PositiveThe Boston GlobeIt’s a quick read, competently done, and it does not fundamentally change our thinking about Hernandez as a gifted athlete who fell in with bad people, and then — when he got money and fame — came to think of himself as untouchable by the law … In the end, the authors say that the Hernandez case is still a mystery — why did a wealthy, successful athlete throw it all away by killing his friend?
Tom Rosenstiel
PositiveThe Boston GlobeHis murder mystery, set against the backdrop of the vetting, nomination, and delicate political sales job for a new Supreme Court justice, is launching just as America is about to endure the real thing ... osenstiel nails the tense atmosphere of DC during a 'scotus’ battle — the desperation of warring partisans with so much at stake amid competing pressures exerted by factions within their parties. Most of all, he captures the cynical sense that the parts of the ritual the public gets to see are just shadows in Plato’s cave, with the real confirmation taking place behind ornate oak doors. Yet Shining City is not an ideological book. The reader sees the players through shifting points-of-view, so we see them as they see themselves, in their best light ... Rosenstiel writes well, sometimes even beautifully, and his sketches of scenes and characters are thoughtful and vivid. But at times it feels as if he gives too much.
