30 Days of Justis (Michael Gresham #8) by John Ellsworth

30 Days of Justis (Michael Gresham #8) Reviews

• 
  Donna Skulman

  Ridiculous story
  
  I know it's fiction but it did not have the slightest hint of being believable. I will continue to read your books, but this one was a dog
• 
  Tulay

  Excellent novel.
  
  You'll find out the relationship between attorney and person in death row. She will be put to sleep in thirty days. Michael Gresham will do everything he can to stop this happening, she was convicted by crooked judge, attorney and police even turned their backs. Every evidence he find to prove her innocents again and again rejected. Only thing left to do is hold her hand and pray for a miracle.
• 
  Judy Churchill

  Ridiculous book. None of it was remotely believable. No depth of feeling - nothing. I kept waiting for it to improve. Never happened.
• 
  Una Tiers

  This story was not believable. It had stereotypes and childish behavior for the characters.
• 
  Denise

  I downloaded this book with happy anticipation, given all the 5 star reviews. Ok, it was a page turner.....I will give it that, and only that. The book’s lack of editing was distracting, the story just a bit too farcical to be believable, and the end was totally unbelievable. The premise of the story that originally attracted me was good, but the book itself ruined it. There are many mysteries out there that hinge around death row inmates, the issue of the death penalty, AIDS, and an attorney trying to “beat the clock” to save an inmate’s life. From my viewpoint, find a different one to read.
• 
  MM Suarez

  This one was hard to finish and the only way I would have been able to enjoy it is if I had left all common sense and logic behind while I read it. The story was implausible and the characters were right out of a bad Hollywood movie, not a single one likeable or believable. The writing style was so painful I tried to listen to the Audible book, that was worse, I recommend to anyone contemplating listening to this book to try listening to the Audible sample before committing.
• 
  Cheryl Luba

  Really? Totally unbelievable. While there are corrupt lawyers/judges out there I would like to think that they are the exception to the rule and, many lawyers/judges are liberal. I just can't believe that this could have happened. And the early life? I just can't see that happening. You are probably asking yourself why I finished this book. I continued to read it to determine what ludicrous thing the author was going to have happen next.
• 
  Molly

  Oh WOW!!
  
  Blown away by this. The writing was out of this world. The plot twists sucked me in and wouldn't let go. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, IT DID. Mr. Ellsworth you have a new fan.
• 
  Don Paske

  Really ridiculous and really a bad book. I've liked most of his other books; this one, not so much.
• 
  Anita Rodgers

  Excellent read. Real page turner told in present tense that has a real sense of immediacy to it. Highly recommend.
• 
  Chris

  The good and the bad. The bad first.
  
  The Bad: The first person narrative grates occasionally. And it feels as though every other chapter is closed with some sort of exclamation about the need for justice to be served or a pep talk about how the protagonist must step up his game. We get it. This is an important case. Suck it up and do your job.
  
  The Good: 30 Days of Justis is truly compelling. It's a riveting story driven by some interesting characters (though Mr. Ellsworth could have spent a little more time on them) and huge miscarriages of justice. I wasn't aware of how emotionally invested I was until the end.
  
  I understand that this is part of a series but that it stands alone fairly well. I've just downloaded Ellsworth's first entry in the series and look forward to starting at the beginning.
• 
  Hope Gerhardstein

  Corruption in the judicial system
  
  I found this book to be implausible. Michael is portrayed as a goody - goody. He rescues a dog that was hit by a car. The dog turns out to be a purebred Springer Spaniel and no one claims the dog. Seriously!!! Can a minor really be charged with 1st degree murder for giving someone AIDS?
• 
  Barbara Iuliucci breining

  Not up to par
  
  Maybe a little less of Gresham having children he didn't know about? He doesn't seem all that interested in the ones he has! Also Danny's mother was killed several books ago and was resurrected to babysit. Not happy with this one.
• 
  sylvia abraham

  Is it possible?
  
  I have to admit, the premise of this book strikes me as odd. Would someone really end in death row for giving another person AIDS, even if it led to his death? The author is a criminal defence lawyer so maybe he knows...
• 
  Kristi Keel

  I keep reading these books because the first 3 or 4 were good. But they
  get worse every time. The last couple seem to be written by an entirely different author, who doesn't even seem to have read the previous books closely. In this book the younger kids were being taken care of by their birth mother's parents for a bit. Except their birth grandmother was killed in a previous book. Can the author not even remember his own story lines?
• 
  Emma

  There are elements of this book that are completely unbelievable that it is crazy and yet I still enjoyed it.
• 
  Tere Fredericks

  Well and Truly Done
  
  For those who have never read one of my reviews before, I review as I read, making sure I leave no spoilers. Because of this, my reviews may be weird, until you read the book, but I hope afterwards, you can say, ooooh, that's what the frog meant!
  
  My first thought, after reading the second page is WHAAA? My second is, I gotta find out what the heck happened. My third thought was to notate here my first thought. Finally, I realized I have to get back to the book to answer my first!
  
  If you've read other reviews, especially those that are on what used to be called the dust jacket but is now called, "About This Book," you will have read about people reading it with tears in their eyes. I mention this as I come up for air and backhand the tears in my eyes.
  
  Before I go back to the story, I must mention that Michael is truly a special person to have the wife he has, the best friend he has, and the children he has. The WHAAA? I mentioned earlier? Still hasn't been explained.
  
  As this is at least the second time time Michael has had to file for pro hac vice, this is really very simple. An out of state attorney who has a case in another state finds a lawyer in that state to vouch for him and agree to hold his hand. This is for state court. If it is in federal court, it is merely a formality until the out of state lawyer is admitted to the federal court where the case is pending. All that requires is a statement from the state bar where the out of state lawyer is from is that the lawyer seeking admittance to that federal bar is in good standing with them and payment of a fee. I used to handle this for lawyers I worked with all the time. What I don't know is how a AUSA would do this. The pro hac vice usually does not have another attorney offer up front to get the paperwork done as in this case. I am not really sure if the local attorney is aware of who Michael is, or what his title is. But so far, I like the local attorney. I mention this only because if I had not been a paralegal for the best part of 30 years, I would not have a clue as to what this means.
  
  Changed my mind. Not sure anymore if I like the trial attorney. After sitting as a juror in a case that I personally had declared a "hung" jury (which is what brought me to the work I ended up doing) I learned to reserve judgment. We'll see.
  
  It is a long, long while after I have finished the book. Almost half a box of tissue as well.
  
  It appears all the five star reviews given to this book are completely deserved. If Mr. Ellsworth had stopped to explain some of the legal terminology (as I did, inserting myself into the review) it would have definitely disturbed the flow of the book.
  
  Throughout this series, I wondered how he would top the previous book, and he always, always did. There is absolutely no going forward after this book. Michael Gresham's story is told. The last line could not be improved upon.
  
  Do NOT cheat yourself and read the end until you get there. I know there are readers who do it. You deserve to understand the depth of love in this story. But do have a lot of whatever you use to wipe tears and nose when you read this book. Not every story has a happy ending. Nor does every series.
  
  THIS is the Michael Gresham story that will be the lode star of every other book in the genre I will read.
  
  Ten stars. Now, I have to go wash my face.
• 
  Vickie Sarmina

  Imagine being successful and working in a job you love as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Washington, D.C. Attorney’s Office. You are happily married with three beautiful daughters and an adopted savant daughter. All is well. Except when you receive a letter crying out for help from a woman, who claims to be your daughter, and is now on death row. And on the July 4th weekend no less. What would you do? Michael Gresham doesn’t think twice, he flies to the Spokane Detention center to see his daughter, and to find out why she is on death row. It seems that she has been accused of killing a Judge. After meeting his daughter, Cache Evans, he finds out that her mother, Millicent Evans, kept her daughter from knowing anything about her father. Of course, this set Cache on the downward spiral that consumed her life and set her on the course of drugs and prostitution. Michael takes on the case and continues to delve into why his daughter was accused of killing a Judge by passing on the HIV virus to him. There are so many inconsistencies throughout the trial transcripts that definitely point out to a cover up of the Judge and his “dark side.” He only has 30 days to try to save his daughter. Every appeal has been exhausted, so what will he do. He and his investigator, Marcel, continue to uncover facts that were not expressed in Cache’s trial, and should have been. One of them being that she was placed into the Judges’ household by CPS, and that she was raped by him. There is too much cover up and conspiracy going on, and Michael must save his daughter’s life. It seems like quite a mountain to climb. Will he be able to get another hearing, due to the faulty lack of representation? Will he be able to uncover the promise of a judgeship, if his daughter is let to take the blame for something she didn’t do? Will he be able to have a relationship with his daughter even though the time is speeding by towards her execution? What an awesome and intriguing plot! The twists and turns of the book keep the reader riveted to their seat. The character development was superb, and the reader could definitely relate to the emotional roller coaster each person was experiencing in the book. If you like legal conspiracies, corruption, intrigue and mystery, this book will definitely take you there. I loved this book very much and can’t wait for the next one. I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
• 
  Meg Barber

  Quick fire
  
  If you like your stories fast paced, this is for you. From page one it rushes breathlessly on and doesn’t stop to the end. It is very much a book of the US, where as the author comments, the populace do not trust the government at all, yet trust them to murder citizens with the death penalty. There is also a kind of apologia at the end where he says he isn’t taking a position on the death penalty. I assume he isn’t because he is afraid of losing his US readership, or at least part of it. As far as I am aware, the US is the only developed country that does murder its citizens. Which makes the apologia interesting. It is as if no one dare speak out against the practice, which is not evidence of freedom of speech and respect for differing views.
  
  The daughter on death row is for me too much of a fairytale. I don’t believe any child living through those experiences would emerge with any kind of sanity or social behaviour. She would more likely be totally screwed up, and act appallingly, having been taught from such a young age she can trust in no one and nothing. Hug her long lost dad? I doubt it. She would be more likely to kick him in the teeth, even though her situation was not his fault. That is why I have only given four and not five stars.
  
  Apart from that, it is a rattling good read, but does present the US legal system in a horrendous light. Can a middle-aged man really blame an already abused 13 year old for sexual congress? She is a child! It is rape, pure and simple. The fact that any court would not see that immediately is deeply shocking. The case should never have been heard except to prosecute the man, who had a duty of care as her foster father. As a non-US citizen I found that deeply shocking. If that could really happen, I am amazed. But as children can marry in the US in some states at 12 or even under, I suppose it fits in with the general lack of legal respect and protection for children in that country.
  
  An interesting novel, and I did enjoy the story and the pace with which it was told.
  
  
• 
  Cora

  Okay, so here's the quick synopsis. Michael had a quick fling with Millie and then they both moved on with their lives and careers. Millie had Michael's baby but never told him. The baby (Cache) finds her dad online when she is 11 or 12. She's mad at mom for not telling her about her dad and she runs away. She is put into a foster home and is raped by three older boys. A judge and his wife take her in and become her foster parents. The judge starts molesting Cache. He develops aides and eventually dies. Cache is charged with murder (because when her foster dad molested her as a minor and ended up with aides, it could have only been her that he contracted it from). They decide to try her as an adult (okay to molest a minor, but if you die from it, okay to try her as an adult). She gets the death penalty (for being a minor molested by her foster father and allegedly giving him aides.) Cache contacts dad (Michael, the lawyer) and asks for his help. Oh yeah, she's due for execution in 30 days. She's already stood trial, found guilty and sentenced to death.
  
  I kept thinking I must have misread something somewhere along the lines because this is the most ludicrous premise I have ever heard of. But it was action packed, so I wanted to finish it. The writing is amazing. I just found the whole line of events utterly unbelievable. Then when I finished it and read about the author, I was absolutely floored to find out he is an actual lawyer! So does this mean if you get raped, you really can get charged with murder for passing on a transmittable disease? And does this mean it's okay to molest your foster daughter as long as you're a judge? I'm totally confused. Glad to be done with this book.
  
  
• 
  Judith Baxter

  I have been a John Ellsworth fan for several years and always look forward to a new book from one of my favourite authors. This latest Michael Gresham, legal thriller is a page turner from page one to the totally unexpected finish.
  
  Gresham who is working in the US Attorney’s office in Washington DC receives a letter from a 28-year-old woman about to be executed for murder— she claims to be his daughter.  Gresham believes her when she mentions the name of her mother, a woman from his past.
  
  But the young woman is to be executed in just 30 days and she needs Gresham’s help.  We follow him, and her, though all the legal phases and stages open to him to get her case reopened and the charges and the verdict reversed.  During the 30 days available to him, he re-examines testimony, chases witnesses who were never called on to testify, uncovers a censurable plot by a lawyer and a judge, and fights/comes up against a system that sets out to stop him every step of the way.
  
  This is a well-told story, mingled with much court procedure as we expect from Ellsworth who practised law for 40 plus years. All the characters are well crafted and well developed, and believable.
  
  So, if you enjoy a thriller, with many twists and turns I recommend this book to you.  I am sure you won't be disappointed.
  
  
  
  Note – I was given a copy of this book to read by the author.  I chose to make this recommendation.
• 
  Judith Wong

  Taut, heartwrenching legal thriller about a innocent young woman on death row .
  
  When Atty. Michael Gresham discovers he has a daughter who is on death row, he puts aside her life to meet and save this girl. In order to do this he needs to travel across the country from Washington, D.C. to Washington state. As he researches the particulars of case he is shocked and furious to discover the travesty of justice that Cache Evans has received. Michael is distraught over the fact that he has only thirty days until Cache will be executed. Will be able to do this considering the overwhelming cover up the judge, AUSA and defense lawyer are all a party to? He and his investigator, Marcel, pound the pavement in order to dig up the truth and the evidence to support it. All avenues for reversal of the verdict have been exhausted. Michael and Cache's mother, Millicent, must face the fact that Cache will be executed. However, an unexpected turn of events occurs with a very different ending to her story!