I really enjoy this main character, Robin Lockwood. I have read several in this series. She is smart and she has a big heart. I think that is her most attractive trait.

In this tale Robin is trying to save someone from her past from a murder conviction. Robin used to fight professionally as a cage fighter. (Which I found very fascinating!) This is how she paid for law school. Now, one of her competitors has been arrested for murder, not just any murder, but a prominent lawyer and her family. The further she investigates, the more she realizes, not all is as it seems.

There are places in this story that I had a bit of trouble. And it could have been me zoning out because, well, life! Especially in the beginning, this story is a bit disjointed. I will be honest, I got a bit lost. Lots of characters and different parts of the story coming out with different voices, BUT, I had faith in this author. And did he ever tie this novel together with a bang. Once I got vested, this story did not stop and I enjoyed every minute.

The narrator, Thérèse Plummer, is one of my favorites. And she nailed this novel.

Need a very good law investigation, with a bit of cage fighting….this is it! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

Robin Lockwood, former MMA fighter and now prominent defence attorney in Portland Oregon, is hired by her old fight cage nemesis, Mandy Kerrigan, who has been accused of a particularly heinous crime. A family of four has been brutally murdered and Mandy had been seen, earlier fighting with the son and, later at the time of the murder, pounding on the door of the family’s home. Robin thinks she might be innocent but the evidence is against her. The only hope is to find other possible suspects and, as it turns out, every member of the family had done things to make them a target but is there enough evidence against any of these possibilities to keep Mandy off death row?

It’s been quite a while since I read a Phillip Margolin legal thriller but, after reading Betrayal, that’s an oversight I plan to rectify in the very near future. It’s a smart, well-written, and entertaining tale that kept me guessing right up to the big reveal at the end. The characters are well-drawn and easy to like or hate and Robin makes for one bad-ass protagonist. It is also very fast-paced thanks to Margolin’s use of short chapters and dialogue. There’s plenty of action outside the courtroom but it was the action inside the courtroom I found most compelling. Although this is the seventh in the Robin Lockwood series, it can be read as a standalone.

I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and St Martin Press in exchange for an honest review ( )

Robin Lockwood book #7

A Legal Thriller

In a few words:

Robin, MMA fighter turned Portland, Ore., criminal defense attorney takes on the case of a former rival, Mandy Kerrigan, who has been charged with murdering a family of four. Though Mandy maintains her innocence, witnesses saw her banging on the door of the Finch family home after beating up the Finch’s oldest son, Ryan, at a bar when the performance-enhancing drugs he sold her showed up on a drug test. Robin is convinced she’ll find answers about the Finches’ enemies that will divert blame from Mandy. But this case turned not to be a cake walk.....

Defending her old nemesis in a multiple murder case with too many suspects, where success might cost Robin’s life, is not simple. To complicate matters, she is dating the DA.

My thoughts:

I am a long-time fan of Phillip Margolin and I am always eager to read what he has in store for us.

The court scenes maneuvers sucked me in from the start, although fictional this legal drama sounded real to me. I was captivated by the setting, Portland Oregon, where it seems you can pull off random murders, well at less according to this thriller. Mr. Margolin knows how to spin a case where the stakes are high and the truth is elusive, where fact twists the case in all directions, he surely does that with aplomb. Maybe trial attorneys can poke holes into this story but I think following the antics was exciting and suspenseful. I agree with some who think the Russian mafia connection is weak and really didn’t ring true, but what the heck it made for a very captivating read.

Definitely this story is characters driven. With its snappy dialogue and short chapters to help push things along, I was eager to see how this case would turn out.

It is a page turner no doubt in my books.

This is a good novel and one of Mr. Margolin I enjoyed the best.

Another excellent book I received from St-Martin Press via Netgalley ( )