Paul Levine has done it again! Bum Deal may very well be his best Jake Lassiter book. Loved seeing Jake Lassiter stretch his wings and move from the role of a defense attorney to that of a special prosecutor. I was hooked from the beginning of the booked and hated to see the book end!

Princess Fuzzypants here: I am not sure what it is about Florida that seems to set the scene for quirky and interesting mysteries. Some of my favourite authors write about the Sunshine State. It obviously lends itself to tales with more twists and angles than pretzels. This latest Jake Lassiter falls into the same category. In fact, although this is the first time I have read his series, I can guarantee you it will not be the last.
Jake is a former football hero who, like so many athletes of contact sports, has taken too many hits on the head. He is in the incipient stages of a very nasty condition. As bad as what he is going through now, it is only going to get worse- much worse. Understandably, Jakes wants to make the most out of whatever time he has left, which begs the question of why he takes on the role of Prosecutor in a case he knows he is likely to lose. Moreover, his rivals in this case are his best friends and protégées, Salomon and Lord.
As he tries to build the case against a socio- psychopathic surgeon who is accused of murdering his wife, the case seems to coalesce before his eyes. It seems too good to be true. He has no idea how true this will be until the entire mess explodes. This is one case where Jake wishes he had stayed on the defence side of the table.
The story will keep you guessing as to what really happened even if, like me, you suspect and then dismiss part of the truth. There are enough surprises and turnarounds that it will delight even the hardened reader. It was a jolly good romp that kept me riveted to the very end.
I give it five purrs and two paws up.

Lassiter latest centers on vengeance; the issue of CTE is addressed in this book, so if you don’t want to read about brain injuries, pass this one up. Lassiter sets himself toward vengeance when his client is found innocent of murder, there’s plotting, planning, and humor galore. His latest in this long running series is as good as any other volume; mystery fans will be pleased. I recommend this Lassiter book.

Author Paul Levine is back with a new legal thriller in Bum Deal. This novel continues the Attorney Jake Lassiter series of novels.

In this story, Jake is asked to become a special prosecutor in a case. Typically a defense attorney Jake takes the assignment with apprehension.



A rich doctor is accused of killing his wife. But there is a problem with the case, police can’t find her body. Is she only missing or is she dead? Friends, family, and acquaintances all say he killed her.

Being a legal thriller part of the story takes place in the courtroom. What seems like a slam dunk case against the husband starts to get picked apart by the defense team.

As the story unfolds the author does a great job weaving a web. Did the husband do it? Could someone else have done it? Which suspect had the most to gain from her death?

This was one of the more original stories I have read in a while. The plot moved at a good pace and the stakes for Jake seemed real.

One of the parts I liked best was some of the courtroom interactions. Having sat in court as a police officer I find some fictional accounts of trails to be way off. With Author Paul Levine being a lawyer he always makes sure to keep the legal part as faithful as fiction can be.

Another witty and interesting story by Paul Levine. Jake Lassiter Has a lot on his plate to deal with and is not sure he should take on this case as a temporary prosecutor. On the other side are his best friends Lord and Solomon. A doctor's wife is missing and believed dead. Did the husband kill her? Victoria Lord was once a girl friend of the accused. No body but all signs lead to looking at the husband. Jake is taking treatments for his head concussions from his football days. Will this affect his ability to do his best? A story with plenty of things going on to keep your interest.

BUM DEAL
Paul Levine
Thomas & Mercer
ISBN 978-1503951716
Hardcover
Thriller

It is a surprise to find that BUM DEAL may well be Paul Levine’s best book to date. Levine, who is well-nigh incapable of writing badly in any event, pulls out and displays his considerable chops in this fourth and latest installment of his Lassiter, Solomon and Lord series which once again unites the protagonists of his two most successful series…

Hold it. Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. Jake Lassiter, Steve Solomon, and Victoria Lord aren’t exactly together in BUM DEAL. Levine throws an extremely interesting curve ball into the proceedings when he puts them on opposite sides of a murder trial. Readers who are familiar with any or all of the series regarding these stalwart and competent defense attorneys know that they are...well, defense attorneys. Levine changes things up in BUM DEAL by placing Lassiter, who has functioned as friend and mentor to Solomon and Lord, on the other side of the aisle as a prosecutor in a high profile murder case. The circumstances arise as the result of the Florida State Attorney recusing himself in the criminal trial of Dr. Clark Calvert, who is accused of murdering Sofia, his wife. Jake, with great reluctance, accepts the assignment, even as he is faced with complications a-plenty. The first is his health. Jake’s experience with chronic traumatic encephalopathy --- CTE --- has been playing out over the course of the L, S & L books, and his symptoms have gotten progressively worse, notwithstanding the experimental treatment which he has been receiving. Another is that there is really no evidence that Calvert killed Sofia, or that she is even dead, given that she has only gone missing. For reasons made clear in BUM DEAL, however, the arrest and the trial proceed apace, and Lassiter, it appears, is really going to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, whether Dr. Calvert is guilty or not. The defense team of Solomon and Lord, meanwhile, is not without its own problems. Steve and Victoria are engaged, with the wedding to take place in just a few months. Steve is somewhat aghast to learn that Calvert and Victoria had at a point in the distant past been lovers. Victoria, for her part, knows a few things that could interfere with their defense of Calvert, things that she does not particularly want to share with Steve, who kind-of sort-of wishes that Jake will be successful in his prosecution of Calvert. Jake thinks he has enough evidence to convince a jury that there has been a crime and that Calvert is guilty, but he soon finds that he has obstacles from within and without to overcome that may be insurmountable. There are enough twists and turns in the last third of BUM DEAL to entrance even the most jaded reader, and, as a final surprise, the last paragraph contains what might be called a storybook ending, particularly for those of us with dirty minds of a certain sort.

BUM DEAL is full to brim with the humor, courtroom brilliance, and subtle pathos that have made Levine’s other books winners. You can pick up and enjoy BUM DEAL without having read any of the previous books in any of the three series, but you won’t want to stop with this one. Recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2018, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

BUM DEAL (Legal Thriller-Jake Lassiter-Florida-Contemp) – VG
Levine, Paul – 13th in series
Thomas & Mercer – June 2018
First Sentence: The surgeon laced his fingers and cracked his knuckles, a concert pianist preparing to tackle Tchaikovsky.
Defense Attorney Jack Lassiter is switching sides. The state attorney, who has political ambitions, cannot serve as prosecutor on the case of a very high-profile cosmetic surgeon who is accused of murdering his wife. Jake is taking on a huge challenge as the defense attorneys are his best friends, he quite possibly may be dying from CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) as a result of his NFL days and, oh yes, there's no body.
One always appreciates an author who uses humor well—"when my cell phone rang, I figured someone was dead. Nah, I don't have EPS. I have caller ID."—creates a strong sense of place—"an easterly breeze kicked up sand from the beach and ruffled the palm trees a few feet from my table."—and make one stop and consider—"Who's to say why we choose our friends? Just as with lovers, there's a certain mystery to the chemistry of friendship."—all within a very short space. It also helps in creating an intriguing protagonist. These things add up to a book of real promise and, if one has never before read Paul Levine, there is also the question of "why not?".
All of Levine's characters are fully-developed and none are caricatures. Dr. Melissa Gold, neuropathologist and Jake's lover and doctor, is the means by which we learn about CTE, the symptoms, indicators, and treatments including medications and eudaimonia, a philosophy of Aristotle's related to virtue ethics.
Levin reminds one exactly how dirty and self-serving are politics and politicians. He also makes a fair assessment about being a lawyer—"I just wanted to do good work defending the wrongfully accused. Surprise! Turns out there were far more people rightfully accused." There is also a reminder that legal cases take time—"This isn't an hour TV show where a clue falls into your lap after the third commercial."
Although there is an element that may have been predicted, there is a very good twist and a story which is well executed and occasionally makes one smile. Right up until the final page.
"Bum Deal" is remarkable for the level of suspense that can be achieved by a well-done courtroom scene. Levin definitely delivers on that score.

He is witty, and sparring jokes with his friends, while nursing a drink. A born prosecutor, a call wanting him to take a case. A prominent surgeon, guilty of killing his wife, a question, since there is no body, nor witnesses,and no evidence. A case, that would task his energy and brain, and may he lose. If one reads his book, you relishes his style, the humor, and how he plays in the court room. They are never dull, and always looking for the next. Give ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion, by Net Galley and Thomas Mercer.

Bum Deal – Paul Levine

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Jake Lassiter is a practicing defense attorney, working in South Florida. Along with his partners & best friends, Steve & Victoria, they have made a name for themselves providing defense for anyone who needs it. Jake, being a former football player, and infamous for a play on the field that once cost his team a big game, also appears to be suffering from the beginning stages of CTE.

As this book begins, Jake finds himself irresistibly tempted by an offer from The State’s Attorneys Office of Florida – asking him to ‘switch sides’ and assist with the prosecution of a well-known physician for the murder of his wife. Intrigued, Jake accepts the challenge. The trouble is, there is no body…

As Jake attempts to put together a case, his friends and colleagues are called upon to defend the physician, a former college boyfriend of Victoria’s, pitting the best friends against one another in this high profile case, with a stunning ending!

I’ve not read any of Paul Levine’s work before – and I cannot understand how I could have missed this series. With snappy, laugh-out-loud dialogue and characters that are so well written you want to step right into the pages with them, Bum Deal is a real winner!! I can’t wait to read more of Jake Lassiter’s adventures!! Great book!!

great law thriller with enjoyable character and a great ending read for of this serie in the furture great author

The twelfth novel in Paul Levine's Lassiter mysteries, Bum Deal, hasn't been released yet. I'm reviewing an ARC that I received through the good graces of publicist Wiley Saichek via Net Galley. I'm glad that I read and reviewed Bum Luck beforehand --not only because it's an excellent book, but because it gave me some background that's important for fully appreciating the events of Bum Deal.

Our hero Jake Lassiter has been through a great deal in his most recent adventure, Bum Luck. He was probably feeling unmoored when State Attorney Raymond Pincher proposed that he prosecute a case. Lassiter has been a defense attorney throughout his legal career, so this is a radical change. Pincher told Lassiter that he and his entire office of prosecutors were recused from the case. "Recused" is a legal term that I and many other Americans learned when the U.S. Attorney General recused himself last year. It means that a lawyer can't be involved in a case because of a conflict.

Bum Deal addresses the ongoing issues of corruption in the justice system and the impact of frequent concussions on the lives of former NFL players like Jake Lassiter. Yet it also deals with the sometimes problematic quandary of drawing the line between consensual sex and abuse, and how do you prosecute someone for murder when there's no body and no evidence? I had to sympathize with Lassiter because it looked like a case that was impossible to win had been dumped into his lap at a very vulnerable time in his life.

If you really like plot twists in the mysteries that you read, there are a great number of them in Bum Deal. I wondered if this case could come to a satisfying resolution given all the obstacles that were thrown at Lassiter. So the biggest surprise for me was that things turned out as well as they did. I felt that justice was served in the end which is what I expect from a mystery.

An entertaining read. I especially enjoyed the funny parts. There were a few places that it got bogged down with too much detail. I can't wait for the next book in this series.

I love the entire Jake lassiter series. The latest by Paul Levine is no exception. I only wish he would write two or three a year. I don't know what is in store for Jake in the future but I sure hope it's good news!

You remember Jake Lassiter, right? Ex-Miami Dolphin suicide squad player? Ran the wrong way with a fumble causing Miami to lose a game and miss out on the playoffs? Same guy with a history of concussions and now fears he is on a runaway train headed for the CTE station at the end of the line? Same guy who partners with Steve Soloman and Victoria Lord (just months from their nuptials) in a small defense attorney firm in Miami? Sure you do.

They are defense attorneys for the right reasons. To protect the innocent from being railroaded. OK, most of their clients deserved it, but still. There is always that one.

The Florida State DA and chief foil for Jake, Raymond Pincher, comes to Jack with an offer. Become a one-time prosecutor on a murder case. Not his cup of tea, but says OK. If it gets a scumbag off the streets.

Said scumbag is Dr. Clark Calvert, a Miami orthpaedic surgeon with control issues. Wants to make sure you and everyone else knows he is the smartest, wealthiest, most athletic, best looking person in the room. Likes to choke his women during sex. And when he was a resident up in New England, had this gorgeous undergrad girlfriend named Victoria Lord. You've heard of her. And he has retained the law firm of Soloman and Lord to defend him.

Jake's case isn't overflowing with evidence. Cuz there is no body, no evidence, no witness. For the prosecution consul, no problem. Unless you count The Titty Bar, a Georgia-based actress, a Miami mafia boss, et al. either trying to either help of stop Jakes prosecution of Dr. Calvert.

This is almost the polar opposite of the Field on Honor I just posted. While that was page after page after page of lightning-paced action, Bum Deal is page after page after page of in your face dialogue with legal mumbo jumbo used to twist the truth eight ways from Sunday. And I read this one way faster than than Field of Honor. Yeah, they are muy different. But Bum Deal was whole lot more entertaining as we approach summer. Sit down, put up your feet, grab a tequila, and let Jake and friends take you on a fun ride through the oppressive heat and humidity that permeates the Dade County court system.

Lots of folks will say that Carl Hiassen is their favorite author about Florida. Well, folks. Paul Levine should be your second favorite Florida author.

Bum Deal is the twelfth book in Levine’s Jack Lassiter series, which features an ex-football player turned defense lawyer sort of like Campbell Gault’s series about a football player turned private eye. The setting is lazy sunny Florida and it involves a lot more chitter chatter than action. Here, Lassiter becomes a special prosecutor for one case involving his pal Victoria’s exboyfriend and client, a smart, feisty, confident doctor being investigated for the murder of his wife. This is a very popular series and my first foray into it. My opinion is that of a minority when I say it Just plain didn’t work for me. Too much chitter chatter. And, the legal proceedings didn’t feel genuine, particularly the informal interview at the murder suspect’s house. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Book Review: Bum Deal (Jake Lassiter #12) by Paul Levine

"No way would I whine about my condition and get buried by two tons of sympathy like sand from a dump truck."

"You suits are so out-of-date, they're practically back in style."

That's him, Jake Lassiter, witty, tough, a good, loyal friend of two other protagonists, themselves main protagonists within the master storyteller's realm.

"This was our usual pattern. I'm the third wheel of the tricycle."

If reading this book would be your first of the Lassiter series, you'd be presented with the slightly broken doll, brain-damaged version of the guy.

"We're all defense lawyers, or at least I was, until ten minutes ago when I was offered a job as a specially appointed prosecutor for one case."

That's the main plot in a nutshell - a somewhat disillusioned defense attorney with health issues named special prosecutor for a murder case with nothing going for it - no body, no evidence, no witness. Great career move, or could he smell a set-up?

The author takes the reader skillfully through twists and turns, now quirky, now incredulously, now creatively. You're in the last 10th of the book, you say, there's gotta be a twist - and yes, there it is. Unexpected. Does it end well?

Response: Hmm, what's not to enjoy?!

Review based on an advance reading copy presented by NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.

I have read all of the books in this series and loved them. I am always recommending his books to my mystery readers. A well planned mystery and humor, what else could I want

Author Paul Levine has two winning series with Lassiter and with Solomon and Lord. When they get together the novel explodes. Definitely a character-driven story that is well worth the read.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Jake Lassiter is back in this exciting story of murder and mayhem. He is more than a little burned out on defense work. Also, he has been diagnosed with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a chronic brain injury from his NFL football-playing days. His doctor told him to quit boxing to avoid more blows to the head.

He is a defense attorney. Lassiter receives a telephone call from Raymond Pincher, occasional adversary and former sparring partner. Pincher wants him to be a specially appointed prosecutor to prosecute a husband for the murder of his wife. Jake thinks he is joking at first.

Victoria Lord and Steve Solomon are finally getting married. They are Jake’s good friends and partners in the defense firm they all share. Victoria gets a phone call from Dr. Clark Calvert who is an orthopedic surgeon. He also happens to be the man that Raymond Pincher asked Jake to prosecute for the murder of his wife Sofia. The wife, however, is missing.

Victoria and Jake have an argument about Clark Calvert. Meanwhile, Steve is trying to figure out what Clark really means to Victoria. Victoria doesn’t tell anyone what she really knows about Clark – that he has a volatile temper and also has fantasies of killing someone.

This sets the stage for a volatile courtroom situation between the old friends – one as a prosecutor and the others as the defense team.

As Jake, Steve and Victoria do their due diligence on the case, they learn some very unsavory facts about Clark’s past. In the courtroom, the battle goes back and forth and Jake makes some regrettable mistakes. He wonders if he really is over his best days. In a startling and explosive conclusion, the reader gets an answer.

Jake is a delightful character. Feisty and irreverent, he likes cracking jokes, but he is very tough in court. This book is extremely well written and plotted as are all of Paul Levine’s novels. I have been following Jake’s adventures for years now, and was saddened to see him afflicted with CTE. The “uh-oh’s” begin immediately in this story as the reader learns that the DA wants Jake to be a special prosecutor. This book is full of surprises and twists. I liked it. I really enjoy Paul Levine’s writing and have done so for years. I will continue to read his novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for forwarding to me a copy of this good book to read, enjoy and review.

This was part of the Jake Lassiter series but it could stand alone. Jake has gone over to the dark side. He has been appointed special prosecutor in a murder case. A case that basically has no evidence, no body and no witnesses. Jake is suffering from symptoms of CTE from his football days which create some problems for him.

This is a good legal thriller that will catch your attention from the beginning. Jake is a smart alec and his humorous comments were very entertaining. The defendant in the case was not a sympathetic character and at times I wished I could reach in and slap him. There are quite a few twists in the plot, some I saw coming, a couple that blindsided me. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.