Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2022
Mr. Holzer’s writing is polished and compelling. I love a novel with a strong pace, intelligent characters, complex and surprising plot twists. His lead character is someone to admire and that you’d like to know. And Mr. Holzer’s broad grasp of the law let him take the reader on a fascinating journey. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2022
Henry Mark Holzer is one of my favorite novelists. This is all the more amazing given that he had never written a novel until he was in his mid-80s, when he finished novelist Erika Holzer's (his late wife, who passed away a few years ago) third novel "The Paladin Curse."
However, it came as little surprise to me, having read many of Hank Holzer's non-fiction books: He writes with a storyteller's flair, and the exposition lays out his case with an easy-to-understand narrative that eschews showing-off through overuse of dense scholarly and technical jargon. Rather, Holzer has always been a writer who gets right to the heart of the matter. In an era characterized by writers who write inscrutable piffle for selective audiences of self-annointed cognoscenti, it has been refreshing reading Holzer's libertarian/conservative classics. You can tell a writer is honest when he assumes his readers' innate intelligence and fairness. These qualities of character can be found in Erika and Hank Holzer's courtroom warrior Jon Willard, in the third outing of this page-turning series. Of the three, it's clear-and-away my favorite. The pacing of the storyline is always taught, never slack.
The novel's setting is Santa Fe, as Willard returns home for a sabbatical after fighting to regain his legal reputation. His planned sojourn to the rural mountains of Northern New Mexico takes a detour, slowly becoming a journey into fear, as local artist and rancher Rachel Castellano is terrorized by a mysterious goon out to steal her land, which has been in her family for centuries.
Almost against his will, Willard feels compelled to take her case. The genius of Holzer's plotting is that Castellano's legal fate hinges on the legal question of Spanish land grants. These grants have been long-forgotten for many, never heard of by most, yet still stirring emotions of pride, patriotism, and family honor in those who had never forgotten how so many ethnic Spanish, Mexican-Americans, and American Indians were swindled out of their grants from the time the new territory of New Mexico was carved out of the United States' victory in the Mexican-American War.
I was completely captivated by Holzer's passion for the Land Grant controversy, and the way he weaves its historical lessons into the ensuing courtroom drama. His theme is never heavy-handed as he spins his yarn: The historical lessons always take a backseat to this novel as a fast-paced entertainment. Holzer sheds new light on the dark side of real-life 1960s activist Reies Lopez Tijerina, and his subplot of Conversos - New Mexican Jews who kept their religious identity secret - comes full circle by the book's end, affecting the lives of two of the novel's main characters.
In a period of my life marked by little free time for reading, I devoured this book over two evenings. Hank Holzer combines American history and Constitutional legal philosophy with a story that propels itself headlong into a collision between corruption and justice. Not wanting to spoil the ending, you'll have to read this one for yourself to find out which emerges victorious.
However, it came as little surprise to me, having read many of Hank Holzer's non-fiction books: He writes with a storyteller's flair, and the exposition lays out his case with an easy-to-understand narrative that eschews showing-off through overuse of dense scholarly and technical jargon. Rather, Holzer has always been a writer who gets right to the heart of the matter. In an era characterized by writers who write inscrutable piffle for selective audiences of self-annointed cognoscenti, it has been refreshing reading Holzer's libertarian/conservative classics. You can tell a writer is honest when he assumes his readers' innate intelligence and fairness. These qualities of character can be found in Erika and Hank Holzer's courtroom warrior Jon Willard, in the third outing of this page-turning series. Of the three, it's clear-and-away my favorite. The pacing of the storyline is always taught, never slack.
The novel's setting is Santa Fe, as Willard returns home for a sabbatical after fighting to regain his legal reputation. His planned sojourn to the rural mountains of Northern New Mexico takes a detour, slowly becoming a journey into fear, as local artist and rancher Rachel Castellano is terrorized by a mysterious goon out to steal her land, which has been in her family for centuries.
Almost against his will, Willard feels compelled to take her case. The genius of Holzer's plotting is that Castellano's legal fate hinges on the legal question of Spanish land grants. These grants have been long-forgotten for many, never heard of by most, yet still stirring emotions of pride, patriotism, and family honor in those who had never forgotten how so many ethnic Spanish, Mexican-Americans, and American Indians were swindled out of their grants from the time the new territory of New Mexico was carved out of the United States' victory in the Mexican-American War.
I was completely captivated by Holzer's passion for the Land Grant controversy, and the way he weaves its historical lessons into the ensuing courtroom drama. His theme is never heavy-handed as he spins his yarn: The historical lessons always take a backseat to this novel as a fast-paced entertainment. Holzer sheds new light on the dark side of real-life 1960s activist Reies Lopez Tijerina, and his subplot of Conversos - New Mexican Jews who kept their religious identity secret - comes full circle by the book's end, affecting the lives of two of the novel's main characters.
In a period of my life marked by little free time for reading, I devoured this book over two evenings. Hank Holzer combines American history and Constitutional legal philosophy with a story that propels itself headlong into a collision between corruption and justice. Not wanting to spoil the ending, you'll have to read this one for yourself to find out which emerges victorious.
