Cost of Deceit

A Jake Clearwater Legal Thriller

By: H. Mitchell Caldwell

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

L. A. Sheriff Lieutenant Max Cort is accused of killing his wife, but how do you prosecute a murder trial without a body?

This high-profile courtroom drama has local TV newscasts scrambling for legal commentary. One station invites law professor and attorney Jake Clearwater to handle the nightly updates on the hearing. Jake gained fame for defending a convicted murderer on death row, winning him a retrial, exposing the real killer, and getting his client released from prison. Early in Cort’s trial, Jake realizes it's not going the prosecution's way, and when it ends in a hung jury, the District Attorney asks Jake to head the retrial team.

When Jake and his team dig deeper into Lieutenant Cort they develop more evidence, challenge the suspect's alibi, and expose Cort’s obsessive ambition and unbridled brutality. With an expensive, high-powered attorney, the defense continues to claim the wife ran away. But as Jake systematically bears in, the question is no longer just about Cort’s guilt or innocence. The real question becomes whether any of the lawyers involved will survive to see the outcome of this trial.

Cost of Deceit is the second book in the award-winning Jake Clearwater Legal Thriller series.

nice stoty.

mispronunciation of words and names was annoying. usually the computer does well but this time it was distracting.

Reminds me of a Clint Eastwood movie

This audio book reminds me of the Clint Eastwood movie with Lee Van Clef and Eli Wallach. 1) The Good. Either the author or consultant is a real trial attorney because much of what was said about trial strategy was spot on. The story was also good in many ways, not a cookie-cutter. 2) The Bad. The author's vocabulary (aside from a few F-bombs) seemed to be pitched to eighth graders, not adults. Also some of the conversations were stilted. 3) The Ugly. I didn't notice "who" the narrator was when I bought the book. Finding out it was "Virtual Voice" at least made me happy that no human was paid to do such a miserable job of narration. Despite the story being interesting I almost had to stop listening the narration was so horrible. I will NOT buy a virtual voice book again, ever.

entertaining

characters well picked left a lot for you to ponder.couldent wait for next chapter

Enunciation classes for Virtual Voice

I enjoyed story and characters. However, Virtual Voice mispronounces too many words - especially
voir dire. Look it up!

First non-human narrator for me

I listened to this book for three reasons. First, non-human narrator, second, no reviews had been made of the book, and third, the summary sounded interesting.

First: let us not do away with our wonderful narrators. Most words were spoken correctly with decent cadence and even some emotion, but nothing like the good narrators.

Second, I cannot believe I’m the first person ever to read this book! Yet no reviews? Not even in single digits? How many times in the audible universe will I have a chance to be first again?

Finally, the book was okay. It wasn’t riveting but I stayed with it. The writing was good. I will likely read something else by the author going forward. But, I will steer away fr non-human narrators.

no more virtual voice for me

I may listen to another virtual voice recording in the future, but it will be a long time. Pay an actor!

Detailed, careful legal development of case.

Audible voice misprouncing some words and not able to differentiate between characters’ voices at times.

Good story.

Virtual Voice leaves a bit to be desired. Too flat, no emotion & several words mispronounced. That said, it wasn’t unlistenable.

I hope to never listen to a virtual voice recorded book again

The story was compelling, but the virtual voice (VV) narration was such a distraction that I almost quit listening at multiple points in the book. I will never BUY a virtual voice recorded book. I have purchased many books based on the narrator, alone, and hope VV just goes away.

Voir DIRE

I hated the virtual voice with all the mispronunciations. I prefer audiobooks over ebooks because of the narrators.