What happens when an innocent man gets framed for the perfect crime? What if he’s not that innocent?
Drawn from the author’s sixteen years as a litigator in various state and federal courts, "Without a Hitch" is a high stakes courtroom drama which plays out amidst the desperation and uncertainty of a plan gone horribly wrong, as Washington, D.C. attorney Alexander Corbin struggles with his conscience, his panicky co-conspirators and not getting caught.
Andrew Price has spent sixteen years doing everything you can imagine in the legal profession. He's worked for the Federal government doing government contracts. He's worked for what would become one of the biggest law firms in the world. Finally, he started his own general practice, where he's sued and defended just about everyone, from companies to people to hospitals to cities. He's represented lots of cops, he's dabbled in criminal law and he's handled numerous state and federal trials. He's even appeared many times before state Supreme Courts.
I loved this book. I was tempted to give it a 5-star rating but a few small concerns with the plot and ending caused me to drop it down to 4-star, but it's a superior 4-star.
This book is very much dialogue driven. I love that style of writing and was quite impressed with how Andrew price pulled it off in Without a Hitch. It's not an easy way to write a book. The interplay between the main character, Alexander Corbin, and his co-workers was natural sounding and the dialogue quickly established unique personalities for each character.
I strongly recommend this book and intend to read all of Price's future novels. I suspect this book will be optioned for a movie if it hasn't already been.
OK, this book is not what I expected. It reads like a movie where your waiting for the action to happen and it doesn't happen until you have an hour and a half left. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt but I just can't any more. I just can't go on with finishing this book.
At first I wasn’t sure about reading a thriller, but I decided to take a chance on Without a Hitch. Once I got into this story there was no turning back. The author, Andrew Price, cleverly caught and held my attention from the first page onward.
This debut novel is about two lawyers who concoct a scheme to get rich, not exactly legally. Well, actually – not legally at all. That’s where the trouble starts, and it builds to such a heightened point of stress that I had to walk away a few times to breathe. Really.
Having said that, don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed this book almost completely. I say ‘almost’, because of some of the language. If you have been following my reviews, then you know I hate the “f’ word, and this story is riddled with it in certain scenes. What makes it work is that the characters, one in particular, would use that speech if he were a real person living the life created for him by the author. Because I couldn’t bear to not know what was going to happen, I stuck with it. In fact, because of the suspense and effectively building tension, it was with difficulty that I did not skip ahead to find out some things before reading through. I made myself wait so as not to spoil the read.
There are several necessary characters (even a mystery man) created by Andrew – not all playing leading roles in this story, but important – in different capacities – to its forward motion and edginess. They also add to the drama and suspense, enough to keep the reader wondering and reading. They are so real-to-life I could visualize them, hear them, and identify with them in some of their behaviour. The dialogue is accurate, amusing, annoying – and playful when in the flirtatious scenes. The reader may even think, “I know someone like that.”
Because Andrew Price has inside knowledge of the legal field, having worked in various capacities for nearly two decades, he was able to write a story that is believable and enjoyable to read. His characters stay with the reader, and the ending he came up with made me say, “Huh?” I had to go back and reread the last page a few times, studying it for clues. It’s an ending that leaves you guessing and thinking about quite awhile after you lay down the book as ‘finished.’
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. The story was unique and fresh, and the courtroom drama kept me interested most of the time.
The biggest aggravation was that there were numerous grammar and punctuation errors throughout the book, so many so that it detracted from the story and negatively affected the professional feel of the book. I am surprised that so many errors got by the editor. The most frequent error that I saw was the use of a question mark when it should have been a period, and vice versa. To be honest, this grated on my nerves.
Another issue I had with the book was that two of the main characters didn't stay true to form once the 'main event' in the book got under way. In an effort not to reveal any spoilers, I won't give details. Just suffice it to say that it surprised me quite a bit: these two were described, personality-wise, in a very clear and certain way initially, which allowed one to predict how they would react later on. They almost 'switched' personalities, in that they reacted in opposite manners not consistent with their previous behaviors and descriptions. I don't think that this was intentional on the part of the author, but rather a flaw in the character development.
Also, in Part I of the book, I got a little bored with the setting. It mostly took place in the main characters' office. It seemed like the book progressed slowly for me here, and the lack of variety in the setting didn't help to keep me interested. There were a few side characters (Molly & Theresa) who irritated and bored me. Once the book progresed on to Part II, it improved.
On a positive note, the author's development of the plot as the book progressed towards the courtroom setting clearly showed his ease and confidence in this area, due to his many years as a litigator. The dialogue was interesting and you could easily follow along with what was transpiring.
The ending was a little surprising for me and not altogether satisfying, but ultimately, I still enjoyed the read overall.
Without a Hitch was magnificent. I loved every minute of it. It was very well written with fantastic characters. I liked both Evan and Alex. They are very different from each other, but they are both likeable. The dialogue was some of the best written dialogue I've read, very natural and smooth. The humor was also great. The storyline was compelling. I read all 408 pages over 2 sittings, started last evening and finished this morning. Sometimes I wish sleep wasn't necessary.
I was very satisfied with the end of the case. I do admit that I was a little disappointed in the way Penny just sort of dropped out of the picture. A sequel would be great...I think Alex still has some punch in him and could find trouble just about anywhere.
There are a few typos in the book, but they are few and not too distracting. There is some coarse language. It seemed appropriate to me and I didn't think it was overused. There is a tiny amount of sexual innuendo. I wouldn't even consider it sexual content, just innuendo.
I highly recommend Without a Hitch and consider it a 5-star read. I would certainly read this author again.
A most unusual plot. Two attorneys in D.C. decide to steal the identities of their coworkers. They put together the false ids and establish bank accounts in Philadelphia in order that they can apply for credit cards and pursue the rest of their plan. They were very successful at this. Months later a man is arrested for the crimes in Philadelphia. He has been set up by the Police, but he is also a career criminal and genuine 'bad doer'. The one attorney (with a conscience) decides to defend the man to prevent his being incarcerated for something they did. He convinces the other attorney to assist in the defense. Telling any more would be a spoiler, but it is more than enough to grab your interest.
Actually a two and 1/2 stars. What happens when an innocent man gets framed for the perfect crime? What if he 19s not that innocent? Drawn from the author 19s sixteen years as a litigator in various state and federal courts, "Without a Hitch" is a high stakes courtroom drama which plays out amidst the desperation and uncertainty of a plan gone horribly wrong, as Washington, D.C. attorney Alexander Corbin struggles with his conscience, his panicky co-conspirators and not getting caught
This story had great potential, but it lost something along the way. The characters were not fully developed. The description of the court room and the procedures were fill-ins to make the book longer. The ending was too abrupt after the back and forth between Becket and Corbin.
Without a Hitch is almost two books for the price of one. It's kind of like an episode of Law and Order where the first bit is the Law and the second is the Order.
Two colleagues who are bored in their jobs decide to commit the perfect crime - credit card theft.
The setting up of the "thefts" was enjoyable to read, although I must admit I kept getting the two characters mixed up at the start as it dragged a bit and they seemed much of a muchness. As the book progressed, it was obvious which was which as their characters and what they wanted from this diverged.
I was rather taken by this story. It was better than expected and I really enjoyed it.
I had a hard time being interested in the story or the characters until the second half. Possibly, if I related to the cubical/ office work invironment, then I might have enjoyed some of first part better. But after going through the enjoyable part of the trial, we're given an ending that was unsatisfactory. Not the ending that I was looking forward to. Also there was a story point of a wallet getting gone that never paid off. It was as if that point that was so focused on earlier was just forgotten.
My reactions to this book are mixed. The plot was quite different from most legal thrillers. I liked that one of the characters went through a real moral dilemma before agreeing to participate in an identity theft scheme and that his conscience bothered him after he let his situation rationalize his decision. I found the trial intriguing. On the other hand, I was distracted by a number of errors and foul language. I found the descriptions of the incompetence of the government employees overdone, and I was disappointed in the ending.
I've become Andrew Price's biggest fan. I read "Wrongful Death" and loved it. Now I've read this one and it was even better. This book was truly neat. It had great characters, a fanastically fresh idea, a real suprising ending, and a neat moral dilema. I was really impressed.
This had potential to be a good book, but in the end I always wanted to read something else. The story was written in a way that you wanted the guy who was stealing money to win. Not something I could really get behind. I'm sure it was a fun adventure, but I'm moving on.