Stray Bullets

By Robert Rotenberg

Stray Bullets is Robert Rotenberg's third intricate mystery set on the streets and in the courtrooms of Toronto.

In The Guilty Plea and Old City Hall, critically acclaimed author Robert Rotenberg created gripping page-turners that captured audiences in Canada and around the world. Rotenberg's bestsellers do for Toronto what Ian Rankin has done for Edinburgh and Michael Connelly for Los Angeles.
     In Stray Bullets, Rotenberg takes the reader to a snowy November evening. Outside a busy downtown doughnut shop, gunshots ring out and a young boy is critically hurt. Soon Detective Ari Greene is on scene. How many shots were fired? How many guns? How many witnesses?
     With grieving parents and a city hungry for justice, the pressure is on to convict the man accused of this horrible crime. Against this tidal wave of indignation, defense counsel Nancy Parish finds herself defending her oldest and most difficult client.
     But does anyone know the whole story?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribner
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781451642384

Robert Rotenberg

Robert Rotenberg is the author of several bestselling novels, including Old City Hall, The Guilty Plea, Stray Bullets, Stranglehold, Heart of the City, and Downfall. He is a criminal lawyer in Toronto with his firm Rotenberg Shidlowski Jesin. He is also a television screenwriter and a writing teacher. Visit him at RobertRotenberg.com or follow him on Twitter @RobertRotenberg.

Reviews for Stray Bullets

[lamour_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A father and his very young son head to Tim Horton's for a donut. Shots ring out and the little boy lies dying. Who fired the shots and who is the mystery witness who has vanished into the underground of Toronto. Here is another complicated murder case for Avi Greens and Officer Kennicott to solve while Defense councilor Nancy Parish takes on the case of the man accused of firing the fatal shot.If you are familiar with Toronto, you may find reading about action taking place in locales you know interesting. It may make the story a bit more real. Especially interesting to me is the bits one learns about the Canadian legal system centred around murder trials.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finished and as usual this author did not let me down. They call him the Canadian Grisham, but I think he is much better than several of Grisham's novels have been. His storylines are always great, and his characters and court cases equally good. This is the third in the series and I hope their are many more.

[d_bookworm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Disclosure: I received a copy of this from the Goodreads First Reads program.Synopsis:A child is shot in a Toronto Tim Horton's car park during the first snow fall of the year. Most witness accounts and CCTV each reveal only parts of the events, and the one who may have seen it all is on the run. Rotenberg's novel takes the reader on a journey that uncovers how the police, the Crown and defense attorneys map out and piece together events, broker deals and cope with the media to solve the murder of a four year old boy experiencing snow for the first time.In short but very detailed chapters, the author is able to provide key player POVs while keeping the story moving at a quick pace without exposing too much too soon or decrease the level of suspense. Like the senior detective, I was confused by the chronology of part of the events and must admit that the twist was unexpected. It is minor is aspect, but significant in how the evidence is interpreted. I quite like having books that have short chapters. They are perfect for those days those hectic days with the occasional brief pauses. When done right, as it is in Stray Bullets, means that unnecessary information is excluded and it keeps the reader focused on the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and relish reading the author's two prior works that I believe include many of the characters found in this one.

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stray Bullets is Toronto lawyer Robert Rotenberg's third novel and it releases today. I have to say - Rotenberg keeps getting better and better. This is my favourite so far. Cedric Wilkinson and his four year old son Kyle stop by a Toronto Tim Hortons for a quick donut one November evening. It's the first time Kyle has seen snow. And sadly it's his last - Kyle is struck by a bullet meant for someone else. Only one witness knows exactly what went down and he runs - he's in the country illegally. Recurring characters Homicide Detective Ari Greene, Officer Daniel Kennicott and lawyer Nancy Parish return. It doesn't take long for those involved to be arrested, but who really did the killing? While head Crown Attorney and local philanthropist Ralph Armitage makes a quick deal to close the case, Greene isn't convinced it's the right play. He continues to investigate, despite Armitage's assurances that they've got the killer cold. Parish doesn't think so either - for once, she believes her long time client Larkin St. Clair when he says he's innocent. The wild card? The missing witness.... Rotenberg uses his own knowledge of the Canadian legal system to great advantage. The details, settings, dialogue and situations all ring true. The plotting was excellent, nicely leading the actual whodunit to a grand finale in the final chapters. Sadly the premise of this case is not too far from recent newspaper headlines. It's so enjoyable to read a book set in Canada, even more so when I'm familiar with Toronto and the locations Rotenberg describes. (One small peeve - Uncle Tom's Cabin is in Dresden, not Chatham) I quite enjoy the characters and the window into their personal lives outside of the cases. Greene is a likable protagonist and I'm quite taken with Nancy Parish . I liked the addition of Sikh Constable Darvesh and hope he makes it to future books. The stage has been set for book number four and this reader will have it on my must read list. (And I want to know what's in Green's father's envelope!) Those looking for an excellent legal thriller series will find it here.