e-Book Final Judgment download

This is a really good series that develops several characters in each. While I suppose you could read this sperate from one another it's really a good pace and flow to start with book one and read them consecutively. Goldman has just enough character over lap where you wouldn't be lost but reading them in order let's you see and experience a larger tension, and drama in the life of the protagonist beyond whatever is happening in each book. Trust me, reading them all will give you a richer taste of everything when the series comes to closure. I certainly am hoping Mason makes it back into Goldman's books. His character is smart and stupid, charming and offensive, he makes so many right moves yet does so many things wrong. I like that Goldman pushes readers into the uncomfortable and unpredictable even outside of the main mystery. Relationships flourish and fail but not in the romantic feel good way you'd expect. Instead there is real sadness in the stories but not in a bleak or depressing way. These characters are far from untouchable and I suppose that's what makes them so real.

I got mired down in the number of characters and then the characters also had two names to keep track of so I was further mired. It worked out in the end but I had trouble following the author in the twists and turns. Still not sure what happened to everyone and by whom except a lot of people ended up dead.

I found this book very hard to follow. It was one of the first books that I almost just quit reading it, but all the reviews said there was a twist at the end that kept me going. But I have to admit I was pretty much forcing myself to continue reading it. I could not keep track of who was who and it was like the author just kept adding more characters to the story. The overall plot was interesting, but the detail the author went into on some irrelevant subplots made the book hard to follow. I had to go back and reread parts of the book just to try and figure out was was going on.

The good news: The book is written well and zips along. I couldn't put it down even though the plot hinges on things that would only make sense in a less technologically advanced time, like the 1950s. Any 10 year old would see the problems right off. So that's bad. I saw a reviewer's headline here stating the plot was too complicated. I would have to hardily disagree with that. The twists and turns would be really good if we lived in the 1950s. They aren't hard to follow, and I've only read the previous entry in this series (you don't need to read any of them, that one included, to follow the plot), so I didn't have a lot of background to help me understand the story. I must list the problems that really do bother me, so don't read further if you don't want spoilers: 1. People get glowing telephone references that raise red flags--and experienced, educated investigators and Human Resources personnel just take those at face value. Come on. People could have done this in the 1950s. Now, it's ludicrous to fall for that. A basic internet search, google maps or google earth, for just a few, would expose the problem in 30 seconds. And, who doesn't know that, in the modern day, area codes do not mean much? It's easy to have even landlines that do not reflect a telephone's geographical location. And that call center? Seems dumb for anyone to set it up because it's so traceable and for anyone else not to know it. 2. At one point, an FBI informant makes a phone call that is witnessed and recorded by the FBI. In this phone call, the target admits that one of the suspects can mimic the voice of the informant and fool her. And then when the suspect mimics the voice not long after, the FBI somehow fails to realize it, even when they knew it couldn't be the informant. 3. The FBI never needed the informant in the first place. They had all the information they needed to make arrests. They also didn't need to give up a million dollars to play an unnecessary game that they obviously never would play and didn't need to. It seems unlikely that the FBI would ever let one of its agents try to "gain the trust" of a Saudi Arabian bad guy who was in charge of an international ring to create fake IDs for terrorists, much less do so by going overseas. Certainly in this day and age, if the bad guys are connected to Saudi Arabia and the FBI are keeping tabs on them, the FBI and the CIA probably know who the "big wig" is already. If the FBI wanted an informant, the logical choice is the people who have contacts with the Saudi. I can understand how the FBI would want an informant who was on the sidelines and not in the game, but it seems like a lot to trouble when all you have to do is track a suspect. 4. A sick, old man, who is intelligent and crafty, is not going to make the stupid, dangerous choice when there is a smarter, safer option. He knows where bad guys are going. Tell it to the cops. Or his attorney. Or the entire FBI.

The book was both good and bad. I found myself with too many characters to keep track of-thank heavens for xray-but I couldn't quit the book because the story was good. I hated the ending. After getting to know the main characters the ending held no promise. Like I said, this book was difficult to read and to review. It was extremely exciting at times but I also felt lost trying to keep track of so many different cases. All in all, I'm going to do something entirely new for me. I cannot recommend this book but neither can I say it was awful. There was no cursing and I truly enjoyed his other four books in the series so I'm just going to sit on the fence. This book may appeal to you.

like a cecil b demille epic, a cast of thousand. way too convoluted. lacked a real plot and what was there was gummed up by way too many characters. got to about 94% and said, who cares. goldman disappoints with "final judgement".

Sure I read every Mason book and liked them. Nice cast of characters that I got used to. Interesting plot line. I do think I've heard enough about Kansas City - I did attend the U. of MIssouri. The only thing, after five books, is I never quite get the villain right. Goldman always seems to pull some minor player out of the cast and pin it on him/her. Look, this is a nice read in front of the fireplace during the winter months. It isn't Spencer, but it does hold your interest and you even might want another Goldman book.

The book itself was a good read, BUT Joel Goodman is repackaging his earlier works to make them look new. I already purchased this book one time in a different cover. He has done this trick in several different ways, such as collecting former books in one place with a new name. Renaming or recovering old titles to resell them is a dirty trick. Shame on him and Amazon for squeezing money out of people for a double purchase. Buyer beware!!