“You Think You Know Me Pretty Well” is a book I bought last month after seeing an ad in an Israeli newspaper over the New Year holidays, extolling its virtues as a suspense thriller of the legal genre (the book is entitled “15 hours” here). I had never heard of David Kessler before but hoped this book would be perhaps somewhat like the legal novels by John Grisham which I enjoyed reading many years ago (at least the first ones, which were pretty good). No such luck.

Alex Sedaka is the lawyer of a death-row client, Clayton Burrow (his name reminded me of Lincoln Burrows of “Prison Break” fame, another death-row inmate), who is a few hours from execution. The Governor calls Sedaka to a last-minute meeting with the mother of the young woman Burrow allegedly killed. The deal is simple: make Burrow reveal where he buried the body and the Governor will grant clemency.

Simple, but complicated. Burrow insists he is innocent and rejects the clemency offer. This rejection gets Sedaka thinking that perhaps his client is innocent after all. So begins a race against time to find evidence that will let Burrow off the hook. Sedaka, with the little resources at his disposal (a devoted secretary and a devious assistant) starts unearthing surprising facts that never came to light during the trial. He unveils bullying in school, child abuse and unwanted pregnancies ending in abortions overseas – to put together the puzzle of the dead woman.

The plot is interesting. The chapters are kept short and timed according to the sequence of events. The pace is fast and there is rarely a dull moment (except for the inevitable legal mumbo-jumbo that every legal thriller author feels compelled to inflict upon his readers). But something does not work. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think the problem starts about halfway through the book. The story becomes too complex and too unbelievable. New characters are introduced and new, unlikely, links are found between these characters. It all becomes a little too much. Not wanting to reveal the punch line, you’re going to have to take my word for it.

This book is OK if you have a few hours to kill on a lazy afternoon, but don’t expect to find the new Grisham in Kessler. ( )