Beyond a Reasonable Death: Thaddeus Murfee Legal Thriller (Thaddeus Murfee Thrillers) Paperback – March 17, 2014

J: This was a very intriguing story full of action, suspense and a little romance. Of course Thaddeus was being Thaddeus and I like him. However there was much about the mob that I found a bit boring as well as much of the whole law suite that I just skimmed over. Neverteless, I did pretty much enjoy the story.

There was always something going on. The ending was kind of abrupt as everything came to a climax in two pages.

This book epitomizes the term ",legal thriller". Some of the author's phrasing that included questionable sentence structure, a few typos and occasional grammatical errors made me cringe. But those things didn't stop me from finding the book fascinating, exciting, and very enjoyable.

Beyond a Reasonable Death Thad Murfee Bk 3 by John EllsworthThis legal thriller is the story of a very young lawyer in a small town who crosses the mob. They send a hit man after him. Trying to break free, he sues them, and a courtroom drama ensues. Very quickly he learns you don’t sue the mob and go back to normal living. He is pursued relentlessly and runs west to the mountains of Arizona, where he seeks refuge with a Navajo shepherd. He sets up his office in a cabin while he pursues his case against the godfather. The shepherd has many lessons for Thaddeus Murfee—lessons about surviving when all odds are against you. Together they face the first mob soldier sent after Thaddeus. Plus…the old shepherd has a granddaughter who attends medical school. Katy teaches him to fly-fish, and romance blossoms. Then, he has pursued again and must abandon her in this powerful crime fiction. Set in Chicago, Mexico, and Arizona, Thaddeus is hunted. He must battle wealthy lawyers who seek to protect the mobsters. Thaddeus takes his case to trial with astounding results.What did I like? Well, I fell in love with Thaddeus in the first book and he just keeps, getting better and better. Who would have ever thought to sue the MOB??? I mean it takes it outside the realm of what you could even think about. Hey, if it works then that is what you do but at what price?What will you like? If you’re like me and like to think out of the box, then this is the book series for you. Thaddeus does things in the way that takes everything a step further and for him, it works. There is plenty of legal action, but it doesn’t stop there, he is chased, shot at, ends up in the mountains on a Navajo reservation and it just keeps going and going. Fast action, fast thinking and don’t stop and smell the roses will it be enough, just read on.

Thaddeus Murfee is an attorney and the central character in a whole series of books by John Ellsworth, who had a thirty-year career as a trial lawyer himself before he retired to write. In the first book, actually a prequel, we meet Thad as a freshly-minted graduate of the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, D.C. He earns his spurs in the Office of the U. S. Attorney in the Department of Justice, but decides that a government career is not for him. He unrolls a map of the U. S. and lets his finger drop at random. Orbit, Illinois.The second book deals with his very first case in Orbit, one which pits him against a powerful gangster in Chicago. He uncovers a river of corruption that runs through the governor’s office itself, and the legal actions he initiates result in fees and judgements which make him a wealthy man. He also incurs the unsleeping wrath of the Mob.When this, the third, book opens he has surrounded himself with bodyguards, erected elaborate electronic defenses around his house, and is living in a state of continuous vigilance. When yet another attempt on his life results in the cold-blooded murder of his secretary, Thad has had enough. He decides to strike back not with force but with logic; that is, by convincing the Mob that any further moves against him will be prohibitively expensive. For starters, he sets out to seize of one of their most profitable casino-hotels, in Las Vegas. The rest of the book is set in the high Navajo country of New Mexico and its surroundings while Thad, with the FBI, executes his plan. There is an aged Navajo shepherd, his beautiful granddaughter with whom Thad falls in love, a kidnapped hostage, and of course the legal machinations needed to sue a drug kingpin who has fled to his ranch in Mexico and understandably refuses to return to the U. S.Personally, I preferred Thad when he was a simple, barefoot country lawyer. This book is too full of helicopters, all-seeing computers, and Vegas penthouses to be convincing. Even Thad, in a scene where he is preparing to ambush a hired killer, wonders “What have I become?” Good yarn, well told, but it’s just too far over the top. Four stars.

Always looking for ways to be different authors sometimes driven to extreme lengths, as in this book. If you can accept that an "all American" lawyer could possibly sue a crime boss in the local equivalent of a county court for millions of dollars and an order to not kill him, then this book could work for you. Good depiction of the lengths a "Godfather's" daughter would go to rescue her dad from jail in the opening pages, then we drop into fairly standard cross country chase with ruthless, but not very good, killers on our hero's case. Mystic Indian shepherd with the enigmatic beautiful granddaughter assist in the befuddlement of the mafia, with I think, both his girlfriends ending up pregnant .

No spoilers: After the first book I was looking forward to a new series. This book has sadly put me off. There are enough good bits to keep me going to the end but for me the story is just far too implausible. I do need to be able to relate, even just a little, to a character.. and I need events to be believable. This book failed for me.

In this book, Book 2, Thaddeus is again hounded by the Chicago mobsters; but not to worry, with the help of the FBI, good luck and intellectual abilities he not only defeats the current threat but becomes a multi millionaire in the process. The tale is very well written and the reader is enticed into continuing with discovering what happens next. It is a page turner supreme. A likeable feature was the lack of profanity but the politically correct sex encounters did not suit my tastes. Neverthess, I highly recommend it and award a five stars rating. John Ellsworth is a rare talent and I look forward in anticipation to another of his books

Thaddeus Murfee seems to lead a charmed life in some respects. over $600M in his bank account before he is 29. in his few short years he has jailed a governor and a state's attorney General, Owned a casino got several offices around the US. Has his own jet and yet at 18 he had never had a girlfriend but by 29 has two children by two women, is dispossessed of one child and has the other child taken. Just how much can one man take - in his case an awful lot more! This tale has more turns than Lombard St (San Francisco).

This is the second in the Thaddeus Murfee series but the first I have read. It is an enjoyable book with good characterisation and passed the 'I'll just read one more chapter before turning the light off' test with ease. Other reviewers will describe the general plot and I never really see it as my role to repeat the story in a review. All I can say that is that it gripped me, was entertaining and I immediately bought the first in the series as a result. In my view this second book is actually better than the first, which isn't often the way.