BRING THE BODY

A lawyer and former Army Ranger fights to free a man from his 40-year prison sentence in this debut thriller.

Texas criminal defense lawyer Reed Scott sticks to DWI cases. He’s reluctant to take on post-conviction work, especially after a client was murdered in prison. But Olivia Beaumon, daughter of a billionaire oilman, piques his legal interest. She wants him to help Jacob Sutton, the family’s ranch hand, who’s serving time for raping Olivia. Indeed, the prosecutor’s case last year was weak. Cops coerced a false confession, and it doesn’t seem feasible that Jacob, an amputee, knocked out the woman from behind with one of his crutches. Reed quickly believes Jacob, a fellow veteran, is innocent, but proving that may require uncovering new evidence. Unfortunately, someone doesn’t want Reed prying, as a police officer harasses him and an anonymous caller threatens him. The deeper the attorney digs, the more secrets he unearths. He hopes one of those discoveries stirs up the answer to what really happened at the ranch—and why. Law’s nimble story features a staunch, likable hero facing numerous hurdles. His fiancee’s lawyer dad, for example, works for Win Beaumon, who’s not happy his daughter is Reed’s newest client. At times, the novel plays like a film noir, with a stiletto-heeled femme fatale displaying “a killer body in a killer dress” walking through Reed’s office door early on. The tale also shows the capable, military-trained attorney in repeated scuffles. Nevertheless, legal morsels fuel the plot even further, and a spirited courtroom scene is a fitting display of Reed’s panache and Law’s entertaining, rapid-fire dialogue. The exhilarating final act zigzags through some convincing twists. It’s not a matter of who’s deceiving Reed, but just how many people have been doing so. It won’t be easy for readers to guess where the defense lawyer ends up in either his profession or his personal life.

This taut, suspenseful tale teems with mysteries and legal actions.