Movie with caricatures instead of complicated and complex characters
How much character do the characters have?
I don't usually read mysteries or thrillers, but I started this one and came across this great quote in the first few pages:I do not believe in the court system, at least I do not think it is especially good at finding the truth. No lawyer does. We have all seen too many mistakes, too may bad results. The jury verdict is just a guess--a well-intentioned guess, generally, but you simply cannot tell fact from fiction by taking a vote. And yet, despite all that, I do believe in the power of the ritual. I believe in the religious symbolism, the black robes, the marble-columned courthouses like Greek temples. When we hold a trial, we are saying a mass. We are praying together to do what is right and to be protected from danger, and that is worth doing whether or not our prayers are actually answered.Wow, right!? I assumed the rest of the book would be full of similar kinds of insightful metaphors, but I was mistaken. It is a compelling read, one you hate to put down, but in the end, that just wasn't enough for me. The characters are all one-dimensional and flat. By page 200, the story had become a Lifetime Movie with caricatures instead of complicated and complex characters. It was a good story and an interesting premise, but the story telling itself left much to be desired. 