Personal and professional lives mingle in this diverting, realistic portrayal of the legal system.
A California lawyer fights to prove that a sporting goods chain is liable for a teen’s suicide in Manolakas’ novel.
In signing her latest clients, senior associate Sophia Christopoulos butts heads with two named partners—but, as this startup law firm gives all of its lawyers voting rights, she wins the OK to take on Wallace and Beth Holt’s lawsuit. Their son, while on summer break from Yale, bought a shotgun, went home, and fatally shot himself. They’re suing Sports Gear USA, whose clerks sold the boy the gun despite believing the 19-year-old looked “off.” Sophia is banking on a settlement, but the case doesn’t go quite as she hopes thanks to a never-ending “game of firm politics” with firm co-founder Derek White and the Holts’ own growing doubts, which worsen after locals ostracize them. As a potential trial looms, Sophia and her team, including a couple of first-year associates, pore over the evidence to show that Sports Gear should be held liable for the young man’s tragic death. Manolakas deftly highlights all the intricacies surrounding the deceptively simple lawsuit—the everyday lives of the characters cause ripples, from Sophia questioning her relationship with homicide detective Steve Rutger to another member of the firm grieving a brother lost to senseless violence, and the media and public opinion are detrimental as often as they are beneficial. Sophia is an exceptional lawyer who’s laser-focused on details and unruffled in most situations (immediately chastising herself if something manages to provoke her), but her tenacity sometimes comes across as intriguingly ice cold; she seemingly feigns empathy in the Holts’ presence (“Sophia played into the nurse’s caring nature and endured the two females’ fountains of tears”), more concerned about them potentially dropping the case than any trauma they’ve suffered. For procedural fans, Manolakas offers an authentic look at the legal system—all of the hurdles that must be cleared prior to stepping inside a courtroom that only multiply once the trial finally begins.
Personal and professional lives mingle in this diverting, realistic portrayal of the legal system.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2016
ISBN: 9781628050103
Page Count: 660
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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