On the day before his twenty-first wedding anniversary, David Sullinger buried an ax in his wife's skull. Now, eight jurors must retire to the deliberation room and decide whether David committed premeditated murder-or whether he was a battered spouse who killed his wife in self-defense.

Told from the perspective of over a dozen participants in a murder trial, We, the Jury examines how public perception can mask the ghastliest nightmares. As the jurors stagger toward a verdict, they must sift through contradictory testimony from the Sullingers' children, who disagree on which parent was Satan; sort out conflicting allegations of severe physical abuse, adultery, and incest; and overcome personal animosities and biases that threaten a fair and just verdict. Ultimately, the central figures in We, the Jury must navigate the blurred boundaries between bias and objectivity, fiction and truth.

My take: I am a paralegal (and library assistant on Saturdays) and work in law all day long... so when I get home it's the last thing I want to read about. I love my job, but I do like to escape it a while too. However, this book looked fascinating to me as it is written using so many POVs during a murder trial. It was very eye opening, not only to the way juries might act, but by the way humans interact. Crazy. I wish it had been longer and I found I wanted to dive deeper into each juror's life and deeper into the murder. It left me with a very uneasy feeling too. I didn't see the ending coming, although it was probably pretty obvious. Very good, easy read!

Using it for Genre: Suspense. 

I tend to stay away from legal suspense/thrillers because I work in the legal field and I like to get away from work... but this one seems really good. It's told from so many different POV during a very intense murder trial. I am using this one for suspense... I barely started it and am already biting my nails. 

A friend kindly gave me her collection of audio CDs and so I promptly trundled my car down to the auto repair shop to get my CD player fixed. The first CD I chose had such low volume that I couldn't hear it in the car, but I'm glad to say my second choice was more successful. Most of the books were abridged, but this one was a complete novel, well narrated by Joe Mantegna, and although not earth shattering, it kept me entertained through several hours of driving.

The two main characters are Nick Pellisante, the detective responsible for bringing in mafia boss, Dominic Covello, and Andie, a member of the jury chosen to try him. Nick is an FBI agent who has been on Covello's heels for a large part of his career. Andie is a single mother and part-time actress, who really doesn't want to be on the jury at all.

Their paths cross at various times during the case, but their joint desire to see Covello brought to justice results in a satisfying denouement.

Initially this looked like being a court case-based fiction, but I'm glad to say that it broadened out into something a bit more interesting. My main problem with it was the structure of "build-up, emergency, solution", which seemed to be on repeat throughout the book. It got a bit irritating and predictable after a while.

I'd only read one Patterson book before, 1st To Die, but this felt similarly formulaic and I won't be rushing back to read another.