Where this novel strays a bit for me is in the believability factor. Attorney Brigham Theodore (fresh from passing the bar) is hired into a firm that pays lawyers a portion of the cases they handle...no benefits or actual salary. I accept that premise, but they lose me when they hand him his first case...the capital murder case of Amanda Pierce. He faces a prosecutor who seems to have been born without a heart and a judge who is indebted to the prosecutor. I could have accepted the possibility of her being tried for murder, but their is no world (fictional or not) where this grieving mother would face a death penalty.
The trial has too few witnesses (Attorney Theodore never seems to look for character witnesses or people to build his case) and speeds by without the usual courtroom antics that keep the reader engaged.
All that being said, for some reason I find myself recommending this book for a quick and entertaining read.
- Beverly
Publisher - Thomas & Mercer
Date of Publication - November 18, 2014