Jay Brandon

Mark Blackwell, known to his old friends as Blackie, is the District Attorney of San Antonio, TX. With his reelection campaign looming in the background, Mark quickly focuses on catching a child molester preying on the children of his town. When his mentor and former DA, Elliot Quinn, approaches with the offender in tow, Mark offers this monster a plea deal to bolster his voters. What appears to be an uncomplicated arrest quickly morphs into a nightmare when a new victim, ten-year-old Tommy show more Algren, comes forward and identifies the accused molester’s attorney, Austin Paley, as the actual offender.

The story is quickly immersed in politics as the connected Austin calls in favors from his rich and powerful friends in high places to pressure Mark and his ADA, Becky, to drop the charges. But this only strengthens Mark’s determination to bring a child rapist to justice for his obscene crimes. The tense courtroom drama that follows is a study of the many complicated layers of the victim’s guilt and the psychological motivations of child abusers, who are often victims themselves. Jay Brandon has created solid, multi-sided characters with a fascinating story that uncovers bone-chilling evil and broken children in this complex legal thriller. show less

Shadow Knight’s Mate by Jay Brandon
Wings Press
978-1-60940-391-1
$16.95, 305 pgs

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.

I am a Jay Brandon fan from way back – I will not tell you from how far back. Brandon wrote some very engaging legal thrillers set in Texas that I thoroughly enjoyed. Shadow Knight’s Mate is nothing like those books except that it is engaging and I really enjoyed it. Shadow Knight’s Mate is some sort of weird amalgam of a super show more hero comic, sci-fi adventure, James Bond spy thriller, and Tom Clancy techno suspense nightmare that contemplates a post-America world. With a little Dean Koontz thrown in just to keep things interesting.

The Circle is a shadowy American organization that basically runs the planet – possibly the known universe. Possibly several unknown parallel universes. Imagine a super-secret philanthropic conspiracy wielding unlimited power whose mission is to maintain America’s influence in the world. Think Opus Dei, the Knights Templar, the Tri-lateral Commission, and that annual meeting that Dick Cheney always goes to that I can’t remember the name of. But with the best of intentions – like the X-Men or the Justice League.

After a terrorist attack in the United States, Circle member Jack Driscoll must save the world from an ingenious and infernal plot hatched by a madman whose physical description reminds me of the villain in Austin Powers. In a mad dash around the planet from France to Malaysia to the Czech Republic and Germany and Israel and back again, Jack must wrangle with forces of evil determined to bring the United States to its knees. And several doppelgangers who’ve been gallivanting around Europe, up to no good, impersonating him. You see, Jack is the one person the mastermind behind the plot fears could stop him.

Shadow Knight’s Mate is not my usual thing; I’m not big on genre fiction most of the time. The quality of this story is uneven and it suffers from awkward action scenes that don’t flow well, although the latter improves about two-thirds of the way through the text. There is no nuanced character development, no lyrical use of language, spot-on metaphor or evocative description. What this book has in spades is plot, expert pacing, and plenty of humor. It was so much fun. It kept me turning the pages because I truly wanted answers to so many questions.

Two things: 1) Never underestimate the grudges formed in childhood; and 2) a National Security Adviser with an inferiority complex AND delusions of grandeur should be avoided. Don’t think too hard about it – just give in and go where the story takes you. You’ll be glad you did.

www.texasbooklover.com show less

From the Grave is Texas author Jay Brandon’s second Edward Hall novel. It follows 2018’s Against the Law, the novel that introduced the impulsive ex-con, (disbarred) lawyer who never expected to practice law again but soon enough finds himself defending his own sister against a charge of murdering her husband.

Now, this time around, Edward is back in the courtroom at the specific request of a Houston district attorney who wants him to defend the black man accused of kidnapping and show more terrorizing the D.A.’s sister. If he accepts the case, Edward will be facing a judge who justifiably despises him and a ruthlessly aggressive court-appointed prosecutor who wants to put his client away for the rest of his life. If it doesn’t sound like Edward has much of a chance of keeping his client a free man, that’s because he doesn’t. But Edward has been assured that if he impresses the District Attorney and her cronies enough with his handling of this case, the state board will consider reinstating his law license on a probationary basis.

Edward Hall is no fool. He understands that the only way he is going to impress the D.A. is to lose the case in spectacular fashion. They are making it easy for him to let that happen, but Edward is not even certain that he wants to practice law again in the first place – and losing a case that will cost his client the rest of his life behind bars, is most certainly not the way he wants to get reinstated. It doesn’t hurt that the accused kidnapper happens to be the only friend that Edward made during his years in prison, the man who protected Edward from all-comers and made it possible for him to walk away from the Texas prison system in one piece. It’s a no-brainer; Edward is taking the case - and he plans to win it.

Bottom Line: From the Grave allows Jay Brandon to expand nicely upon his Edward Hall character. Hall has a good sense of right and wrong, but he is not a man who plays by the rules if that means that the bad guys are going to come out on top. He considers burglary to be a useful evidence-gathering tool despite having been caught both times he’s previously tried that tactic. And now he has a girlfriend who is even more enthusiastic about the potentials of burglary than he is – so what could possibly go wrong? This one may be a bit farfetched, but that’s what makes it so much fun. show less

A pretty good legal mystery. I enjoyed the small town Texas atmosphere where everybody knew everybody else and small-mindedness abounded. The premise of a "big city" lawyer being Shanghaied to defend this loser probably wouldn't have worked in just any locale, but I can see it happening in Texas. I had a little trouble swallowing the ending though.