3 out of 4 stars
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Not many people have the unfortunate luck of being involved in two murder cases. Out of that lot, a minuscule fraction has been involved as both the defendant and the attorney. David Stillman has the misfortune of falling into the latter group. When David was fifteen years old, he was put on trial for the murder of Isotoner, a man whom David and his friends terrorized. We first encounter David reminiscing and drinking his sorrows away at a bar. Here, he encounters Michaela, a beautiful woman who is having legal trouble of her own. David enters a confessional-like dialogue with her, revealing all the sordid details of his childhood and the events that took place before and after Isotoner was murdered. Christopher Leibig’s The Isotoner Ordeal takes the reader on a journey through David’s life and ultimately aims to answer the question everyone is wondering about; who killed Isotoner?
Leibig did an amazing job of crafting a story that had me engrossed from the start. I was curious to find out how David was involved in two separate murder cases as both the defendant and the defense attorney. I could vividly feel the guilt he still experienced despite the trial taking place so long ago. Additionally, I enjoyed the flashback style of narration Leibig used to tell David’s story. The flashbacks were presented well and allowed me to experience the events leading up to and after Isotoner’s murder firsthand. This method also allowed for the reader to see how David and his friends were progressively getting out of hand. What started off as petty crimes done in the night became full-blown operations. For instance, Barney, the leader of David’s friend group, led them on a raid on Country Curve Road, which they kindly referred to as “Midgetville” due to the little people that were rumored to live there. Their behavior made it just a matter of time before they ended up in serious legal trouble.
There was very little that I disliked about The Isotoner Ordeal. The main thing that bothered me was the lack of introduction for some of the characters. Sometimes, Leibig would mention a character by name in passing without describing them. This led to me flipping back and trying to figure out if I had overlooked this character. One instance is the following phrase: “…and although Sydney and I were…” Before this, Sydney was never mentioned, so I had no idea what her relation was to David. After reading a little further, I was able to find out that Sydney was his sister. Lapses like this caused me some confusion, but, fortunately, they were resolved relatively quickly.
Unfortunately, the novel contained errors. While they weren’t significant enough to detract from my enjoyment, they demonstrated that it would benefit from another round of editing. Most of them consisted of comma misplacement. For example, there were many instances of commas not being included before “and” when connecting two independent clauses.
I rate The Isotoner Ordeal 3 out of 4 stars. I felt like I connected with David and was invested in figuring out who killed Isotoner. However, the book did contain errors. Once these are corrected, it definitely deserves a perfect rating. The Isotoner Ordeal is best suited for readers who are interested in the legal system and enjoy character-driven novels. Sensitive audiences may be off put by the mentions of underage alcohol and drug use. There are also instances of violence against minorities, but this behavior is not glorified.
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The Isotoner Ordeal
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