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THE LAW OF SECOND CHANCES is James Sheehan’s second novel. The story is interesting and he takes on important issues such as incompetent doctors and lawyers, foster care abuses, drug culture and the death penalty. However, he does tend to get preachy. Sheehan hits all the PC buttons seeming to try to have something of everything. No problem if it weren’t so obvious. There are over 40 characters, weaving in and out of the various story lines, which can get quite distracting. It must have also gotten confusing to the author as on page 29 he says Henry Wilson killed Clarence Waterman – while on page 39 he says Henry Wilson is convicted of slitting Clarence Williams' throat. Lengthy flashbacks every third chapter are also confusing as there is no indication of a tie-in until almost the end of the book. The main character, Jack Tobin, is well drawn and sympathetic. A civil trial lawyer for 20 years, he now devotes his time to representing inmates on Death Row. He only takes cases if he feels the person was wrongly convicted. Through lessons he learned while growing up in New York, especially on the ball field, he is able to focus intently on facts at hand which allows him to uncover clues or evidence missed by the police or other attorneys. Though I think this particular book was overly ambitious and would have benefited from being divided into two books, I still enjoyed it very much and look forward to future novels by Sheehan. Black marks to St Martin’s Press, though, for the final product of THE LAW OF SECOND CHANCES – there were trimming and binding problems with my copy, with what was a final copy and not an uncorrected proof. A writer has a right to expect his or her work to be presented in a professional way.
Reviewed by Ginger K. W. Stratton, March 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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