Sanctioned

By: Peter Hardin-Levine

Narrated by: Edison McDaniels

Ben Billings is young and carefree. He recently finished at the bottom of his law school class, and is happily getting by doing what little work he can. To Ben’s amazement, the city’s top lawyer sends the mysterious Liza Allen to him for help on a legal matter.

Ben is thrilled, but his world quickly spins out of control. Liza’s story is far from what it seemed, and Ben suddenly finds himself doing battle with the country’s leading litigators. Ben’s misery grows as he is increasingly befuddled by the beguiling woman down the hall.

Sanctioned is a headline-ripped legal thriller about a young lawyer who finds himself thrust into a fierce battle at the heart of the #MeToo movement. You will not be able to stop listening!

©2018 Peter Hardin-Levine (P)2019 Peter Hardin-Levine

Great legal writing

I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t wan to stop listening. A lot of books that have legal issues are not very realistic. I found this book to be realistic and also touch on the important subject of rape and how difficult it may be to prove.

Good but not Great

Hard to believe the main character was actually a lawyer so much basic law he did not . Inresting mix of characters. Readers vice takes time to get use to.

Narration

The narrative was difficult to understand at times. The character voices were poorly depicted. The book was very entertaining.

Legal thriller that just didn’t thrill me.

If you are old enough to be familiar with film noir, then perhaps this audiobook is for you. From the outset, the book was vaguely reminiscent of the crime thrillers of previous eras despite the fact that the story was very relevant in this”Me Too” age. Although the story was timely & I found the narrator quite talented in his performance, in my opinion, the story & narrator didn’t quite mesh.

As a listener, I will admit a personal bias I just couldn’t get past in this book. Frankly, I found the following quite off putting. When a protagonist, in this case a down-on-his-luck attorney, is frequently compelled to make what I consider lascivious comments on the physical attributes of every woman he meets—I find it crass. But maybe that’s too harsh. But it seems oddly hypocritical & downright boorish to know the inner thoughts of the “hero” of this story who is supposed to be seeking justice while at the same time ogling every woman as if she was on display in a meat case. Maybe you wouldn’t feel the tension there & could focus more on the ‘little guy vs The Big Guys’ aspect of the story.

By chance, I was listening to this story while working & someone happened to overhear the protagonist Ben Billings describe several women. My guest listener got tickled as he listened because as he said, “all the women are described as being ‘sexy’ in one way or another.” Exactly, I thought! Those descriptions didn’t seem appropriate, or pertinent or even intelligent given the subject of the book. Frankly, after my friend’s comment, it was hard to finish the book.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review, however this one was clearly not my cup of tea. But please, dear reader/listener, don’t let my “little old lady” comments dissuade you if you like legal fiction with a character you will find yourself rooting for. The writer probably wasn’t targeting my demographic anyway & the narrator’s talents are worthy of a listen.

There’s a new lawyer in town!

Loved this book. Loved the character development. Loved the way the author let us into Ben’s head. The scene where he was deposing was priceless. I listened to it three times. Laughed out loud. His insecurities and corresponding metamorphosis are enchanting.

An intriguing legal drama

An amazingly told story. Up there with the best legal dramas.
Great characters and a tense storyline.
I highly recommend this audio book.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this review.

Legal Thriller Wrapped in a Romance Novel

Expanding on the review title, this tale has all the blush of an adolescent "coming of age" conceit of Ben Billings, a 26-year old lawyer taking on a wrongful termination cum sexual harassment lawsuit. Driven more by his hormones than any full embrace of the law and ethics, the novel provides an interesting exposition of how such torts are pursued. The two major problems lie in Ben's first-person narrative wherein in nearly every female appearance is accompanied by his fixation on body, attire and allure. The irony is not lost and I wonder if a shift to third person POV would serve the story better. As a few of the other reviewers have noted, the narrator's best effort to articulate the varied voiced identities of each is a bit strained, save for how he brings the vain and wily opposing counsel Shaw to life as a worthy opponent to young Ben. For such a protracted storyline, the ending scene was served up as if it were a romcom bonbon.

Farce

The narrator has an extremely monotone put you to sleep voice and I wasn't able to get past the first 30 minutes. Decided I would try audible book again. Not only was the narrator poor but so was the novel. As a professional reader he had a whistling sound on the sh sounds. When he said “sure”, he pronounced it “shore” and with all words ending in sh sounds, it becomes irritating. Example , Mike was sure to be angry and reader said Mike was SHORE to be angry.My other peeve is the word get. The narrator said GIT, ie, git the book making him sound not like a professional reader but someone from deep east Texas. The main male character Bennie presents someone who is extremely inept, low esteem, pathetically naive and had no talent as an attorney and this novel was supposed to be a courtroom drama. He seemed to have sex with all his female friends, out of pity, it had to be. He would become irritated because he new absolutely nothing about law and would spice the novel with his "Damn" and it wasn't one syllable, it was 4 but that had to be attributed to the narrator. I would vasalate between anger, crying, it was so bad or laughing because it couldn't become any worse but it did. Unless you need to cry or become angry don't audable this poorly written novel and poorly narrated

The Summer of 42’

Sorry but this reminds me of an old movie. Be it Hermie or Ben. Adolescent at best.