Early reviews of Taking Up Life in Both Hands

Greaney’s sardonic wit pits idealistic heroes in a struggle against thegreedy and hypocritical healthcare industry. . . . An amusing and educational antidote to our current era, where headlines often seem like satire or farce.

—Michael Wolff , former Chief Justice of the
Missouri Supreme Court and dean emeritus,

Saint Louis University School of Law

Taking Up Life in Both Hands, by Tim Greaney, is a hysterical look at the worlds of politics, health care and the law. While the book is cynical and funny, it also has an upbeat message following the adventures of Sister Ursula, the heart and soul of the Immaculate Health System, and Claire Flannagan, a young associate in the law firm of Shea, O’Brian and Roth. Together, the two women navigate the corrupt worlds of health care and elections. Be forwarded—this is not a story of the world as it should be. Instead it is a realistic story ripped from today’s headlines which will have you crying at the state of the world while holding your sides with laughter. Greaney, a legal scholar, introduces important health care concepts in a clear, concise manner that makes them easy to understand. The reader is drawn into political and legal situations in this rip-roaring story. Unfortunately it all ends too soon. I hope that Tim has another sequel in mind.

—Rick Spees, award-winning author of Capitol Gains and Capitol Losses.

In Taking Life Up In Both Hands, law professor and former federal prosecutor Tim Greaney has deftly recast his extensive knowledge of our health care system into a rollicking, politically up-to-the-minute satire involving an earnest young associate, a savvy nun, and a motley crew of sometimes questionable characters. From the Archdiocese of New Jersey to the streets of New Orleans, Greaney’s tale of legal shenanigans is a page turner full of pluck and wit.

 —Elisabeth Hyde, author of Crazy As Chocolate,
The Abortionist’s Daughter, and Go Ask Fannie

Tim Greaney has written an ambitious legal-political novel that moves comfortably inside the worlds of law, healthcare, religion, and power, with a level of institutional detail that feels earned rather than manufactured.  A book with a strong command of  professional settings—law firms, hospital systems, and public institutions, all rendered with a realism that gives the narrative unusual credibility.  Greaney’s prose is direct and intelligent, allowing the novel’s themes of ambition, conscience, and institutional conflict to emerge without strain. 

—Curt Varone, attorney and author, The Judgment Line