Greater Love by Robert Whitlow

Tami Taylor's life has only become more complicated as she gets closer and closer to becoming a full-time lawyer. With her heart torn between two different men, passing the bar exam looks like a cinch. After passing it, she joins a firm of other female lawyers along with her ever-present friend Julie. There she takes on her first real case-representing a tight-lipped teenage girl the police found robbing someone's house for food. The girl has a secret, one she is not willing to disclose to Tami or anyone else. While she misses her family from Savannah and takes care of the elderly Mrs. Fairmont, she looks to Sister Dabney for hope from God. But when her client disappears while out on bond, the reputation is on the line. With so many things going wrong, it takes greater love to change things for the better.

As I expected, the last book in the Tides of Truth series is the worst. In order to please the public who gave him bad reviews for not including any interesting legal cases in the first two books of this series, Robert Whitlow wrote a typical court case to appease them. While the characters stay the same as before, the plot keeps this book from being five stars.

Tami and Julie remain to be the good characters they were in the first two books, as do Tami's parents and twin sisters. Mrs. Fairmont and Mrs. Bartlett remain the same. Vince is virtually nonexistent throughout the plot, and Zach has become a perfect character. Robert Whitlow has demonstrated throughout this series that he can craft good characters, much in contrast with his earlier books.

The family structure and life of the Taylors has been the focal point of the series, causing it to stand out from other legal series. This situation still existed in Greater Love. Had Robert removed this, the book would have been worse than it ended up. There were many things I expected Robert to do with this final installment of the series, most of which he fulfilled, much to my dismay. The thing I expected the most was for Tami to marry Zach so that this romantic subplot could not completely avoid kissing. This happened, of course. It would have been more interesting if Tami had married Vince or nobody since everything was already leaning toward Zach.

Another problem with the plot is the court case. In this book, Robert spent less time with Tami's family than he did in the first two books. This caused the first two books to thrive, and since Robert returned to a full-fledged court case, things got ugly. The biggest problem with the case, besides its being completely typical and predictable, is that Robert contradicted himself. In Deeper Water, he explored the issue of characters making too much out of a simple situation. In Greater Love, Tami speculates once again about something improbable, only this time, she was right.

At least there was a key character death at the end of the book to make things interesting. Yet there are too many other factors that keep this book from being five stars.

4 stars

The Trial by Robert Whitlow

You'd think Whitlow would be able to come up with a more creative title.
The Trial was everything I expected it to be. A plain, simple, court case about a downtrodden innocent defendant accused of murdering a young heiress. The lawyer who is representing him has nothing left to live for except this one case, but a perfect hero lawyer helps him fight against insurmountable odds to prove the defendant innocent. Even in the end, I was never convinced that he was innocent.
The characters are bad and the plot has been done before. The one good thing about it was the author's ability to hide the true enemy until the last few pages. Also, the purpose behind the enemy is interesting.
There are several obvious things about it, however, including the unnecessary romantic subplot. Basically, The Trial is about as average as a legal fiction books can get. But I know Robert can do better than this.
2.5 stars

The Sacrifice by Robert Whitlow

Robert Whitlow is on a writing road to nowhere. With releases that have uncreative titles like The List and The Trial, The Sacrifice is the proverbial icing on the proverbial store-bought cake. Long gone are the days of inspirational cliches. The sooner he realizes that, the better.
The plot of The Sacrifice is about white teenage racist accused of a local church shooting. Hero character Scott Ellis is called to the scene to rescue the boy who was apparently caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.
When I read the description of this book, I said to myself "he'd better not let this guy get off innocent". But he did. And what started out to be an original romantic subplot quickly plummeted into mediocrity.
I'm also fed up with his now worn out cliche "He felt wind on his face. He looked and saw that there was no window opened. He smiled." It's time for something different all around.
1.5 stars

The List by Robert Whitlow

If you can think of everything bad about a novel that you can think of and put it all into one book, you would have The List.
It's supposed to be about a young lawyer fresh out of law school who inherits a seat in a secret society called the Covenant List. It's supposed to be suspense, but it's really a bad version of a Karen Kingsbury book. There's barely anything about the List; it's mostly about the extremely, predictable, obvious romantic plot.
The characters are HORRIBLE. It's more non fiction than anything because it consists of philosophical conversations about the Bible. To call this book suspense, or any kind of fiction, good or bad, would be a HUGE overstatement. This is an overrated book. I've read reviews that rave about this book and about how suspenseful it is.
Without the Biblical discussions, this book would be one of the worst in the history of writing.
1 star

Life Everlasting by Robert Whitlow

Life Everlasting was a better sequel than I expected it to be. However, I still don't really think Life Support should have been continued.
Anyway, the plot of Life Everlasting is directly continued from the first book. It even contains the closing sentence of Life Support. From there, it's slightly interesting as all the characters from the previous book find out he's waking up. On top of that, two different detectives are investigating Rena's "mishaps". There are some major plot holes contained in those investigations. After several interesting chapters, including scenes further developing Gwen Jones' personality, the interest of the reader dwindles in the middle. It's mostly filled with scenes of Alex and Ted talking and of Ted playing the piano. Whitlow even came up with alternate love interests for the both of them just to fill time, it seems.
Then, suddenly, Whitlow realizes that he's wasted a lot of time and rushes up the end, causing the plot to have several obvious holes in it. The end of Rena's situations is satisfying, but the very end of the book could have been better, as could Baxter's situation.
I wasn't actually disappointed about this book; I'm just not a big fan of sequels. Needless to say, Life Everlasting did not make the Elite list.
3 stars

Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow

For once, I am wrong about a sequel to a book. Higher Hope is actually as equally original as Deeper Water is.
Higher Hope is directly continued from it, and begins with Tami taking Zach back to her home and introducing him to her parents. This comprises almost half the book.
When she gets back to the office, a strange case is waiting for her: a woman preacher who has a strange gift of prophecy has been accused of mistreating an upstanding businessman. Sister Dabney, as she is called, as an uncanny ability to know exactly what issues people are going through. This causes Tami to search for answers as she tries to build up a credible case against that very same woman.
Like I said, the end was as original as Deeper Water's. However, it's definitely continued, so I don't know where Whitlow will go with it. But taking the book as a whole, it definitely deserves to be on the Elite list, if only for its continually deepening characters.
The best thing about the Tides of Truth series is that Whitlow has finally departed from the worn out legal "suspense" genre and has created a genre of his own.
4 stars

Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow

On the surface, Deeper Water looks shallow, but after reading the end, the book has deeper originality than I thought.
It tells the simple tale of one law student, Tammy Lynn or Tami, working at a law office on a summer internship. She hails from a Georgia farm, and is number two of five kids. Her family are strict Christians, homeschoolers, and have an eternal dress code. When she takes on a case in which the criminal is neither good nor bad, her viewpoint of law practice changes. She then gets herself tangled into a cold case that is somehow tied with her case.
To tell anymore would give away the original end. The end was not one I expected, but it's one that I enjoy.
The whole setting of Tami's family is what really makes this book unique. It's nice to see that Whitlow is stepping out of the box and trying something fresh.
The only problem I can find with it is that this is the first in a series that is sure to plummet as Whitlow continues to write. The end is fine how it is and should not be continued.
4.5 stars

Life Support by Robert Whitlow

I really don't understand why an author had never crafted a plot so interesting as Life Support. I really don't understand why Robert Whitlow has never gotten this original. Life Support is a relief after his first three mediocre books.
When a Baxter Richardson falls over a cliff while hiking with his wife Rena, he is put in Intensive Care on life support. Rena does not want him to stay alive because he knows her secrets. However, the Baxter's father wants him to stay alive for his own purposes. Both have power of attorney, so it's up to the courts to decide the verdict. Alexia, a lawyer with a struggling personal life, takes Rena's side in the case because Rena hides her secrets from her.
The characters are good, but they still have room for improvement. Though the book is long, it is not long-winded. The plot flows well. The main problems I have with it are the seemingly unnecessary romantic subplot (though it is original, surprisingly) and Whitlow's need for a sequel. Why does it need a sequel? The end itself is very original and not expected by the reader. I know there is a sequel to this book, and I'm afraid it will ruin it all for us.
But in itself, Life Support is an Elite novel.
4 stars

Jimmy by Robert Whitlow

I'd heard a lot about Jimmy before I read it. I heard it was the modern version of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird. I'd read reviews of it, but I never really understood what the plot was about. Now I know. To say that it's a plot puts it into too compact of a box. It's not a plot; it's real life. The characters are just that believable.
Jimmy Mitchell is a special boy. He's slow to learn things, but once he learns things, they never leave his head. His father is a defense lawyer, which gives Whitlow the freedom to show Jimmy's viewpoint of some of his cases, since he testifies in them often.
Jimmy loves his stepmother with all his heart, so when his world is threatened by his birth mother wanting to have him for her own, he clings even harder to his family and to the Watchers he sees that no one else can see. The best thing about the custody battle portion of the book is that the other side are not portrayed as ax murderers or monsters in the closet.
Another portion of the book follows Jimmy's adventures with his paternal grandfather, to whom he is very close to.
The third major portion of the book shows Jimmy working as a water boy for the local high school football team, on which his best friend plays.
I can't think of any characters that are not believable people.
But adding all the previous facts together, and combining them with the completely original, non-public end, we have a five star book in our hands. All in all, this is Whitlow's best book to date.
5 stars
P.S. Do not read the alternate end unless you want an unoriginal disappointment.

Mountain Top by Robert Whitlow

I don't really understand Whitlow's purpose behind Mountain Top besides it being inspired by his wife.
It's about a lawyer-turned-pastor who is called back into the legal field because his new defendant had a dream about him representing him. The defendant has a lot of odd dreams, mostly about the corrupt town leadership. This fact is what got him into trouble in the first place. He has a odd way of decoding the dreams, so nobody knows whether they really mean something or not.
The defense lawyer has also just found out that his wife is pregnant. It seemed like Whitlow added this just to fill time and create more dramatic scenes.
The characters aren't very wowing, though there has been worse. The plot meanders along and barely has any kind of trial in it. It doesn't hold the reader's attention very well. It's like a bad Karen Kingsbury book.
Basically, the book is pretty lame, mostly because of the cheesy end. You probably shouldn't waste any time on this book. Read Higher Hope instead.
2 stars