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szilvicsanyi's review
5.0
A very pleasant surprise. Fast paced, gripping with exciting twists and turns. I absolutely loved her sense of humor, I laughed out loud while reading the protagonist's inner monologues. All the characters are well written. I haven't read any other books by Marcia Clark, but I can't wait to read them all.
lmkramer507's review
4.0
Good whodunit reminiscent of other lawyer books like Lescroart and Grisham. I immediately moved to the next book in the series.
a_mae13's review against another edition
1.75
"I’m there to protect my client. That’s where my duty begins and ends."
I usually don't write notes as I read because I tend to listen to the audiobook version, but I felt the need to narrate my thoughts along the way. Samantha Brinkman is a struggling criminal defense attorney who works with her best friend Michelle and an ex-felon Alex. Samantha takes a case regarding a double homicide, with the alleged murderer as a former police officer. That's the main plot, but there are about 27 other side plots that have absolutely nothing to do with the book.
Samantha is not a likable character. When I saw that there were 4 books in the series, I wondered how Samantha would develop to become someone likable or even interesting. I was excited to read this since it was written by a lawyer, but she painfully describes law and justice to the reader as if Google doesn't exist. Samantha talks like she's a 12-year-old and tries to use "hip young phrases" while degrading the area where she practices. Her firm is in a troubled part of town and she will never let you forget it. It's full of "gang bangers and gunshots" and will add in some Spanish flare when working with Hispanic clients. I'm not sure if she's trying to be inclusive and failing spectacularly or if Samantha's character is supposed to be prejudiced. Unclear.
Anyway, back to the story. Samantha just finished with her case on Orozco, a young man with gang affiliations who was charged with murder. He's a bit sociopathic and I believe Samantha was able to plead the charges down to reckless manslaughter. We have zero backstory on how this trial went but it comes back later in the story. Samantha takes on the double homicide case where the victims were a TV star and a budding model. The suspects? A former police officer who was dating a much younger celebrity. We barely meet Dale, the suspect, before he blurts out that he's Samantha's biological father? Again, there are more books in the series so I'm sure there's a reason for this but it was sudden and unrelated.
After meeting Dale, we then learn that he's had rape charges alleged against him. Rather than investigating the charges, his entire legal team (his daughter who has been molested) immediately jumped to "oh clearly those are bogus charges". As they're investigating the murders and this new woman who alleged the charges, Samantha eloquently tells the reader that both Jenny (rape victim) and Paige (murder victim) were regulars in "tweaker-junkie-hooker central". She talks like she's a teenager who's never ventured outside of the Bible Belt. Then, we find Jenny was also murdered. Dale, you're looking suspish.
So we're up to 3 dead bodies, and we find a fourth! A fella named Marc, who was also a model, was found dead. He was described as a party boy and his death was ruled inconclusive as he was found in the ocean after supposedly being at a boat party. It's almost as if all of these things are connected....and then Dale gets shanked in prison! Besides all of the bodies piling up, we meet another character named Scott. The night the girls were murdered, their apartment was burglarized. He claims to be the burglar and that the girls weren't home yet when he broke in. He has a burner phone that he found in Paige's room that he's willing to give Samantha if she represents him on a possession charge. Naturally, he flees as soon as he's ORed and takes the phone with him.
If that wasn't enough, we have yet another new character to care about. Enter Storm. He's a stunt double who has met Paige and Chloe at shoots. He was modeling for a while but got into acting because it made more money and allowed him to travel. He confirms that the girls have been seen with a man on a motorcycle with a flaming helmet. Everyone seems to be pointing to this man and no one knows who it is. Storm believes that Samantha is onto something with her theory on Paige. The public has thrown Dale up as the suspect because he was dating Chloe, and his DNA was found at the scene. Storm and Samantha believe that Paige was the intended target because other hairs and DNA were found on scene but didn't hit in CODIS or NCIC. Dale would have DNA in their apartment since he was dating one of the girls. Storm gives them a lead into Malibu and then suddenly dies in a motorcycle wreck, taking our body count to 5.
The rest will be hidden for spoilers:
Storm is interviewed by the media and mentions that his testimony will help Samantha prove her angle. And then he dies. And then someone SETS HER FIRM ON FIRE? She and Michelle barely make it out alive and Samantha decides to KEEP PRESSING without involving the police. I was so annoyed by this point. The fire was a surprise, the only one that has surprised me thus far; however, I'm not sure it served a purpose for the plot. I think it was more for shock value than anything else. After the gang all recovers (the women almost burned alive and Alex was battered on a stakeout) they go snooping around their lead from Storm and are almost killed, again, in the process. They go out to a beach house that is being squatted in, and Alex happens to find a camera in the master bedroom. They steal it and add that to their collection of undocumented evidence.
The camera shows both Paige and Marc staying in the beach home with another man, presumably a model. The camera is motion activated so it only catches snippets of the day but it shows the man attempting to rape Marc, fighting with Marc, and Paige sobbing and trying to run away. I think we've found some motive, finally. No idea how it's motive but it is. Somehow, we discover that the unknown man in the footage is involved with one of the reports that Samantha knows. This turns into a lightbulb moment for her as the leaked rape charges against Dale could have come from the reporter. We find her on her way to kill the guy in the footage, again not super clear why, and Samantha barges in on her, wrestles her for the firearm, and knocks it loose...just for the guy to KILL HIMSELF because he's upset that Edie (the reporter) still has feelings for someone else? It's all very convoluted without enough time to really flesh out these characters for the reader to understand their motives.
Unrelated, but in the epilogue, Dale admits to killing Jenny. And then, Samantha admits to killing someone who jumped Michelle. She stole the VIN off of a car at the jail and I'm assuming she used that number on the vehicle that she ran this guy over with? Again not really fleshed out with enough details to actually understand anything.
I usually don't write notes as I read because I tend to listen to the audiobook version, but I felt the need to narrate my thoughts along the way. Samantha Brinkman is a struggling criminal defense attorney who works with her best friend Michelle and an ex-felon Alex. Samantha takes a case regarding a double homicide, with the alleged murderer as a former police officer. That's the main plot, but there are about 27 other side plots that have absolutely nothing to do with the book.
Samantha is not a likable character. When I saw that there were 4 books in the series, I wondered how Samantha would develop to become someone likable or even interesting. I was excited to read this since it was written by a lawyer, but she painfully describes law and justice to the reader as if Google doesn't exist. Samantha talks like she's a 12-year-old and tries to use "hip young phrases" while degrading the area where she practices. Her firm is in a troubled part of town and she will never let you forget it. It's full of "gang bangers and gunshots" and will add in some Spanish flare when working with Hispanic clients. I'm not sure if she's trying to be inclusive and failing spectacularly or if Samantha's character is supposed to be prejudiced. Unclear.
Anyway, back to the story. Samantha just finished with her case on Orozco, a young man with gang affiliations who was charged with murder. He's a bit sociopathic and I believe Samantha was able to plead the charges down to reckless manslaughter. We have zero backstory on how this trial went but it comes back later in the story. Samantha takes on the double homicide case where the victims were a TV star and a budding model. The suspects? A former police officer who was dating a much younger celebrity. We barely meet Dale, the suspect, before he blurts out that he's Samantha's biological father? Again, there are more books in the series so I'm sure there's a reason for this but it was sudden and unrelated.
After meeting Dale, we then learn that he's had rape charges alleged against him. Rather than investigating the charges, his entire legal team (his daughter who has been molested) immediately jumped to "oh clearly those are bogus charges". As they're investigating the murders and this new woman who alleged the charges, Samantha eloquently tells the reader that both Jenny (rape victim) and Paige (murder victim) were regulars in "tweaker-junkie-hooker central". She talks like she's a teenager who's never ventured outside of the Bible Belt. Then, we find Jenny was also murdered. Dale, you're looking suspish.
So we're up to 3 dead bodies, and we find a fourth! A fella named Marc, who was also a model, was found dead. He was described as a party boy and his death was ruled inconclusive as he was found in the ocean after supposedly being at a boat party. It's almost as if all of these things are connected....and then Dale gets shanked in prison! Besides all of the bodies piling up, we meet another character named Scott. The night the girls were murdered, their apartment was burglarized. He claims to be the burglar and that the girls weren't home yet when he broke in. He has a burner phone that he found in Paige's room that he's willing to give Samantha if she represents him on a possession charge. Naturally, he flees as soon as he's ORed and takes the phone with him.
If that wasn't enough, we have yet another new character to care about. Enter Storm. He's a stunt double who has met Paige and Chloe at shoots. He was modeling for a while but got into acting because it made more money and allowed him to travel. He confirms that the girls have been seen with a man on a motorcycle with a flaming helmet. Everyone seems to be pointing to this man and no one knows who it is. Storm believes that Samantha is onto something with her theory on Paige. The public has thrown Dale up as the suspect because he was dating Chloe, and his DNA was found at the scene. Storm and Samantha believe that Paige was the intended target because other hairs and DNA were found on scene but didn't hit in CODIS or NCIC. Dale would have DNA in their apartment since he was dating one of the girls. Storm gives them a lead into Malibu and then suddenly dies in a motorcycle wreck, taking our body count to 5.
The rest will be hidden for spoilers:
The camera shows both Paige and Marc staying in the beach home with another man, presumably a model. The camera is motion activated so it only catches snippets of the day but it shows the man attempting to rape Marc, fighting with Marc, and Paige sobbing and trying to run away. I think we've found some motive, finally. No idea how it's motive but it is. Somehow, we discover that the unknown man in the footage is involved with one of the reports that Samantha knows. This turns into a lightbulb moment for her as the leaked rape charges against Dale could have come from the reporter. We find her on her way to kill the guy in the footage, again not super clear why, and Samantha barges in on her, wrestles her for the firearm, and knocks it loose...just for the guy to KILL HIMSELF because he's upset that Edie (the reporter) still has feelings for someone else? It's all very convoluted without enough time to really flesh out these characters for the reader to understand their motives.
Unrelated, but in the epilogue, Dale admits to killing Jenny. And then, Samantha admits to killing someone who jumped Michelle. She stole the VIN off of a car at the jail and I'm assuming she used that number on the vehicle that she ran this guy over with? Again not really fleshed out with enough details to actually understand anything.
karinlib's review
3.0
This is the first Marcia Clark novel I have read, so I can't compare this to her other series. Although, I am not sure that I like her main character, I did enjoy the book. I was in the mood for a legal thriller and this fit the bill.
misfitotter's review against another edition
4.0
Let me be honest here. I was more than a little skeptical about this book/author. This was my first time reading anything by her. I was expecting a quick read that was decent at best.
I was so wrong. The story drew me in quickly and I ended up finishing the book in about 3 days. Not because it was filled with fluff. No, It was that good. I wasn't completely satisfied with the end but that was only because I felt that there was more to tell. All the best books end that way for me.
I can't wait for the next book in the Samantha Brinkman series!
I was so wrong. The story drew me in quickly and I ended up finishing the book in about 3 days. Not because it was filled with fluff. No, It was that good. I wasn't completely satisfied with the end but that was only because I felt that there was more to tell. All the best books end that way for me.
I can't wait for the next book in the Samantha Brinkman series!
judithdcollins's review against another edition
3.0
I love Marcia Clark; however, the narrator's voice was very annoying. Could not take it any longer. In all fairness, will have to pick back up with the book format, prior to writing review.
bkeving_74's review against another edition
3.0
Kind of boring
If you like legal procedures a little low on the action and kind of plain in language then you may enjoy this. I still prefer Grisham's style.
If you like legal procedures a little low on the action and kind of plain in language then you may enjoy this. I still prefer Grisham's style.
erinnejc's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable thriller which I read quickly. Enjoyed the writing style of the author and will look for more in the future.
reneesmith's review against another edition
4.0
Compelling mystery. Page-turning action. Interesting characters who are easy to root for. Enjoyed it! (Some strong language.)
**Kindle Unlimited
**Kindle Unlimited
grimm147's review against another edition
3.0
Struggled
One of things that bothers me about mystery novels is the inability for the reader to solve the crime before the main character or worse, when we aren't even given all the pieces to the mystery to be able to solve it.
This book did a decent job introducing us to our main three characters. Then at the end, they change everything they have told us about one of them.
At the moment, not overly excited about continuing the series.
One of things that bothers me about mystery novels is the inability for the reader to solve the crime before the main character or worse, when we aren't even given all the pieces to the mystery to be able to solve it.
This book did a decent job introducing us to our main three characters. Then at the end, they change everything they have told us about one of them.
At the moment, not overly excited about continuing the series.