Oddly enough, I read this window into the legal workings of a small Southern county in a hotel room in Nashville. The descriptions of the politicians, lawyers, and law enforcement officers ring very true, although some bitterness towards insiders and other people who waste government money comes through pretty clearly. It could be the narrator being bitter, I suppose, rather than the author.

The book is blurbed as a "powerful new courtroom thriller" but I don't think there's really that much thrilling about it, at least in the John Grisham sense of "bad guys aiming guns at lawyers". There's a short stalking scene towards the end that might push it into the thriller genre, but that's not one of the book's strong points. Those would include:

The characters, not least the narrator, who makes fascinating leadership decisions.

The politics. You'll find out just how Roscoe P. Coltrane kept on as sherriff of Hazzard County after all those years of failing to catch the Dukes out.

The puzzle. You wouldn't have suspected it would make much of a whodunit, based on the amount of legalese going on, but I never saw the identity of the murderer coming. Not until they said it straight out in the last few pages of the book.

A few minor issues come up here and there; repetitive language and some laziness in describing emotions, and the hero faces down a lot of opposition rather glibly. But still, one of the better courtroom dramas out there. ( )

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