Not Grisham or John Hart - yet oddly absorbing

I use Kindle Unlimited - which is a great way to periodically supplement my Audible addiction when I run out of credits. So, I was able to listen to this through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. This fact made the book enjoyable for me. The narrator is not a favorite, he would fall more under the category of a narrator "work horse." Serviceable, but not my favorite kind of voice.

The story is also just fine. The characters are typical villains or flawed good people - a bit cliché but for some reason (I think due to the Kindle Unlimited deal) I kept listening. I also listened to the sequel which also was a bit cliché.

I gave it four stars because I just was taken up for some reason. Nancy Drew for grown ups. I finished it and if his next book comes through Kindle Unlimited, I will listen to that as well. They are like adult potato chip books. I do not think I would use an Audible credit, however. Take that for what it is worth.

40 people found this helpful

Great story, too many expletives

Would you try another book from Robert Bailey and/or Eric G. Dove?

No, because I like to listen to books with my kids in the car as they watch movies and they cannot hear the amount of expletives as they heard accidentally this time around.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I liked the plot, but it took too long in my opinion to start picking up steam.

Which character – as performed by Eric G. Dove – was your favorite?

I liked all the characters equally.

Did The Professor inspire you to do anything?

No

7 people found this helpful

Awful? No, but close.... close.

Forget an editor, did anyone even proof this thing before it went to the printer? For example, a mother thrown free from a wreck is afterword told by doctors that her child hadn't survived. A chapter or so later we're told that the mother... whose moving scene we listened to... also failed to survive the wreck? HUH? That's not a plot problem that's a BLACK HOLE!

Of course if it weren't for those holes there'd be NO surprises in this thing,,, so they do give a listener some sense of the unexpected. Eric Dove does a fine job though in bringing life to this comic book ensemble.

I listened to the end. Why? Now that is the only puzzle about "The Professor".

79 people found this helpful

Good Story But Not Great

I liked and enjoyed this story... it was good but not great but was a good set-up for book 2 (between black and white) which was also good. If you like legal thrillers (steeped in Southern culture), you'll probably like this read which, for me, was a good break from my usual read . I purchased this one from the daily deal offer. the publisher's summary gives a good description of storyline. for the price, the story has good suspense and mystery.

Eric Dove 's performance is good.

14 people found this helpful

Fantastic Legal Suspense @$7.34 Bargain

At 68 years of age Tom McMurtrie has had it all. He has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a law professor in a renowned university. He has written the acclaimed book on Rules of Evidence. Most student’s regard him highly. However, McMurtrie’s career has abruptly ended. University politics and just plain unadulterated envy has convincingly and unfairly pushed Tom out. There’s no paranoia here, the “powers that be” really wanted him out and they have skillfully engineered it to happen. Like it or not, it’s goodbye!

An old flame comes along with a legal proposition. A horrendous intersection accident has occurred, killing her daughter, son-in-law and 2-year old granddaughter, as well as the trucker in the other vehicle. Was it really their fault? She is searching for the truth of what happened and begs McMurtrie to take the case. To our surprise, Tom gives the case to Rick Drake, a hot-headed former student with whom Tom has had an adversary relationship. Will justice prevail against false accusations, arson, murder, bribes and elusive evidence which cannot be proven?

I could not put this book down until the bitter end … which as one would hope, ended not so bitter. Listening to Robert Bailey’s “The Professor” was a super fast listen and a great escape. Don't miss it!

Eric G. Dove was very good with the delivery of the story

44 people found this helpful

Well, I finished it...

There are some reasons to like this book. If you are a college football fan you will certainly appreciate the characters. The plot is good as well.

That said, I was constantly frustrated over the actions and reactions key characters had in most situations. It seemed contrived at best. Still it was good enough to finish.

36 people found this helpful

A Page Turner

This is the debut novel of Robert Bailey. For a first book I am impressed and if he writes more books I will buy them.

I found it exciting to have a different type of protagonist in this story. Not the usual handsome young, know it all, action hero but in this story we have a sixty-eight year old male law professor, Thomas Jackson McMurtrie. He was a former college football star who went on to become a professor and scholar. His wife has died recently; he has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The new young head of the law school is forcing the entire older faculty into retirement and now it has happening to him.

Professor McMurtrie joins with one of his former law students, Rick Drake, in a wrongful death case against a trucking company. Drake is headstrong, passionate and in over his head. McMurtrie is experienced, even tempered, and of exceptional integrity and most of all he wrote the textbook on evidence law in Alabama. The story takes place in Alabama. McMurtrie gives his former student teaching assistant, Dawn, a job as law clerk for Drake.
The book is superbly written, the protagonists are engaging and the pace is fast. There is lots of action in and out of the courtroom. The plot is tightly woven and unfolds with well paced scenes. The bad guys are really bad which helps make for a dramatic story. Bailey is an attorney and that comes through in the writing.

Eric G. Dove does a great job narrating the story. Dove is a multiple Audiofile Earphone Award winning narrator. He is also an author (Ghosts of Royston) a singer and songwriter.

33 people found this helpful

'The older the violin the sweeter the music'*

Holy cow, what a legal thriller! It is Robert Bailey's first novel, but the second one will be released in about six weeks. I listen to lots of legal thrillers, and this is the best courtroom drama I've listened to in a long time. The characters are well developed and vivid. The suspense is palpable. Eric G. Dove's narration is wonderful. Audiobooks do not get better than The Professor. Other than 68 year old Professor McMurtrie my favorite character is his ex-law student, and current litigator, Bocephus Haynes.

The Professor has my unqualified recommendation to all who love fiction.

*The title of this review is a song recorded By Hank Thompson in 1974. It is a reference used in the novel to refer to the 68 year old protagonist Professor Tom McMurtrie.

33 people found this helpful

An OK story, fun for Bama folks but...

The story was ok, probably better if the reader had known how to pronounce certain words - like interrogatories! It is a "legal thriller".

20 people found this helpful

Improbable but somewhat entertaining

This folksie tale of Southern duplicity in the law genre is a bit corny for my taste. It has some likable characters and some iconic villains in a 'Dixie' sense, but fails in the critical area of 'gravitas'.
Much like a TV drama, where the bar is south (no pun intended) of that of 'room temperature IQ'-land, with a little intelligence added ( it may have been there but was expunged by the soporific editors) this premise may have legs. But not within the community which values literature and the skilled use of our language, even of the 'popular' variety.
Bailey can write. Too bad it is wasted on this common denominator tripe.

17 people found this helpful