only because the author's last name caught my attention as being similar to my own. I took it and 6 other novels home and sat down to take a quick preliminary glance at all of them, happening to start with CC. Three hours later, I was still in the same place, alternately howling with laughter and shouting out "Richard Dooling is a GENIUS!" This novel has everything--everything I like, at least: black humor, mordant sociology, unusual but believable and mostly even likeable characters, a plot that keeps you turning pages as fast as you can while at the same time wishing the book would not end, mystery, surprises, an inside look at an arcane profession, and finally, wisdom that doesn't seem hokey. I went back to the library in search of information about the author and--this was 1996, remember--found only a couple of reviews, in library journals, and the reviewers had not understood the book AT ALL. Its fortunes improved somewhat after his second novel was published. The movie was also superlative but went largely unnoticed. I recommended both novel and movie to many friends, and several told me one or the other was just too "strong" for their taste. Maybe it just hits too close to home. I have found most of the same qualities in Dooling's subsequent novels, which because of their subjects--Africa, cyberspace--may be far enough removed from what really hurts us here in the U.S. to be more popular.

Before taking on Richard Dooling's "White Man's Grave" (a National Book Award finalist), I decided to try out a shorter work of his, namely this 1992 debut work. Frankly, there's not much of a story here. I think even each of the five-star reviewers on these pages would attest to that.

What there is, however, is wonderful insight on the medical profession, especially regarding the dynamics and motivations of ICU care. For anyone in medicine, or even for someone who has a good friend or relative in the profession, "Critical Care" is a must-read. For those who live the life depicted in Dooling's book, there will surely be laughs, head-shaking assents and the occassional exclamatory "Yes!"

Where this book also excels is in its depictions of where the medical and legal professions intersect. In fact, the hospital's in-house counsel has some wonderful things to say to the book's protagonist, Peter Werner Ernst, about 'the truth':

"You must understand that in any litigation conducted by competent attorneys the truth will come out; it's only a matter of when. you must also understand that it is far better for both you and the Medical Center if the truth comes out sooner rather than later."

"Cross-examination can be a very unpleasant experience, even for a witness who is telling the truth. Successfully telling lies is almost impossible. Lies change. The truth does not change. If the honest witness gets confused during questioning, he or she need only remember the truth and cling to it and give the same, consistent answers to every question, even questions for which the witness is unprepared. If the witness is not telling the truth, his or her story will change. A good lawyer will easiliy detect that change and will let the witness go on changing the story. Then the lawyer will confront the witness with each change and ask him to explain it. In his panic, the witness can't cling to the truth because he is lying under oath, which is a crime. More changes inevitably appear. Then, as you can imagine, things get worse...It can be a humiliating experience."

Not only is that superlative writing, it's also about the most spot-on writing on that subject I've ever encountered. I was recently a witness to a cross-examiniation in which that exact sequence of events unfolded. A witness got tripped up in a key lie - he told it once in the morning depostion, then messed it up when trying to re-tell that afternoon. When the lawyer pounced on those differences, it wasn't a pretty sight. The truth would have been a far more effective strategy. Kudos to Mr. Dooling for brilliantly encapsulating that important 'life lesson.'

R.D must have been a doctor in a former life because his eye for medical detail is astonishing(second only to his scathing wit).READ IT!

first our erstwhile anti-hero expects a few terse words in the right places will solve everything but not so in fact words are of almost no use when other means of communication are in process. READ THIS BOOK. Particularly if you are from or still residing in the Midwest, if you want to find a person or a memory but, and most particularly, if you want to read an incredible serious realistic and fun to read book that is an education into american litigation as well as a very decent introduction to Sierra Leone culture. Not to mention the ending which rivals stephen king and alfred hitchcock, very good stuff.

I loved this book to its full extent. It is a perfect representation of some Americans travelling abroad, both of the foreign native extremist types that want to become like those of the native land and that of the American tourist type that can never fully appreciate a land and its people. It also has many implications on the development of West Africa and its role in the global economy. The only part that was disbelievable was the African magic that was actualized in the old American's closet. It is certainly worth a read, not only for the story, but for the cultural content that is difficult to find in other sources.

Could any thinking person resist a book that weaves African black magic with bankruptcy law in Indiana and have it all make sense?

If you ever wanted to understand the futility in our attempts modernize third world countries(morally, economically, or otherwise), this is your book. Not to mention it's excellent pace and overtones of the spiritual void of western society.
Dooling doesn't preach to any cultures, he simply shows the inherent differences between them in an attempt to facilitate their coexistence.

This book is so engaging, I took the time to write a review--a first for me. This is without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year. It is by turns scaldingly satiric and ironic, descriptive and informative, and just ambiguous enough to leave the reader intellectually juiced up at the end! This tale invites the imagination to soar, and the soul to search. Highest recommendation.

Dooling asks why we, particularly men, swear. He searches through history and psychology, sometimes successfully, for the roots of expletives and why we use them. He also considers the reactions to such outbursts and their justification. We are trained as children to eschew "bad" words, but males tend to overcome that brainwashing and use profanity under a wide range of circumstances. Swearing is a near universal and must be contemplated in that setting. Recognizing that fact, he argues, could provide a seawall against the tsunami of "harassment" litigation pending in the courts.

If profanity, which Dooling provides almost to saturation, has a natural basis, then the laws covering workplace expression are irrational and doomed to failure. Worse, they seem to be having more negative impact on lives than on improving workplace conditions. Worse still, is the potential for all this legal [and social] activity leading to thought control? That ultimate question is Dooling's purpose in this rather impudent illustration. He sees the application of civil rights legislation of the 1960s has led along unanticipated paths. Civil rights, originally intended to protect voting and job rights, now extends into the realm of "feelings." Overt discrimination has been replaced by legislated politeness. Dooling wants to curtail the highly questionable practices resulting from vague definitions and decisions. This collection of essays boldly confronts us with past practices. We need to recognize what has occurred and reverse the process. It's not a question of manners, but of reality.

The illogical roots of "political correctness" are now being exposed by many good studies. This one happens to be one of the more senses-assaulting ones, but is no less valuable for that. Dooling's position as a lawyer provides a solid foundation for his arguments, and his delightful style will amuse any but the defiant reader. The examples he offers in support of his case should be noted carefully, they are being joined by others. There will be more until the populace awakens to the threat. Heed Dooling's call for your attention and follow his lead. He's gaining company in other areas - Gross and Levitt's "Higher Superstition" is another defence against the assaults on our liberties. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Okay, so how can plot get in the way? It's more like the plot seems in a hurry to wrap up in the end. A lot of the plot information gets dumped in the last pages rather than dispersed among, say, the whole latter half of the book.

Here's the basics of the plot:
Watson is the protagonist. He's a Midwestern guy with a young family, and also a Harvard Law graduate at the biggest firm in St. Louis. From a slightly loony judge, Watson gets a pro bono assignment to defend a man suspected of murder. Even worse, his defendant is an acknowledged racist who killed a black man. Working every angle, Watson gets fired from his big-firm gig when his pro bono work takes up too much of his time. He goes back to a defense attorney for whom he worked one summer in law school. As he passionately pursues his case, he almost loses his family to his infidelity (both sexual and time-wise).

What are the angles in this book?
1.) Large law firm critique--bureaucracy slows down a genius lawyer, and then the profit-seeking firm ditches a great lawyer, supposedly in violation of one of the firm's arcane rules. Plus, young associates must align themselves with a powerful partner to ensure they one day make the cut to partner. Ever wonder why Grisham's lawyers either start out or end up independent?

2.) Computer Technology vs. the Brain--very postmodern here, and that was appreciated by this reader! Search engines contrast with human memory and experience. And, the femme fatale doctor is the merging of these two fields--she uses high powered computers to map and study the brain. However, her self-aware self-gratifying behavior is repugnant; whereas our protagonist is torn apart by his semi-adultery. The unanswered question--is it natural brain chemistry that differentiates these two or is it Watson's Catholic upbringing?

3.) Fact and Law--this book does a good job discerning the difference between law and fact. Watson fights a scholarly law battle against the constitutionality of a hate crime statute. This battle, like all legal differences, is decided by judges, not juries. Then, Watson has to figure out the truth behind his case. Were his defendant's actions really premeditated, or is he being set up? Kudos to Dooling for letting us root for Watson without pulling for his despicable client.

4.) Sex--there's plenty of lust in this novel, and it works well with some of the richer themes discussed above.

Richard Bernstein called this "A thinking man's John Grisham thriller." True. However, too bad the plot isn't quite as well-paced as Grisham's earlier stories. But, the challenges this book presents more than make up for it.

I bought this book in the dollar bin at Target since I was traveling over the summer and needed some light reads. Let me just say it's not worth the $1 I spent on it.

To give the author credit, he sets up an interesting premise with a man assigned to a pro bono case through the courts that he takes an interest in even with all of the odds against him, and all of the problems it will cause him.

However, that's about as far as the good writing goes. For starters, every single one of the characters is flat and seem to be taken out of a mold of 'common characters.' The seemingly insane judge who really knows what's best, the short, funny lawyer friend who's crude on the outside, but a sweetheart to her kids, the rich inlaws who think they know what's best for the 'hero,' etc, etc.

Nevertheless, I suffered through the 400 some odd pages thinking that perhaps the setup will end in a way worthy of its premise, but it doesn't. It almost seems as if the author couldn't decide a good ending so he just ties up all of the knots and finishes it.

I would not reccommend this book.

Dooling makes a decent attempt at a philosophical take on the way that modern science perceives the self and the soul in the guise of a legal thriller. It seems that his extensive research into brain scanning technologies left him little time to clean up the rest of the book.

There are a number of irritating inaccuracies throughout the book, and it is hard to fathom why it is necessary to give a character the "600 mhz Pentium VI" instead of a computer that actually exists. Descriptions of search engines and web surfing technology have similar flaws.

Worse than these details, the plot seems to be pulled from a manual on deus ex machina. The lawyers and judges are pulled from prototypes, and those looking for the subtle word play that makes legal fiction so fun will be sadly disappointed. The underlying crime is so far-fetched, and the odds so against the protagonist, that every extreme must be reached for the book to achieve a happy ending. After about three implausible plot turns - and I have nothing against an exciting plot twist, when somewhat feasible through human nature, or even good luck - it was hard to take the book seriously at all.

Richard Dooling has a very clever tale here with "Brainstorm". Our hero is a lawyer, Joe Watson, content to drift in cyberspace doing legal research forever, when suddenly he is appointed a pro bono case. Joe Watson, married, two kids, nice home, must suddenly take on a case of such racial and moral indignities that it threatens to turn his whole life around. In trying to defend the accused, James Whitlow, it looks as though he is up against a losing battle from the start. James Whitlow is accused of murdering a black, deaf man whom he caught in bed with his wife. James Whitlow has a most unfortunate past, that of being a known bigot and a youth laced with criminality. He even has a tatto sporting his feelings about black people. Clearly, our hero will have a very tough time convincing a jury this is not a hate crime. While attempting to do so, we are introduced to some of the most colorful literary characters I have ever come across. Judge Stang is fierce, he is funny, in fact, he is hysterical, and he is a character you will not soon forget. Joe Watson's newest partner, Myrna Schwiech is also full of life and memorable. The writing is superb, the only aspect of the book that faded the story for me was the intense details of computerese and neuroscience. Had it not been for these diversions, I would have given it five stars, but there is just enough of this type of language to make several chapters quite boring.

...Dooling has made a serious attempt to show how poorly the law reflects the workings of the human mind. Changes must be made and the changes must be based on firmer understanding.

A story of a struggling lawyer isn't unusual, although this one is tempered by a grasping wife and her Big Money father, a lush suburban house and a position with the city's leading law firm. The case itself seems simple. A vocal racist is accused of murdering a "African American" [the "scare quotes" are an essential facet of this book] - who happens to be deaf. There are heavy implications in this event, not the least of which is conviction for a provable "hate crime" invokes the death sentence. How is a young lawyer, with neither criminal law nor trial experience to cope with the enormity of this situation?

The legal issues are more than words in the statute books. Dooling's knowledge of science and technology introduces some fresh twists. The circumstances, convoluted enough, become even more intricate as Joe Watson becomes mired in trying to understand the new "hate" legislation permeating American law. How is "hate" defined? As he researches the case, he meets neuroscientist Rachel Palmquist [whose name becomes an essential factor in their relationship]. Palmquist tries to educate Watson on the latest findings in human cognition as part of her efforts to seduce him. Watson is better at cognition than seduction, as you will likely be as you follow her lectures on why we lack free will and what happens when electrodes are used to stir emotions. All this cognitive studies material is, of course, the basis for the book's title.

The issue in this story isn't attorney Watson's struggles with morality nor the respective merits of corporate or criminal law. What's really at stake is how the law defines and treats "hate" crimes and other politically correct issues. Dooling's point is what laws are now on the books and the prospects for future legislation. He wants proposed laws to consider the recent advances in behaviour studies. Can the cure be implemented before the symptoms come to light? Dooling, through his projection Watson, examines the science, the implications and the possible outcomes. We are shown how some of the studies are done, not always a pleasant vista, but with human and legal implications. Reading this book, it's easy to dismiss Watson as an over-focused simpleton. When you realize he's speaking for lawyer Dooling, however, who likely went through much of the introspection Watson relates, this book gains in importance as a social statement. Dooling uses several good sources for material for this book, although you have to go to his web site to discover who they are.

Dooling has given us an entertaining view of law and science brought in conjunction. How good a job he's done depends on your tastes. This is certainly not escapist crime fiction. His concentration on legal and neuroscience issues far outweighs the specific crime involved. His characters try fervently to express the many concepts this book deals with, but fall short of the mark. The one success is Federal Judge Stang, whose seniority and astute understanding of law and lawyers make him the star of the book. If you want "mysteries", go elsewhere. ...Dooling's ideas and discussions of practical issues, however, are an excellent start in either direction. Read it, but don't stop here.

This is a gripping tale, inventively-written in a style like no other and very funny. I instantly gave my copy to a good friend to read when i finished it.

I really liked this story, as it's so rare to be completely in the dark throughout a mystery. Usually you can feel yourself being led in one direction or another, hints are given so obviously that you have to suspend your disblief AND ignore the hints to stay with the story.

The techno-speak and detailed insurance information was a tad on the tiring side, but not too bad.

I really enjoyed the read and will certainly look for more from this author.

Yeah, it's hard to get really wrapped up in insurance fraud, despite the pretty decent writing... the religious stuff is interesting, and there's a couple of REALLY killer scenes at the end of the book (the one with Don, the contract and the cell phone is awesome!)...

Granted, making insurance seem interesting or even exciting takes special skills but this book makes you force yourself to pay attention. Not a good thing. There is nothing particularly interesting about the protagonist Carver Hartnett who pines after his co-worker Miranda for too many pages.

When Lenny, a co-worker of Carver and Miranda who has some risky personal habits, dies under mysterious circumstances, Carver sets to find out what happened. Despite's Dooling's attempts to create witty banter among the friends, I just didn't care enough to know what happened to Lenny who had no apparent traits to justify Carver and Miranda's loyalty to him. In addition, Carver doesn't come off as very bright in many of his actions. It's hard to sympathize with such a character.

Plodding dialogue with occasional religious references also slow the story down. I can't recommend this one.

In Bet Your Life, Richard Dooling spins a tidy mystery suspense tale with twists and turns aplenty. Think Raymond Chandler complete with hi-tech savvy and a contemporary edge. Press releases dub this book "classic noir", and it certainly is that, combined with well-defined characters and an unusual plot

Carver Hartnett is a straight arrow insurance fraud investigator who tells the story in first person. Miranda Pryor is the chaste but seductive object of Carver's desire. And Lenny Stillmach is the friend who manages to be a high tech genius despite manic-depression and chronic drug and alcohol abuse. These three friends comprise the team of fraud investigators who are very good at what they do. Each brings different but effective skills to the team.

Lenny's unexpected death under strange circumstances casts suspicion on his friends. These suspicions are compounded by the discovery that he has purchased multiple six figure life insurance policies naming Carver and Miranda, as well as others, as beneficiaries. Seems that Lenny's boss, the local police, and FBI think he has been running a lucrative scam by buying and selling high dollar policies for fun and profit. Carver can't trust anyone, including Mrianda, and he finds himself up to his eyebrows in a local and federal investigation. His life is in danger and it's up to him to find out why as he tries to separate the good guys from the evil doers.

Richard Dooling is an award nominated author because his wordsmithery is unique. His style is modern with the noir voice of past masters of the genre. Bet Your Life is not a simplistic tale. Intelligent fans of the genre will enjoy the experience.