American Crime – nigeladamsbookworm

City On Fire. Don Winslow

Set in the mid to late 1980’s in and around Providence, Rhode Island this is an epic mafia story.

Mainly looked at from Danny Ryans prospective the story looks at the relationships within families and factions of gangs.

The Murphy family are Irish, they run the docks and they are old school.

Danny has married into the family, marrying the daughter of the top man John, but he’s never had a proper seat at the table. He’s never really been part of the decision making process. He’s has responsibilities within the “firm” but they are minor in comparison to Johns sons.

There has been a peace amongst the main family’s who run Providence for years.

The Italians and the Irish had been at war for years until the two heads of the families had decided to divide the area equally and live in peace, and it was working until one of Johns sons, Liam, let his dick get in the way of his brain.

A summer cook out, on the beach, members of all the leading families having a party.

Then a hot, beautiful woman appears on the sand. Danny instantly thinks shes going to cause problems, and he’s right.

Pam, the hot woman, is with Paul Moretti, one of the sons of the main man in the Italian mafia in the area.

Liam touches her inappropriately and gets a beating from the Italians, and those are the sparks that lead to a bloody battle which will last for years.

The book looks at the battle from all sides, the tit-for-tat attacks that escalate with beatings moving on to murders and full on executions.

It looks at the ways former friends are pitted against each other, but although some of them want to bring peace back to the streets, there are others who are hell bent on full on war.

The Italians have other mafia families from across New York to bring into the fray, The Irish have the ”Boys” back home to bring over.

The conflict gets bloody, really bloody.

The corrupt cops try to keep the peace but are so far in the pocket of the gangs they only add to the problem.

The politics of the gangs is fascinating. The leader, the elders, having old school attitudes which almost makes them look like gentlemen compared to their younger siblings.

Danny is one of those trying to keep the peace at first. But as the casualties mount, and as Liam spirals deeper into drugs and alcohol abuse he finds himself close to the leadership of the Irish.

Does he continue trying to find a way to peace, or has it gone too far now. Does he need to use the full force of the Irish gangs to finish off the Italians.

This is the first book in a trilogy. It isn’t often I will read a book and go straight to the next, but I am this time.

There is no cliffhanger ending, but I am desperate to see what happens next.

Trigger warnings for this book include violence, it’s not gratuitous, and it is very much in context, in fact the book would not be as good without it, but it’s there.

There’s also a bit of spice but again it’s in context and adds to the story.

So not only is Don Winslow a new author to me, but having read one book he has me hooked into at least another two.

Pages: 356. Publisher: Harper Collins

Her Cold Justice. Robert Dugoni

Dugoni is at leat the equal of Grisham in the world of courtroom and legal thrillers.
For me this is the best American Courtroom Thriller series on the bookshelves at the moment.

As I’ve said in a previous review about a book in this series, every legal thriller coming out of America is always going to be compared to John Grisham, and just like the previous two books in this series, this book more than holds its own in the company of Grisham books.

Defence Attorney Keera Duggan has stepped out from her father’s shadow and is building a fierce reputation as a Defence Attorney.

But shes not cheap. So when a relative of her chief investigator is arrested for murder there’s no way he can afford her services.

Keera, her father, and her sisters run their own law firm and decide to register as a pro bono firm to take on his case, and in doing so take on the most formidable public prosecutor in Seattle.

Anh Tran, whose nickname is Batwoman because shes trying to clean up the city, is a power house both in, and out, of the courtroom.

As a child she hid under a bed and watched as her parents were executed in a robbery in their small shop. Since then she has sworn to bring justice and has dedicated her life to convicting murderers.

Michael is accused of murdering his work colleague and his colleagues girlfriend. The colleague was shot in his garage and his girlfriend was battered to death in her bed.

The only thing that brings Michael into the frame is the fact that the work colleague gave him a lift home shortly before the murder.

Tran is quickly on the scene and starts to issue search warrants instantly targeting Michael, on very little evidence.

But more incriminating evidence is found during the search of his home. Although all of the evidence is circumstantial, and there is no solid evidence to suggest his involvement, Tan arrests Michael and fast tracks him trough court.

Keera quickly becomes suspicious of how Michael was arrested but the problem is she is very friendly with one of the lead detectives. Could Detective Frank Rossi and his partner really be part of a bad arrest.

Meanwhile Rossi and his partner are feeling railroaded and although they think they have the right man for the murders, they don’t like how the investigation, arrest, and trial were conducted.

As with the other two books in this series the crime takes part early on in the book with a good 2/3s of the book being about the pre-trial work and the actual trial itself.

Robert Dugoni is really good at building up the tension.

The court room scenes are brilliantly written. The examination and cross examination of the witnesses is so well written it’s like actually being in court.

Keera is a top class chess player, and she uses all of her tactical skills in the court room, but in this case she’s up against a woman who is willing to push the boundaries right up to the breaking point.

That, plus the fact that there is no love lost between the Judge and Keera’s father, who was also a formidable defence attorney, make for a very tense trial.

If you haven’t read the previous books in the series, Her Deadly Game and Beyond Reasonable Doubt, I would recommend that you do. Not because this book can’t be read as a standalone, it can, but because they are brilliant stories and will only enhance your enjoyment of this one.

Bring on book 4, I can’t wait.

Pages: 369. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer. Available now. Audiobook Length: 10 hours 28 minutes. Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld.

Deadly Waters. Dot Hutchison

Is it murder if as young woman picks up man to takes him back to her place. But on the way pulls into a rest stop, to let him pee, before tricking him into a nearby waterway and watching him get attacked by an alligator. Something she knew would happen, something she was banking on happening.

That is the way this book starts, and it’s absolutely gripping.

Set in a University in Florida the book looks at how some young men in Frat Houses take advantage of women as if it’s their right.

Not only do they seem to get away with it but they don’t even bother trying to hide their activities, in fact just the opposite they boast about it.

So when some of these men become the victim of alligator attacks is it a coincidence, or is it just bad luck.

Some Police Officers think it’s just bad luck, but some think that there is somebody getting revenge for the countless women abused by these men.

Rebecca is a criminology and journalist student and shares a University suite with a group of other girls.

Rebecca is the sensible one, the one who doesn’t drink, the one who thinks study is more important than partying.

Ellie is the polar opposite. A party girl who thinks studying just gets in the way of her nightlife life style.

Ellie has other problems, she likes to fight, she especially likes to fight the type of men who take advantage of the girls on campus. To exasperate the problem she’s also very vocal about her feelings, in particular she’s loud and proud about the fact that the men that are killed deserve what they got, and shes glad they got it.

Rebecca, and the other suite mates, try to keep Ellie out of trouble with the boys on campus and the Police investigating the deaths, but they are not always successful and Ellie manages to put herself clearly in the frame as the number one suspect.

This book is a brilliant look at crimes and victimology.

The girls who are abused are done so in the worst way, not only do they suffer the physical abuse but they then have to face the mental and emotional abuse as the men brag about their conquests and activities.

The usual defence of “they were asking for it” because of the way they were dressed, or because of the state they got into is at the heart of the story, and unfortunately it rings all to realistic.

But when the abusers become the victims, then things change.

Girls who should be seen as victims suddenly become the target of police inquires.

But as the male victims start to stack up, and as the police investigation is getting nowhere, the killer becomes a mythical street vigilante that the girls on the campus are cheering on, and even celebrating.

Things are changing. The Police need to find the killer but the students are making it difficult.

Rebecca and the other suite mates suspect Ellie is the killer, but shes their friend, and whoever is doing the killing is helping to keep the female students safe, so why should they report her.

In fact they find it hard to talk about it amongst themselves, they all have suspicions, but they all feel guilty sharing them.

Moralistically what would most people do in these circumstances. With no hard proof, just suspicions, would anybody accuse their friend of being a killer, who just also happens to be gaining local hero status, and in the process ridding the world of some scum.

Pages: 303. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

The 12th Cleansing. N. Joseph Glass

I may have left on of the best reads of 2025 to one of the last reads of 2025.

N. Joseph Glass is a new name to me but one I will be watching out for.

The story is that of the investigation into the murder of Sandra Rawlings, an innocent 17 year old, church going girl.

A girl who it appears has been murdered by a serial killer who had previously killed eleven young girls, of a similar age, but having not been caught has laid dormant for four years. Is Sandra really the 12th victim of a man who killed girls who had either just lost their virginity, or are just about to.

The story is cleverly told via six main characters, all of which have equal billing. Each chapter has one of these characters at its centre but is not written in the first person.

Walker Michaels is the veteran senior detective who was the lead on the first series of murders. A middle age man with virtues and an ethos that are typical of his age and experience.

Brandon Jones, the junior detective on his first murder case. His youth and enthusiasm, along with his misplaced confidence and machismo getting him into trouble with his more experienced partner.

The other main characters are the immediate family of the dead girl.

Allen Rawlings, a hard working man who is a pastor in the local church. An oxymoron of a man he rules his own house with a sullen harsh hand. At the same time he is having an affair with a foxy single mother in his congregation.

His wife Sonya, the down trodden and at heal wife who outwardly defends her husband attitudes and actions, whilst secretly harbouring more liberal thoughts.

Their son, Connor, a typical moody teenage boy who spends most of his time on his computer shielded from the outside world by his headphones. His sisters death brings him closer to his mom and he starts to rebel against his dad.

There are peripheral characters that add to the investigation. The mysterious M, who it quickly become obvious is a killer.

Pete, one of the other Pastors and Charlotte, the single mother Allen Rawlings is having an affair with.

The plot is nicely written with a fast pace.

I like to think I’ve usually got an idea of who the killer is relatively early in a book, not this one.

And the reveal when it came, although surprising, wasn’t one of those unlikely or unrealistic reveals. It was perfectly in context, just really well hidden.

Pages: 404. Publishers: Monocle Books. Available on Kindle unlimited.

Relentless Pursuit. Our Battle with Jeffrey Epstein

Bradley J. Edwards with Brittany Henderson

My last review was Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. I started that book because I was intrigued by the actions of the then Prince Andrew, who immediately after that book was published lost his Royal titles.

That book sent me down a rabbit hole of research. I had heard of Jeffrey Epstein, and was vaguely aware of the crimes he was ultimately arrested for. But I had no idea of the Epstein empire, the type of person he was, and the high level relationships he incubated, and the reach those relationships had.

As fascinating as Nobody’s Girl was it was a single persons account and I was desperate to find other accounts of Epstein’s activities.

Relentless Pursuit stood out. Written by two of the people that were involved in trying to prosecute Epstein and get him in prison.

Edwards, and the book, are mentioned by Giuffre in her book, and she was full of praise for his tenacity in prosecuting a man many people thought was untouchable. So what better place to start my extended reading.

In June 2008 Edwards was a young lawyer opening his first law firm. He had never heard of Jeffery Epstien. A young 20 year old woman, Courtney Wilde was referred to him by a friend. She stated she had been sexually abused by Epstien from the age of 14.

And so it began.

What follows is years of tenacity on Edwards’ side, and years of lies and deception on Epsteins.

As Edwards’ investigations gather momentum more witnesses start to come forward, one of which is Jane Doe 102, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Although a star witness, and a person who does as much to bring down the Epstien empire as anybody, a person who Edwards finds himself admiring for her bravery in standing up, it’s very telling that his first emotion was excitement at getting one of “Epstiens inner circle” to testify against him.

That line in the book, the one of Epstiens Inner Circle, exhibits the depth of her involvement.

Epstien’s only defence is attack

In fact he attacked every lawyer, and every victim those lawyers represented with either lawsuits or intimidation tactics, and often both.

The sphere of Epstein’s influence is clearly displayed when he made a Plea Deal in 2008, which saw him serve a minor sentence, during which time he spent nearly every day in a charity foundation office next to the jail. A foundation he set up so that he could spend his days in relative comfort.

This deal saw him convicted of relatively minor crime but the deal he struck was a none prosecution deal for all of the major charges he could have been charged with, including sex trafficking and rapping underage girls.

The frustration Edwards and his team felt at this is palpable in the book. The only avenue they now had was civil suites.

But Epstein was in full attack mode. Edwards had been employed for a short time by a law firm whose director was found to be running one of the world’s biggest ponzie schemes, that’s a whole other story worth looking into.

Epstein accused Edwards of not only being involved in the scheme but also being the main orchestrator. A fact he knew from the start to be false.

This tied Edwards and his team up, distracting them for years.

All the time Edwards and Epstein had occasional off the record meetings in, of all places, a Starbucks coffee shop, no other lawyers or representatives being present. Edwards likens his dealings with Epstein as a complicated game of chess. During these meetings he relates how Epstein is cheerfully friendly, as if he is talking to a friend, but every meeting held an alluded to, or indirect threat that Edwards was going to be ruined professionally and financially, because he hadn’t got the resources or money that Epstein had available to him.

Neither did Edwards have judges, politicians, senators, and many other highly placed people in his pocket.

When the direct fight against Epstein seems impossible the team go after his close associates. In particular Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwells is as close to a girlfriend as you can associate with Epstein, but is also his chief recruiter. A woman that finds underage girls and cons them into sexual activities with Epstein, often taking part in the sessions and abusing the girls herself.

This is when the castle walls around Epstein start to crumble.

The accusations made against Maxwells opens the possibility of new charges against Epstein.

Still the civil cases continue, as does Epstien attacks in the victims and their lawyers.

Until the final day of reconning, the day of Epstien ultimate arrest and his eventual death in prison. Another story that needs reading into.

Throughout the book there are allusions to Epstien real status. Was her working for governments, American, Israel, or both, or more.

He was certainly protected at very high level in America and had such people as Bill Clinton amongst his closest associates.

Evidence is presented in the book suggesting the Epstein facilitated large a money transfers between America and Israel. A former Israeli Prime Minister is mentioned in this book as being one of his associates, and in Nobody’s girl Giuffre recounts being viciously assaulted by a foreign politician, it’s not hard to make the connections.

Why did Epstein get away with what he was getting away with for so long. This book establishes, with information that is now freely available, that he was above the law for a long time.

It also establishes connections between him and high ranking officials in America.

Was he working for governments, was he establishing dark routes for money transfers. It’s still all very vague and still really intriguing.

Will this be the last book I read on this subject. Certainly not.

What started for me as a passing interest in what “Randy Andy” had been up to has developed into a fascination about a very dark period in recent history.

This book, and the story it contains, reads like a Grisham thriller mixed in with a Clancy espionage book. But as fanciful as those two authors stories are, this is pure fact.

The link below is to my review of Nobody’s Girl. Whichever you read first the other compliments it.

https://nigeladamsbookworm.com/2025/10/31/nobodys-girl-virginia-roberts-giuffre/

Pages: 399. U.K. Publisher: Simon and Schuster.

Cop Hater. Ed McBain

I’ve recently been in a bit of a reading slump.

Modern crime fiction seems to be following an all too familiar formula with many of the stories being very samey.

I recently resorted to rereading one of James Elroy’s books, classic crime fiction set in the 1960s, and having enjoyed it and looked for inspiration on Amazon.

The name Ed McBain came up and I remembered people reading his books when I was on the ships in the late 70s. I don’t know why I never picked one up then.

I’m sort of glad I didn’t because now I’ve found a rich vane of new books to make my way through.

Cop Hater is the first in a very long series, of over 50 books in the 97th Precinct series set in the fictional city of Isola, which is very obviously New York.

Written and set in the mid 1950s it’s an excellent study of not only policing in that era, but also of how people lived, their styles and attitudes. The language used, the thoughts and behaviour are very much of that era.

The city is no stranger to serious crime but when the Detectives end up investigating the murder of one of their own no stone is going to be left unturned.

The way they pull in known criminals, and the quick back stories associated with each, are mesmerising.

A second detective is killed and some forensic evidence is left. The Criminologists, Crime Scientist of the day are the early forerunners of today’s Crime Scene Investigators, but have little proven science to help them.

Blood matched only by types, no national shoe database, finger prints sent to the FBI for analysis, and DNA is decades away, as is CCTV, and personal phone data which so much of today’s policing relies on.

So who is killing detectives, and why. There are some nice observations and twists in this plot. There is the still, and ever present, hinderance of the journalist trying to get the “scoop” on the story. The reliance of information from an informer, who I hope has numerous appearances during the series, an early Huggy Bear, type character.

But the big draw is the cast of police officers, their professional and personal lives giving great depth to each character.

One of my favourite tactics that writers employ is to kill of protagonists or main characters in series. It means that the reader is always on the edge of the seat, as no one is safe. McBain sets his stall out early and kept me right on the very edge of the seat.

I won’t be reading all fifty plus books in one binge, but much like Elroy, McBain’s stories are now going to be my default books when I’m looking for a good, no holds barred, original, none woke story to read.

Pages: 226. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Included in Kindleunlimited

Hidden. Kendra Elliott

Billed as book 1 in the Bone Secrets series, and what an opener.

Looking online there are 5 books in this series, so far, and I can’t wait to get stuck into the next one.

Forensic Odontologist Lacey Campbell is young and at the beginnings of her career. A lecturer at her local Dental School, and occasional forensic consultant, she is called to a scene where a collection of bones have been discovered.

She quickly realises she knows the victim. The last time she had seen the girl she had been taken by a serial killer, and became his last victim.

The bones are found in a building belonging to a medically retired cop, Jack Harper.

Jack had once dated another victim of the killer, and when his ex cop partner is found tortured to death, links start to fall in place. That cop had been one of the officers to catch the killer.

An uneasy alliance forms as Lacey and Jack start to work on their own theories.

Both come under suspicion by the officers investigating the current killings.

But what is the link?

Can Lacey really trust Jack?

A great story. I don’t know where the series will go next, which characters will return, but there’s enough interesting subplots in this book to open many avenues.

Lacey is young, hot, and hot blooded. Her character is a really enjoyable read.

The relationship with Jack is steamy. They are both passionate about finding this killer, and that passion boils over into a will-they-won’t-they scenario.

Jack is a business owner who owns many properties. He was a cop for a short time, until an arrest went wrong and he got injured. He had returned for a short while but found it wasn’t right for him so joined his father’s business.

Then there’s Lacey’s friend Michael, a no nonsense journalist who she once dated but is now best friends with.

Set in the coastal state Oregon there is loads of potential for crimes to investigate, big cities, isolated towns, seaports, the list could be endless

So let’s see where it goes next.

Pages: 373. Publisher: Montlake Romance (Don’t know why, it’s definitely a crime thriller)

The Unravelling Vi Keeland

A dark psychological thriller with some well disguised twists that keep coming right up to the last page.

Written in the first person from Dr Meredith McCalls point of view.

At the start of the book McCall is a successful psychiatrist, with her own practice in New York. Her marriage, to a NHL Hockey player is perfect, but then he suffers an injury on the ice.

The first few chapters alternate between McCall now, as she struggles to get over her husbands death, and the incident that killed him, and the lead up to the incident as her husband turns to drink and pain killers.

A young woman and her daughter were also killed in the incident and all the evidence points towards it being her husbands fault.

In the present McCall fixates on Gabriel. The husband and father of the woman and girl that were killed by her husband.

She’s just finishing a years ban from practicing and is completing mandatory counselling herself, but although she knows what she is doing is wrong she struggles to tell her therapist the entire truth.

When she starts back, at her practice, Gabriel turns up as a patient. She should turn him away……….

The story follows the way she starts to unravel, lack of sleep, increased drinking, mood swings brought about by distracting herself with dating apps.

Some of her other patients mirror her own thoughts and actions, she can see it’s wrong in them, and can give them advice. So why can’t she help herself.

Her unraveling is going to ruin her, both professionally, and as a person, but can she put a stop to it.

This book is brilliantly written.

It’s psychologically dark.

The twists in the plot are well hidden until they hit.

There is a bit of “spice” but it’s not gratuitous, it adds to the story, and believe it or not, the suspense.

A big recommendation for this one from me.

Pages: 305. Publisher: Piatkus Audiobook length: 8 hours 45 minutes Narrator: Aidan Snow

The Collector Series. Dot Hutchison

There are four books in this series, I picked the first one up over Christmas and finished the last one on the second of January.

Yes, I was hooked.

This is a remarkable series, not just for the stories, which are superb, but for the structure and the way they are written.

The stories centre around an FBI team in the Crimes Against Children division.

Each book contains a gripping story but is told from a different team members point of view, with that character in each book being written in the first person.

In the case of the first book the first person, present tense is mainly used for one of the victims.

This, almost unique, style of writing over the series gives a great insight into the personality, emotions, and relationships in high profile investigation teams.

#1 The Butterfly Garden

Teenage girls kidnapped from the streets and held inside a secured garden. The man who takes them is only known to them as the gardener. He’s a collector, a collector of butterflies, in this case human butterflies.

Once the girl has been kidnapped the are subdued and their back is tattooed with their own unique, colourful set of butterfly wings. The girls is given a new name and released into the garden where they interact with other girls who are also being held.

The butterflies are treated well, except when the Gardener wants sex. In his mind he’s being gentle and saving them from the outside world. But they have a life span and when they reach 21 he kills them, before putting them into a glass frame in resin to display them.

But he’s not the biggest threat to the girls. His son is a monster and uses, and abuses, the girls in the worst way.

Special Agent Victor Hanoverian, and his partner Brandon Eddison, and their team investigate the latest disappearance and start to piece together a case that surprises even these veterans.

The pace of this story is frantic. Following one of the girls experience from just before she’s taken, until ……..well until the end of the book but that would be a spoiler.

#2 The Roses of May

This time Eddison is the main character with the story being written in the first person tense from his point of view.

Young women are being killed and posed with flowers on, or around the body. The type of flowers are different for each girl and seem to have a relate to her in some way.

One of the victims sisters, Priya, is receiving flowers, specifically the same type of flowers the victims were posed with, in some type of predictive countdown to another killing, but is she the target.

Eddison has a relationship with Priya, he had investigated her sisters murder and had kept in touch.

A running theme throughout the series is that the team form friendships with victims, and in some cases the bond is more like family. Often the victims become unofficial councillors, they understand the team like nobody else can, and from very different positions, share the experiences of the crimes they are involved in.

In this story the relationship, between Eddison and Priya, is the main focus of the story and it works really well.

#3 The Summer Children

Team members are introduced through the series, in this book Special Agent Mercedes Ramirez, a background character in the previous books, takes centre stage.

Blood covered children, clutching teddy bears, are being left on her doorstep.

Each time the child is told to talk to Ramirez and that she’ll look after them. They are told by a woman who’s forced the child to watch her kill their parents, telling them that they would be safe now and that she’s saving them.

Ramirez has always given the child victims of the crimes she investigates a teddy bear to help comfort them. The killer is now using this against her.

Her emotions are fraught as she tries to dig into past investigations in an attempt to find a link. The killer is described as looking like an angel, and in a really unusually spin the children are all sure it’s a woman.

#4 The Vanishing Season

One of the newest members of the team, Eliza Stirling takes the first person point of view for the final book in the series.

A young girl goes missing around Halloween time. She was walking home from school in a nice safe neighbourhood and nobody saw a thing.

The girl bears a striking resemblance to Stirling, enough for her to be moved to a desk for the investigation because her looks are to emotional for the family.

Her frustrations are shared by her partner Eddison. It’s the anniversary of his sister’s disappearance, and she was about the same age as the latest victim, and had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, and he is also sidelined because of the triggers the similarities might bring.

The detective in charge of looking for Edison’s daughter is long retired but he never stopped looking for her.

When he, and others start to link numerous disappearances over nearly 30 years, it looks like a serial kidnapper has been taking girls for generations.

The story of the investigation, in this book, is a tool to examine the relationship between Stirling and Eddison, and the extended team of FBI agents and past victims.

It’s one of the best finales to a series I’ve ever read.

Emotions run high, friendship and relationships are strained the bonds are tight but not indestructible.

This is a short but brilliant series. I had not heard of Dot Hutchison before but these books have been available for some time. Why she’s flown below my radar I have no idea. But she is firmly on it now.

Publisher Thomas & Mercer

The Silent Watcher. Victor Methos

The crimes, two horrendously bloody murder scenes several years apart, the latest in Las Vegas close to the city.

The detective, Lazarus Holloway. He was part of the first investigation and he never got over the scene, or the fact that he couldn’t catch the killer.

The survivor. Sophie Grace, 15 escaped the latest murder scene, but why was she allowed to survive.

Piper Danes, the Gaurdian, a legal representative who looks after the interest of Sophie during the investigation and any court proceedings. Young and inexperienced but with a moralistic compass that makes her a fearsome advocate and protector.

The investigation into the crimes is a gritty story, but to my surprise an arrest is made just over halfway into the story.

Enter a defence attorney that is one of the most aggravating characters I have come across in a book, but I loved her. Russo Blanchi only cares for one thing, winning. She doesn’t care who she defends, who the victims are, or weather her client is guilty or innocent, she just wants to win.

The first half of the book was really good, but the second half goes up another gear.

Victor Methos is another new author to me, and I’m not sure how widely known he is here in the U.K.

I found this book as an Amazon recommendation after I read a US Courtroom thriller, otherwise I think I’d still be in the dark about Methos’ work.

His writing style is fast paced and easy to read, but to keep me as enthralled, as this book did, it has to have a great story.

What I liked was the realism and the fact that at no time could I predict what was coming next. That meant that none of the characters were, in my mind, safe. This added a real suspense to the story.

For me, this is one of my finds of the year.

Pages: 306. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer.