Review & Giveaway - Try Darkness by James Scott Bell

This Giveaway is Closed!
Try Darkness by James Scott Bell

Here's what the book says:

Ty Buchanan is living on the peaceful grounds of St. Monica's, far away from the glamorous life he led as a rising trial lawyer for a big L.A. firm. Recovering from the death of his fiancée and a false accusation of murder, Buchanan has found his previous ambitions unrewarding. Now he prefers offering legal services to the poor and the under-represented, from his "office" at local coffee bar The Freudian Sip. A mysterious woman with a six year old daughter comes to him for help. She's being illegally evicted from a downtown transient hotel, an interest represented by his old law firm and former best friend, Al Bradshaw. Buchanan won't back down. He's going to fight for the woman's rights.

But then she ends up dead, and the case moves from the courtroom to the streets. Determined to find the killer and protect the little girl, who has no last name and no other family, Buchanan finds he must depend on skills he never needed in the employ of a civil law firm.

About the Author:

James Scott Bell's fiction has been compared by Booklist and the Los Angeles Times to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, two of his favorite authors. A former trial lawyer, Jim was also fiction columnist for Writers Digest Magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University. His book on writing, Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, is one of the most popular writing books available today.

After graduating from Taft High School in Los Angeles, Bell went on to play basketball at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he pursued a degree in Film. But his love of writing shot to the forefront of his interests. While still in college, Bell's writing got him a spot to study with Raymond Carver, one of America's most honored writers. Bell also won an award for a screenplay he wrote in his senior year.
After graduation, Bell moved to New York to write for the theater. Almost immediately he was cast in a small role in an Off Broadway production of Othello, "and I began my actor phase." That phase included stints in several Off Broadway productions and in television commercials. "Commercials were nice," Bell remembers. "I'd hold up a tray of hamburgers for McDonald's and keep getting these residual checks. What a business."
While in New York Bell met his wife to be, an actress, and decided one thespian in the family was enough. He went to the University of Southern California Law School, graduated with honors and won the American Board of Trial Advocates' Award as the top student in Trial Practice. He was a litigator for a year with a large L.A. firm before opening up his own office.
He now writes full time. His favorite writers, in addition to Chandler and Hammett, include John D. MacDonald and Michael Connelly. Visit his website at http://www.jamesscottbell.com/

Here's what I say:
I have to start by saying that I did not realize that this book was the second in the series until I had read a good portion of it and was starting to feel a bit lost. Not to say that the book cannot stand alone but more that I just had this gut feeling that there was more to the back story. The story is so fast paced and unexpected that I was gripped right away and I think that is why I was feeling that I wanted more. I am definitely going to have to go back and "start at the beginning" with the first book - Try Dying, especially before the next one - Try Fear! I have always been a big fan of what I call, judicial storylines. Where there are lawyers and courtrooms and cases and all sorts of whodunit. I especially like the stories of the innocents being vindicated - which is exactly what is going on in these stories. The main character - Ty - is exactly the sort of man I like to read about - some minor flaws but full of morals and a dollop of good old fashion honor. I really think that if you like thrillers with a lawyer spin, you will like this book.

Win it! Valarie at Hachette Book Group has graciously agreed to giveaway 3 copies of Try Darkness!
So here is how you can win:



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Disclaimer: Although I did receive a free copy of this book for review, I was in no other way compensated to post this review.


If you are an author or publisher and you would like for me to review your book, please contact me directly: polsen11[at]comcast[dot]net