Review: "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man."  "OMG!  They put two guys in the same grave!"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2014
A successful trial lawyer will argue a case with great passion and then (in his next trial) argue just as passionately for the opposite side of the issue.  Is he dishonest?  It would be more accurate to say that the American justice system is not about truth but about winning at all costs. This legal specialty attracts the hyper-competitive.Daniel Broderick was the product of a family which placed high value on achievement and status. He recognized this in  himself and (after finishing medical school) trained for the legal career which would give him the opportunity to use his hard-driving personality to full benefit.  His success as a lawyer shows that he made the correct move. His decision to celebrate that success by trading in his middle-aged wife for a newer model proved to be a fatal miscalculation.What he failed to take into account is that his wife Betty came from a very similar family and that she was (in her own way) as single-minded and competitive as he.  Betty Broderick trained all her life to be the wife of a successful man and nothing was going to derail that plan.  When the ruthlessness that made Dan Broderick a rock star in his field was turned against her (and I think there's no doubt that it was) she responded in kind. Dan and his new wife died and Betty went to prison.Where your sympathies lie will probably depend on your gender, age, and experiences, but one thing is certain.  This book is a page-turner!