| − + | Ind. 62: 43. Ja. 3, ’07. 180w. | |
| + | Putnam’s. 2: 119. Ap. ’07. 30w. | |
| R. of Rs. 35: 256. F. ’07. 40w. |
Whitlock, Brand. [Turn of the balance.] †$1.50. Bobbs.
7–10046.
An arraignment of the law as it is administered in our commonwealth to-day. Pitted against the big machine of the law is human justice which attempts to overthrow the merciless momentum of legal incompetence, and fails. The force of the story lies along the line of a plea for human sympathy and improved conditions.
“The book is as strong and purposeful as ‘The jungle,’ and as literature it is a more finished creation. It is a distinctly great novel, presenting a vivid and effective picture of the miserables of our social order.”
| + + | Arena. 86: 664. Je. ’07. 2870w. |
“From beginning to end there is not one scene that is forced or unnatural or out of place or out of proportion or improbable or inadequate; there is not one sentence or phrase that is overdone or written for effect; of all the characters there is not one that fails to be convincing.” Charles Edward Russell.
| + + | Arena. 38: 209. Ag. ’07. 1450w. |
“It is a particularly sordid story of criminal life, unredeemed by any special skill in the telling, and lacking the breadth of treatment which alone can make such a subject impressive.”