Reviews for Errors and Omissions: Michael Seeley Series, Book 1

The average rating for Errors and Omissions: Michael Seeley Series, Book 1 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-05-03 00:00:00 ktqxqtcy catuiile RATING: 2.5 I don't know about you, but when I see genre labels on a book, I find that I expect certain things from the narrative. The words "romantic suspense" lead me to believe something specific will be covered, as do terms such as "psychological thriller", "police procedural" or "village mystery". Thus, reading that Errors and Omissions was a legal thriller, I thought that I would see the following elements:  A problem or issue centered around an interesting point of law  Suspense (as in thriller) about the characters involved in the legal situation  A lead character who is a lawyer and more than likely an expert on the legal issue covered in the book  A courtroom scene or other legal proceeding that would resolve the issue Unfortunately, only the third element applied to this book. Michael Seeley specializes in intellectual property law. As the book opens, he is blowing his career with a respected law firm because of his alcoholism. He is assigned pro bono cases, which don't bring money in to the firm; they are on the verge of terminating his employment. At one time, Michael was well respected in the field; currently, he is about to be disbarred for a drunken episode in a judge's chambers. In addition, his marriage is on the rocks. He is offered one last-ditch chance to turn things around; he reluctantly takes the assignment. The legal issue at hand is the assignment of an artist's rights in the entertainment industry. The author of a book called "Spykiller" has never signed over the rights for the screenplay; the folks in Hollywood have built a hugely successful movie franchise on the work. Actually, the situation has its roots in the 1940s and 50s when authors and other creative people were placed on the infamous Blacklist because of their political sensibilities. It appears that the real author had someone else take the credit for his work because of the impact of being blacklisted. Miraculously, Michael instantly gives up drinking and takes it upon himself to find the author of the book and gain his signature. He has to travel to Germany to do so, and faces many obstacles along the way, including a very recalcitrant and stubborn author who is close to dying. Michael transforms himself from a lawyer into an intrepid investigator as the narration progresses and even manages to trade punches with a few bad guys. If you detect a note of sarcasm in that last paragraph, you're very astute. I found it very hard to believe in the character'he's in an advanced state of alcoholism and gives it up as if it is nothing, warding off all the temptation that he faces. The fact that he is supposed to be a lawyer is forgotten as he goes into full blown search-and-destroy mode. Forget any exciting courtroom scenes, or legal thrills'the book isn't really about that at all. The introduction of the young, beautiful, intelligent, sensitive woman made me want to groan. The one element of the book that I did find to be well done was the depiction of the German setting. Goldstein does an excellent job of describing not only the physical locale but also the culture of the area. Paul Goldstein is a noted intellectual property lawyer who is widely recognized as one of the top experts in the field. I question why he chose to focus on the whole blacklisting period of history, as many people reading this book will likely not have even heard of it. There was not enough dramatic tension in the plot premise to sustain the narration; at times, the writing was extremely plebian and the resolution unsatisfying. I would assume that Mr. Goldstein faces many controversial intellectual property issues that are important and interesting to today's world and wished that he had chosen one of them as the basis for the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-11-24 00:00:00 Peter Silvestri Molto molto descrittivo, la trama è bella e solida, ma personalmente preferisco più dialogo e più azione. Studiando io stessa legge, posso dire che Goldstein scrive e ragiona davvero come un professore di giurisprudenza, quale in effetti è. Consigliato per chi è appassionato di ciò che si nasconde dietro lo sfavillante mondo di Hollywood.