Thaddeus Murfee (Thaddeus Murfee Legal Thrillers #1) by John Ellsworth

Thaddeus Murfee (Thaddeus Murfee Legal Thrillers #1) Reviews

• 
  Bren fall in love with the sea.

  "The resume was the $39.99 version without goals and hobbies.
  
  "He has no goals," said the Assistant U.S. Attorney.
  
  'he has no hobbies, either" said the Chief of Staff".
  
  
  A Young Lawyer's Story (Thaddeus Murfee Legal Thrillers #1)
  by John Ellsworth
  
  
  Thaddeus is a young lawyer. He is broke and looking for a job. When he gets one, working for the United States Government he is thrilled..until he finds out what the job entails.
  
  Turns out , his new boss wants him to spy for the Government. Poor Thaddeus. All he wants to do is practice law but due to circumstances beyond his control, he is swept up into a world of Spies, espionage and Government secrets.
  
  I enjoyed this book. Thaddeus is young but he's sassy and mouths off alot (in a good way). I liked how fast paced the book was and it was easy to follow.
  
  It sort of reminded me of john Grisham meets Joe Finder. I think this book is the perfect escapist book. There are many aspects of it that I am not sure were realistic but then again, in the times w e live in, I could see something like this happening.
  
  3.5 stars. Recommended to fans of Legal thrillers.
• 
  S.P. Aruna

  I've come up with the idea of reviewing all the "hot" kindle legal thrillers, mainly taken from Amazon's top 100 list, otherwise basically a random sample. I may write a blog piece summarizing my thoughts after I've gone through a sufficient number of these.I've started with this one, which I believe is self-published yet appears to have been quite commercially successful. It has 753 ratings, 4.3 average.
  
  In the Amazon book description
  OVER 1,500,000 COPIES SOLD, AMAZON HAS SAID, "WE ARE INSPIRED BY THE SUCCESS OF THIS WRITER AND HOW HE IS DELIGHTING READERS"--AMAZON PRESS RELEASE 10/15/18
  
  Despite all this, the book is typical of so many self-published books (unfortunately) - sophomoric writing, characters that are flat and two dimensional, and situations that go beyond suspension of disbelief. What I am mainly interested in is how the authors of legal thrillers handle the courtroom scenes and other legal stuff - if done well I could forgive all else. but alas, in this book, those scenes are not much better than the rest of the writing.
  
  
  Now on to
  William Bernhardt's
  Death Row
• 
  Bonnye Reed

  GA I received a free electronic copy of this novel from author John Ellsworth in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, sir, for sharing your hard work with me.
  
  I thoroughly enjoyed Thaddeus Murfee. His lack of experience in the courtrooms of the world get him a few passes, but it is his wide-eyed awe for justice brings home the bacon. This was a fast read, an 'up' tale that may help you believe again in that blind lady of the law.
• 
  David Highton

  Having read all of the other books in the Murfee series, I thought I would read the prequel, which turned out to be a rather preposterous spy story. Murfee, fresh out of law school and just passed the bar exam is variously a US attorney's office secretary, leading a team of cybercrime attorneys, a fledgling spy and a trial defence attorney. Ellsworth well known issues with timing occur - the epilogue has a seven month period as a witness which then disappears two paragraphs later. This book is set 10 years before the final book, yet has a reference to Game of Thrones on TV. Despite this lack of attention of detail, I have generally enjoyed the books.
• 
  Deb Jones

  I found the writing to be easy to read, and the protagonist, Thaddeus Murfee, an intelligent and well-rounded character. Some of the premises in this story seemed unrealistic to me, which tainted my enjoyment of the tale.
• 
  Marleen

  Making the acquaintance of Thaddeus Murfee, just out of law school and hired by the office of the US Attorney, in DC, was very exciting at times, and then boring at other times. Indeed, the web of political games Thaddeus Murfee finds himself in from the first day is not something he enjoyed – and neither did I, as a reader, as a matter of fact.
  There's no doubt, I found myself rooting for Thaddeus, who is a wonderful, clever young man, graduated 3rd of his class in Georgetown; although the young man lacks experience in the professional legal world and he knows he’s bound to make mistakes. What he didn't expected is that he would be asked to spy on his boss. Thaddeus definitely needed a crash course in counterintelligence, which his devious handlers didn't provide.
  I’ve never been fond of D.C. politics and this confirms it (One exception: I am a fan and will always, always love the West Wing series by Aaron Sorkin). To conclude, I hope that Thaddeus next adventure will be more compelling, now that he moved to the small town of Orbit, just outside Chicago. I am indeed super curious.
• 
  Jeremy Spencer

  I rarely write reviews, but after finishing the first book, I felt compelled. It's horrible. The plot is fine, but it really breaks down in the actual telling of the story. The prosecution's entire case took less than 2 paragraphs. The defense's case took a page and a half - roughly 5 paragraphs. Basically, it was all buildup for an extremely short climax. Probably the shortest climax I've ever read in the legal thriller category. There were several sentences that literally made no sense - the wrong words were used, making the reader puzzle out what word the author meant. I had hoped for a new series to begin enjoying, but instead I'm left disappointed after reading this dud. Stay away.
• 
  Page Turner

  Fast paced thriller with twists and turns throughout. Well written and kept my interest until the last page! A very good read.
• 
  Tom

  could be a good series
• 
  Tulay

  Must read.
  
  If you're Thaddeus Murfee and John Ellsworth fan, this book will help you understand how Thaddeus started his career. Fall in love with this character with the Chase, The Bad Baby and I have been reading all the books this author wrote. This story starts with him just graduated and starting his first job. FBI and CIA recruiting and making of double agents, and throwing them under the bus when they are caught.
• 
  Lindamac

  I liked the plot of this book and the characters. The writing seemed basic and easy to read but not as much in depth as I usually find in novels of the genre.
• 
  Aimee

  Very Interesting
  
  I started by reading Flagstaff Station. Actually, I pre-ordered the book and read it as soon as it dropped in my Kindle library. I read the book straight through. I really enjoyed the turn Flagstaff Station took right of the bat. The book was better than I expected. At the end of the book I saw a listing of other books by John Ellsworth. A while series of Thaddeus Murder legal thrillers!
  
  A Young Lawyer's Story was intriguing, entertaining and definitely a thriller. It was great seeing where Thaddeus started. I really like the Matheson and Ollie characters. I don't know where the series is going or who returning characters might be. But I really look forward to a new series. It doesn't ruin the outcome by knowing where Flagstaff Station begins. There is a long road in between to travel for Murfee and I am sure it will be exciting, if I go by the two books I have already read.
• 
  Tere Fredericks

  Great to Watch a Baby Lawyer Find His Niche
  
  I read this completely through, not even stopping to eat dinner. It is mesmerizing. There are oh no parts, there are chuckle a bit parts, and there are even some laugh out loud parts.
  
  Mr. Ellsworth's writing is fast, furious with no uh? breaks in the action.
  
  Watching Mr. Murfee go from third in his class to becoming an Assistant United States Attorney to whatever awaits him in the following books in the series is extremely good reading.
  
  Bravo, Mr. Ellsworth!
  
• 
  Katie

  I love legal thrillers so I was excited to listen to a new series’s. That being said, there is something odd about this book. It’s like the characters and their thoughts and dialogue isn’t intelligent enough to be doing what they’re doing in the positions they’re in. Also the story and characters aren’t very fleshed out so it’s hard to get emotionally attached to anything. I’m almost half way though and I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish. If this wasn’t the start to a series, I’d definitely throw in the towel at this point. If things change, I’ll update this review.
• 
  Dave

  This book started off with a decent premise - a young attorney hired by the government to spy on the sitting US Attorney, suspected of selling secrets to the Chinese. It started falling apart when the inexperienced Murfee was asked to head a government intelligence office (the suspension of disbelief by this point was a big ask). The trial portion of the book was just farcical, and read as if it was written by a high school student. I would usually DNF books like this, but since it was a short read, I stuck with it, to its head-shaking conclusion. Oof.
• 
  Nancy Garbe

  “A Young Lawyer’s Story” is very clever and emotion-provoking. It is well-paced and hard to put down. The new, smart lawyer gets knocked around and gradually finds his way through the maze of the government legal system and trial court, but only after several intense twists.
  
  I received a free copy of this book for my voluntary honest review. The story seems to have enough bits of truth to make it believable and thrilling, but not to an extreme. The characters are likable or detestable as needed to sustain the tension. Overall, I can easily recommend this book.
• 
  Marni Tagami

  New author to me
  
  I'm not generally a fan of Legal procedurals, but this one caught my eye, and I'm glad! I thoroughly enjoyed Thaddeus Murfee and his mixture of amateurish ambition, gullibility, quick recognition of his mistakes which he learned from for the future. I loved his cheekiness with the growly arrogant judge. I like that he recognized his need to grow in wisdom and skill,so landed in Orbit, a tiny town to start a tiny practice in. I'm anxious to read his next adventure and will be following John Ellsworth for awhile.
• 
  Gary Webster

  This Is A Good One
  
  I read one of John Ellsworths later books on this character, Thaddeus Murfee. I did give him some grief in the review about some of the editing of the book. I found the plot to be somewhat confusing. So I thought I would give him one more try. This is a great first book for an author. I really like the plot. I like the character development. And I found myself reading the book through in one setting. I highly recommend the book.
• 
  John Vonhof

  I just finished reading my first book, The Young Lawyer, by John Ellsworth. I enjoyed the start of the series and will read more. Young Thaddeus was third in his class in law school but is inexperienced in the ways and nuances of trying high profile cases. While parts of the story may be a stretch, I like the storyline and it held my interest. Espionage, spying, corrupt government people in high positions, traitors, courtroom drama, a powerful judge, all come together to make for a good read.
• 
  Marcia

  Overly simplistic characters without credibility !
  
  A new law school graduate, supposedly of high scholastic standing, is recruited to spy on a U.S. ATTORNEY in D.C. Murfee proves to be brash, egocentric, injudicious, and naive beyond belief. Thaddeus Murfee' s character behaves more like a 17-year-old teenager than a potential "legal eagle." The plot is developed only as a short story vehicle and frequently is punctuated with absurd events.
• 
  Bev

  Thaddeus Murfee needs a job...and fast. He is about to get kicked out of his home and he has student loans to pay. Freshly graduated from law school, he is approached by the government to work undercover and spy on his boss. Everything is 'hidden' but they are willing to pay him a huge salary so he accepts. Later he wishes he hadn't. Things get pretty intense, and he ends up defending his former boss from those who hired him. A really good story.