Fans of legal thrillers will be appeased, but the energetic, brisk story makes a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone.
In Holms’ debut legal thriller, a crooked cop manipulates the justice system to wreak havoc on the lives of a judge, a fellow officer, and a young woman.
LAPD Sgt. Jake Babbage has been following young Erin Collins for some time because she looks just like her mother, Sarah, whom Babbage raped and murdered 19 years earlier. He pulls Erin over for a DUI and sexually assaults her. Erin and her older brother, Sean, a lawyer, take Babbage to court, but he manages to skirt the system. Babbage isn’t finished: he tricks Erin into violating her probation, and the Collins’ friend detective William Fitzgerald, who originally worked Sarah’s unsolved case, can’t prevent Erin’s arrest. Babbage then blackmails the judge presiding over Erin’s hearing, Daniel Hart—an unwitting accomplice to Sarah’s murder years ago when teen Daniel was unable to stop Babbage from killing her. The judge refuses to cooperate, so Babbage outright accuses Daniel of murder, with Babbage himself as the witness and Daniel facing criminal charges. The bulk of the author’s novel takes place inside a courtroom, with lawyers examining witnesses and repeatedly hurling objections. The story, however, is fast-paced thanks to sharp dialogue and intelligent legal arguments. For instance, Babbage’s claims regarding Erin, as argued by his attorney, are believable, especially since she may have been a willing participant to avoid jail for her DUI. Babbage is an unforgettable villain, particularly in the repulsive scene of his attack on Sarah. But Holms wisely inserts another antagonist into the courtroom: prosecutor Doris Reynolds plans to run against Daniel for judge at the next election, so she has every reason to see him convicted for murder. Sean’s dilemma is riveting: he must decide whether to join the prosecutors’ side or trust Daniel’s version of events and help exonerate him. For the lawyers, defense attorney Amanda Jordan is the champion; her legal wranglings with Reynolds provide the book’s juiciest morsels. The violent ending offers even more suspense, and not everyone’s still standing when it’s over.
Fans of legal thrillers will be appeased, but the energetic, brisk story makes a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1503114784
Page Count: 430
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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