This book is wonderful. Great, great characters, a clever and very well thought through plot (but not so intricate that you can't follow it), and a payoff at the end that matches or exceeds the reader's expectations. The protagonist, Victor Carl, is a real original. And the book's well written to boot! (Lashner's a practicing lawyer and a graduate of the Univ. of Iowa graduate writing program).

Victor Carl, the protagonist of "Hostile Witness," is one of the most enjoyable characters to appear in suspense fiction in quite some time. Far from being the embodiment of the idealized American lawyer, Carl is full of flaws and frailties that make him all the more enjoyable to follow in this fast-paced, suspense-laden thriller that has humor and heart. The book may be set in modern-day Philadelphia, but its roots lie in the California-based film noir classics of the 1940s and early 50s. "Hostile Witness" is easily the most enjoyable book I've read in a long, long time. I hope it is the just the first of many such books from newcomer William Lashner.

I adored this book!! It was a really meaty story. Just like the ones I love to sink my teeth into! I don't think I have come across a lawyer protagonist I liked quite this much since Rudy Baylor in John Grishams's "The Rainmaker". You can't help but adore Victor Carl in this story. Perhaps some of his goals lack sensitivity but you know that deep down, Victor is an honorable man and sure enough, by the end of the book even he realizes it. The suspense of the story is riveting, the characters are very real and there are enough twists and turns in the story to keep you intrigued. But the best thing about this book is it's depth and it's quality. I can't fully explain it, but it makes most lawyer type thrillers seem shallow in comparison. Sometimes I had to reread a passage and just stop to think about what was going on, but that is a sign of a great read, in my opinion. It is a delicious story and a one you just want to savor,so to speak. When you are done you sure want more of Victor Carl and I can't wait to read the next in the series. I hope Mr. Lashner is working hard on a third!!

Although this is the third in the Victor Carl series, it was the first I've read to date. Now I can't wait to start at the beginning. The author's style is great, the plot interesting, and the mystery, although pretty easy to figure out, is still a good one. Although I thought at first that Victor Carl was a carbon-copy of lawyers portrayed in other books, I quickly found out this was not so. Lashner has the gift of expression, and the courtroom drama is better than Grisham at his best. I'm a fan!

I just finished the 3rd Victor Carl installment by author, Lashner, and anxiously look forward to the next. Having read all 3 in the Carl series, I can honestly say that each has its own unique voice yet continues to develop the character of Victor Carl as someone real, flawed & immensely likeable. Suspense is always a constant from this writer who continually comes through. I recommend all 3 in the series!

William Lashner's "Fatal Flaw" is a terrific novel, a compelling page-turner that's all the more accomplished for the way it succeeds at two antithetical goals. On the baser level, the novel is a wonderful example of that Grisham-patented sub-genre known as the legal thriller. The plot, about a jaded attorney who's asked to defend a law school buddy on a murder charge, is carefully wrought and fiendishly clever, with swoops and twists that are mostly unpredictable but somehow always plausible (at least while you're caught up in the plot's momentum).

Lashner has a florid, hard-boiled, wiseguy style: In contrast to Grisham, who uses words solely to advance his plots, Lashner's love of wordplay and interesting turns of phrase makes his prose a pleasure to read.

The main characters have surprising depth and moral shading. Victor Carl, the defending attorney, has developed impressively (as a character, not necessarily as a human being) since Lashner introduce him in "Hostile Witness." From that novel and its successor, "Veritas", we came to know Victor as the polar opposite of a high-powered attorney: seedy, cynical, and resourceful - very much like Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon," but with a Jewish patina.

In "Fatal Flaw," Lashner pushes his hero over the edge of decency and professional ethics. As the novel opens, Victor arrives at the scene of the crime to find his client, Guy Forrest, sitting naked on his doorstep, while the body of Guy's fiancée -- an Appalachia-bred beauty named Hailey Prouix - is still warm upstairs. Without any hesitation, Victor begins rearranging and removing evidence.

How Lashner manages to make this ethically challenged hack likeable - indeed, even heroic - is one of the novel's giddy accomplishments. Equally skillful is the way he uses flashback, clues, and reminiscences to turn Hailey into one of the most intriguing femme fatales in recent memory. (Ashley Judd, call your agent!)

On a higher level, "Fatal Flaw" functions as a kind of meta-mystery, an insinuating parody of the detective novel-slash-legal thriller. Lashner seems to have thrown in every convention, stereotype and affectation he could think of, drawing on influences ranging from Chandler and Cain to Grisham and Turow. The plot twists, while not predictable in themselves, occur at predictable intervals; the racy language is deliberately overheated by just a couple of degrees; and the eccentric supporting characters are rendered (and named) with almost Dickensian flair. It's hard to resist a creation like Phil Skink, the skanky investigator who seems to ooze rancid foreboding from every pore.

As you read each sentence, you can almost hear Lashner chuckling with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Yet while this sort of mocking detachment can kill a good thriller, Lashner's approach only enhances it. In "Fatal Flaw," Lashner assembles all the usual suspects of the genre and emerges with something unusually startling and pleasurable.

I read Veritas 1st, then read his first novel, Hostile Witness. I would advise reading Hostile Witness before Veritas since the novels devleop Victor Carl's personality. Both books are excellent reading!
Wm. Lashner is a great writer. He creates an exciting story and also caused me to think about how I would react in the same situation.
I am looking forward to his future books!

This was my first Lasher book and it won't be the last. It kept me guessing through the entire story. I did have a hard time getting all the characters straight but once I did I could not put the book down.

I "read" this novel as an unabridged audiobook and without having read "Hostile Witness", but I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. Lashner did a great job of making Victor Carl a believable character, who is alternately annoying and appealing. I'm now returning for more of Lashner's writing in Hostile Witness...