David Ellis Books

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David Ellis is an American attorney and author who wrote the award-winning Line of Vision.

When David first gained critical acclaim in publishing, he was a full-time attorney who counted the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives as a client. He was also a full-time family man with a wife and three children.

And yet that did not keep him from becoming a full-time writer with a popular series of novels.

Line of Vision, his first novel, was rejected by over seventy agents. This often comes as a shock to people who have read the award-winning novel. But Line of Vision wasn’t that big of a hit with publishing professionals when David Ellis first submitted it.

And the author believes that the struggles he encountered in his efforts to get the manuscript published went on to serve him throughout his career. Ellis had to spend countless hours writing his story.

He knew quite well that it might never amount to anything. And yet he sacrificed thousands of hours producing the first draft and then refining it every single time it was rejected by an agent.

Ellis counted each rejection as a hurdle that he had to overcome as he tweaked and furnished Line of Vision into the story that would eventually win accolades.

The fact that David Ellis chose to write legal fiction did not come as much of a surprise to those who knew him. Ellis had encountered so many bizarre occurrences during his career and it made sense that he would seek to chronicle them through a fictional lens.

Chief amongst these occurrences was the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich. Before he was tasked with prosecuting the case, Ellis never would have believed that a corruption scandal like the one Blagojevich perpetrated could happen in the United States.

After the case was concluded, and after the author’s publisher encouraged him to use his experiences with the case to write Breach of Trust, Ellis realized that there was an appetite for stories that were inspired by his legal career.

The author has encountered opposition from people who think that some of the events in his books could never happen in real life. Such individuals are always shocked to learn that those bizarre occurrences did happen in Ellis’ life.

The attorney’s success can be imputed to his determination to write with the common reader in mind. The author said in one interview that people were drawn to legal fiction because they were largely ignorant of the legal field in the real world.

So they had no patience for complex jargon and inscrutable legal concepts. For this reason, Ellis always endeavored to write his stories in a manner that would enable even the layman to comprehend the legal goings-on of his fictional plots.

David Ellis Awards

The author won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Line of Vision. The Hidden Man received a Barry award nomination and an L.A. Times Book Prize nomination.

Best David Ellis Books

Ellis has admitted to taking some dramatic license in the legal stories he writes to make the reader’s experience more enjoyable, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:

The Hidden Man: Audrey Cutler was two-years-old when she disappeared. None of the eyewitnesses could definitely prove that Griffin Perlini had abducted her. Perlini’s record was peppered with offenses against minors.

So there was a good reason to presume that he was guilty. However, the evidence wasn’t enough to convict him.

Now, three decades later, Perlini has been murdered. Sammy, Audrey Cutler’s brother, is the prime suspect.

When Sammy asks Jason Kolarich for help, the intelligent young man has no reason to refuse. After all, Sammy was his childhood friend. But then Sammy decides to only engage Jason through an enigmatic fellow known as Mr. Smith and that raises Jason’s suspicions.

Line of Vision: Marty Kalish is in trouble. His lover’s husband is dead and it looks like he did the dastardly deed. Not only does he have a motive but he was at the crime scene. The fact that he confessed only makes his case worse. But things are not quite what they seem. There is more going on than meets the eye.

Line of Vision is one of David Ellis’ most popular books. The story it tells stands out because the most important aspect of the murder mystery at hand is seemingly revealed in the beginning.

When Does The Next David Ellis book come out?

David Ellis doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Best Lies and was released on July, 23rd 2024.

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