The follow up to the novel "Death on a High Floor," Rosenberg picks up the characters lives 5 years after the conclusion of said novel. While it is not necessary to read the previous novel, as was in my case, there were several references made to prior events that would be better understood by doing so. Nonetheless, I found the plot line very interesting and the characters sufficiently introduced.

The story opens with Jenna James, former associate at the law firm of Marbury Marfan, as a law professor at UCLA who is up for tenure. Although she had no previous experience with Admirality Law, the subject was dropped onto her and she took to it like a fish in water (pardon the pun). One of her students, Primo Giordano, scheduled an appointment to see her early one morning, stating he had something very interesting to show her. When he arrived, he was carrying a red mailing tube and indicated it contained a treasure map inheritted from his grandfather. Before she had a chance to view it, she received a call on her cell, excused herself, and stepped into the empty office across the hall. Upon finishing the call, she returned to her office only to find the door locked and. Since her keys were still inside the office, she called security to open ther door for her. When the door was opened, Primo was slumped over in his chair and in obvious distress. Riding with Primo to the hospital, Jenna forgot all about the treasure map until she returned to find the tube missing. The next thing Jenna knew, she was a person of interest in Primo's death, was being sued by Primo's brother Quinto for stealing the treasure map, and her tenure status was in serious jeopardy.

Finding herself in need of allies, Jenna turns to her old friends from years gone by: Robert Tarza, her mentor at Marbury Marfan, now retired and living in Paris; and Oscar Quensana, a rather odd but capable trial lawyer in solo practice. Jenna has seen neither of these two gentlemen in the five years since she left the firm, apparently wounding some egos in the process. Leaving the past in the past, Robert and Oscar agree to help Jenna out of the mess she found herself in.

While I thought this book would be a legal thriller, I found it to be more about University politics and the struggle to obtain tenure. There was relatively little legal content involved in the main plot line, except for the mistakes the highly educated lawyers, mainly Jenna, seem to make. I guess there is a big difference between teaching the law and practicing the law.

There were also several other minor plot lines, such as: Jenna's foundering relationship with her colleague; her budding relationship with a doctor; her realization that someone may be trying to kill her; the strained relationship between Jenna and roomate/cousin Tommy; the apparent helpfulness of one of her students (later found to be Primo's ex-girlfriend); and the animosity of another law professor who happens to be a member of Jenna's ad hoc tenure committee. I will say that most of these conflicts were settled although it came all at once in the epilogue. I guess it mimicks real life: not all conflicts are resolved.

Overall, I thought this was a decent book. I did not really care for the way the ending came crashing down - almost like driving over a cliff. It did, however, keep my interest and the pges turning.
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Simple and easy to read ( )

I read a lot and I read fast. These days I have a long commute home via CalTrain and BART - a wonderful thing because it gives me a big chunk of reading time, a terrible thing because it exacerbates my perpetual problem of reading faster than I review. Practically what this means is that sometimes when it comes time to review something, I can't remember much about the book. It turns out, though, that this is a great barometer for whether or not the book was any good. I remember the good ones and the not as great, but entertaining ones. If I've forgotten everything about the book it's a sign that it wasn't in either of those categories, although I did finish it - I shove the ones I can't read into the Abandoned pile and get on with my life.

Long Knives is a book I had to read into a little bit to remember. Once it clicked I knew why it didn't make an impression - I just didn't like it all that much. I didn't necessarily hate it, but honestly the time spent reading it feels like time I'll never get back. The plot synopsis sounds promising - who doesn't like a good sunken treasure mystery, but the whole thing is bogged down by missed opportunities and a main character that I wanted to smack around more than I wanted to learn what was happening. I don't have to like every character (or even any character) in a book, but if everyone's unlikeable I need a great story to keep me caring and Long Knives doesn't deliver this. Not good, not horrible, but completely average - a C-minus at best. ( )

I really liked the mystery, but I thought it wrapped up way too quickly and left some threads hanging that I would have liked to see addressed. ( )

Jenna James’s life has been smooth sailing since she left the high-powered law firm of Marbury Marfan. She’s happily ensconced as a professor at a prestigious law school, where she’s well liked by her students, coupled-up with a handsome colleague, and on track for tenure. But things take a shocking turn one morning when a student, Primo, comes to Jenna’s office seeking her advice about a treasure map he recently inherited. When Primo turns up dead and Jenna is suddenly the prime suspect in a murder investigation, everyone turns on her. Desperate for help, she calls on two old friends: Robert Tarza, her old law partner from Marbury Marfan, and Oscar Quesana, an odd-duck solo practitioner. The three race to save Jenna’s career—and perhaps her life—in this whip-smart thriller of treasure maps, murder, and law school politics. ( )