Martin Clark’s most remarkable novel yet is the gripping, complex story of a murder cover-up that wreaks widespread havoc even as it redefine...
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Feb 05, 2009
In this crime/legal thriller, Clark explores the boundaries between law and justice, sin and forgiveness, fraternal bonds and betrayal. Mason stands at the center of an ethical dilemma, but he is no less compelling than his brother, their mother, and even Mason's partner. Clark "draws characters as well as Scott Turow and crafts plots as well as John Grisham," notes the Oregonian, but reviewers agreed that Clark's background has given him superior understanding of legal intricacies. Hu
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Sep 23, 2010
Leslie
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The most entertainment value for me was that I'm a native of the county where Mr. Clark grew up and where this story is set. It's fun to see the names of people you know/knew and to try to guess at characters wearing aliases when you're reading a book with a background of your own area.
The plot is really kind of simple: two brothers grow up with an abusive father and the older brother protects the younger. Then on one fateful night the older brother commits a terrible crime and t More...
The plot is really kind of simple: two brothers grow up with an abusive father and the older brother protects the younger. Then on one fateful night the older brother commits a terrible crime and t More...
Aug 05, 2009
Kim
rated it: 
it's been awhile since i read this book, but it was GREAT! Very different! I grabbed it off the "NEW BOOKS" shelf at the library. It's about two brothers......one a lawyer and the other a trouble maker.....two very different people. Their lives get intertwined with an "incident". Brothers blood runs deep (brothers for life), but this situation is impossible to imagine happening. I recall that the author is an ex-judge and was encouraged to write about all the STUFF he s
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May 24, 2011
Patti
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Mason Hunt takes a break from law school to visit his mother and older brother Gates in Stuart, Virginia. Although Gates protected Mason from their violent father in their youth, he no longer has any redeeming qualities. He's a reckless drunk who can't hold down a job. Mason, though, still feels a brotherly obligation, even when he witnesses Gates's cold-blooded murder of Wayne Thompson, who fancies Gates's girlfriend. Mason takes charge by establishing an alibi and disposing of the murder w
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Jun 16, 2011
Eric_W
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Just how far would you go to protect a brother or relative? Martin Clark's excellent novel examines the ethical dilemma faced by lawyer and commonwealth attorney, Mason Hunt. He has a desperate secret. He was always protected by his brother, Gates, from their abusive father. While being harassed by a local redneck, Gates, kills the man and Mason helps him cover up the secret. It's a secret that will come back to haunt him.
Gates gets into drugs and Mason finally decides he can no longe More...
Gates gets into drugs and Mason finally decides he can no longe More...
Jul 20, 2008
Mike
rated it: 
Hmmm. First, they're pitching this like it's a legal thriller, and at 150 pages in the other shoe, partner to the opening set-up of a crime, had yet to drop. So don't come in expecting Grisham (god forbid), or even a mystery, really. This is a novel about ethics and about characters, very densely-imagined people bound up in situations both realistic and (despite an odd framing device which posits this all as true history rejiggered by a little authorial imagining) either Biblical or Noir-dete
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Sep 08, 2008
Jeanne
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I'm not sure where I read a review for this novel, and I don't know what appealed to me in that review. Why am I telling you this? Because this is not a very good book.
Basic plot: Mason and Gates Hunt were raised by their mother, Sadie Grace, and their father, Curt, a crazy tyrant. The boys were very protective of each other as a result of their father's violence. As they grow up, Mason becomes the successful brother, and Gates, well, doesn't. Mason becomes a lawyer, and Gates b More...
Basic plot: Mason and Gates Hunt were raised by their mother, Sadie Grace, and their father, Curt, a crazy tyrant. The boys were very protective of each other as a result of their father's violence. As they grow up, Mason becomes the successful brother, and Gates, well, doesn't. Mason becomes a lawyer, and Gates b More...
Jul 05, 2011
Irina
rated it:
really good book. i read a ton of pulp fiction about legal stuff, this is not pulp. it's a great family drama and to me, it did feel like a thriller (some ppl thought it was too slow). the writing is what did it for me, the description of people and how they relate to each other. plus, i used to live in richmond and other places in virginia, so i knew the area and the types of people he writes about are familiar to me. also, ive been to some of the bars he mentions.
Aug 24, 2008
Elise
rated it:
The dialogue can be overwrought at times, but the witty, clever banter is so much fun to read, particularly between Mason & Custis. Clark does such a good job evoking life in small Southern towns and his ear for the customs & dialects is pitch perfect. I earmarked the following quote just because it rang true to me, but don't let the somber tone fool you, this book at times, is quite funny.
On Mason's mother staying in an abusive marriage: "And yet Sadie Grace stayed. She stay More...
On Mason's mother staying in an abusive marriage: "And yet Sadie Grace stayed. She stay More...
Jun 08, 2011
Kat
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 26, 2008
P
rated it: 
I didn't make it past the second chapter. I expected a legal thriller, or a mystery, or a tale of intrigue -- but all I got was poor writing, like this sentence, that made the novel, impossible to read. Just because you are a judge in real life doesn't make you a good writer. Also, as a northerner, I couldn't relate to the southern characters very well. A good writer would have made me feel like a southerner. Further, the attention to unimportant detail kills the book: I don't care that th
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Feb 22, 2010
Marnie
rated it:
Great story - based on a true situation, from what I understand. It was a little slow, but the author shaped and described the characters so well that you wanted to keep reading to find out what happens. I wish I could go 3.5 starts vs. 4 because I never felt there was a climax, there were a lot of extraneous details and it almost read more like a really really long article, but I went ahead and rounded up.
Oct 19, 2008
Jen
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Mason & Gates Hunt have a tough childhood. Their father is abusive and then runs out on their mother after years of torturous behavior.
However, Mason grows up to be a successful lawyer, husband and father. Gates, on the other hand, goes on to be a drug dealer & murderer.
On one fateul night, while Mason is in law school, he visits his brother. He is supposed to help him move some furniture. Yet, he actually witnesses his brother kill his girlfriend's admirer on a desola More...
However, Mason grows up to be a successful lawyer, husband and father. Gates, on the other hand, goes on to be a drug dealer & murderer.
On one fateul night, while Mason is in law school, he visits his brother. He is supposed to help him move some furniture. Yet, he actually witnesses his brother kill his girlfriend's admirer on a desola More...
May 17, 2009
Mary Beth
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This is one of the best books I've read in a while. It is the story of two brothers raised by an awful and abusive father. One brother overcomes his past and the other goes to the dogs. Gates, a compulsive felon, kills a man in the presence of Mason, who is in law school. They decide to cover up the crime and Mason agrees to provide his brother with an alibi. Years later, Gates is sent to prison on serious drug charges. Mason says there is nothing he can do to help his brother because he has
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Jul 02, 2009
Alicia
rated it:
Densely characterized and plotted Southern Gothic legal fiction. I wouldn't call this a thriller, per se, but it is intense and surprisingly driving, considering the meandering and somewhat lazy narrative. Thoroughly engaging and lively characters populating a wonderful story about life gone wrong, and life gone right. I just got lost in the prose - very evocative and "homey".
I hate all of the comparisons to John Grisham this book has gotten, because, really, if a book is w More...
I hate all of the comparisons to John Grisham this book has gotten, because, really, if a book is w More...
Sep 13, 2008
Laura
rated it:
Almost from the start, I had at least some trouble putting this book down. Two-thirds of the way through, I really couldn’t. It’s that good. This is such a different book than Martin Clark’s first novel, <The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living</i> -- which I didn’t much like -- that I almost couldn’t believe it was from the same author.
Anyway, the story is a legal thriller, yet so much more. It involves two brothers who share the same tortured childhood, but take different More...
Anyway, the story is a legal thriller, yet so much more. It involves two brothers who share the same tortured childhood, but take different More...
Jul 22, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
I actually won a copy of The Legal Limit in an impromptu Facebook contest earlier this month. I loved his first two novels and I was dying to tear into this one. I liked it a lot. It's not quite like his first two, but good just the same. He does have a certain somewhat rambling writing style that's not for everyone, but it works for me. Can't wait for his next one.
Jan 12, 2009
jillian
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Martin Fillmore Clark is, to quote the book cover, "the thinking man's...and the drinking man's...John Grisham." Nice, well written plot; multiple, three-dimensional characters, heavy on dialogue and local flavor. No crazy schemes and plot twists, just a solid, engrossing narrative. I enjoyed this.
Sep 06, 2008
Jenna
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I definitely enjoyed the story - there were a lot of twists and turns, which were great, but towards the end it seemed to drag a little bit and there were a few incidents that were from left field and didn't really feel like they factored into the story. Granted this is based on truth, so it may have been a reflection of what really happened (as unreal as it may seem that so many unfortunate things could happen to one person).
I think the most important thing is to read the introducti More...
I think the most important thing is to read the introducti More...
Jan 04, 2009
Carrie
rated it:
This was a good read - best when you read it straight thru because it has a rhythm to it that takes over. It was a bit hard to believe that every character was a constant wealth of one-liners, but still amused. Wouldn't have to do all that much to this to turn it into a Hollywood movie - but that's also a reason not give it five stars.
Sep 17, 2011
Suzanne
rated it:
Something appealing about the characters and setting. Two brothers close growing-up and then further apart every year. Legal back-drop is kind of a bonus along with someone's full career arc. Another story with a credible workplace setting. I want more by this author!
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Dec 20, 2008
Janice
rated it:
A legal procedural ala John Grissam. Poor boy from the south makes good, brother makes bad. Both have a horrible secret that comes out in a blackmail driven plot. The author ties up loose ends in rapid fashion and brings story to a "feel good" close.
Jul 15, 2009
Beth
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I read somewhere that this was a sort of "John Grisham meets John Berendt" novel. A "southern crime novel". I'm not sure I completely agree, but overall, I enjoyed the book. It is definitely more of a character study with a legal plot than a crime thriller, but I like my characters fully drawn, and Mr. Clark takes the time to do that. The plot did clip along for me, and there was resolution. So overall, a good, light read. Also, this novel is set in Virginia, the place w
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Aug 12, 2009
Dorinda
rated it:
I enjoyed the author's first book: The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living. The author is a circuit judge in Virginia and writes about the people with whom he lives. This novel is entertaining even for non-lawyers, and much more about the law than his first. Entertainment but a little more than that if you have ever wondered about the limits on family loyalty or conscience.
Oct 15, 2011
Gloria
rated it:
I could not put this crime/legal thriller down! It has a well crafted plot that explores the boundaries between law and justice, sin and forgiveness, fraternal bonds and betrayal.
Sep 19, 2011
Legal dramas are not my genre, but I trust Suzanne's recommendation, and the reviews on this site are mostly glowing. I usually enjoy these themes - family dysfunction and forgiveness.
Dec 06, 2010
Kat
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 01, 2009
Sorta. I sort of read this book. I started it, but couldn't get into it. While I appreciate that the hero isn't "broken" in a "classy" way, like most are--many flawed heroes are something like hard drinkers but with a soft heart and good interior design skills, whereas Clark's comes from the not-so-pretty poor, rural South and still hangs out with his stoned, jobless brother--the writing stood in my way.
Mar 09, 2009
Allison
rated it:
I lost a copy of this book either on the subway or at my 24-hour convenience store. So rather then admittedly confess and pay the 20+ bucks last week, I renewed my lost copy from the library and checked out another. It was thoroughly entertaining ... enough so to go through all the trouble but it is well suited for sitting on a beach, reading it... sadly, not a Q train.
Mar 27, 2011
Jim
rated it:
An intriguing, well written story that moves pretty fast. Not strictly a crime novel, this entertaining book gets into human nature and behavior quite well. Very, very enjoyable
