Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Sunday, February 21, 2021

"A Matter of Life and Death", by Phillip Margolin


Book# 4 in the Robin Lockwood series

This legal thriller brings Robin Lockwood to defend Joe Lattimore accused of murder after burglarizing a house. The victim was the wife of prominent Judge Anthony Carasco. Lattimore fingerprints and bloody gloves were discovered at the scene, an airtight case for the District Attorney. But Robin is not convinced at all, she suspects that her client has been framed...now she needed to prove it.

This is one legal thriller I put at the top of my list for its presentation. It focusses more on how the accused came to get into hot waters and less the interactions in the courtroom. I love passing time reading it and had such a hard time setting it aside to do my chores. The story is action packed and very gripping from start to finish. The Lattimore’s troubles all started after he agreed to fight in a no-holds illegal bar bout where his opponent died leaving him at the mercy of the fight’s organizers who took advantage of his situation...big time.

The plot is strong and moves along at a steady pace. It is clearly written to depict courtroom drama without overdoing it, not a simple task but Mr. Margolin did this expertly making his book a real pleasure. Every word is simple and uncomplicated. The police work is smoothly blended in to add suspense and to bring us into the bowels of the legal system: fingerprints and DNA, evidences that can incarcerate someone whether responsible or not.

I also appreciated how the author has incorporated in his suspense interesting insight into gender reassignment and the struggles the person caught in this dilemma goes through. Subdued and well done.

Although I picked up “A Matter of Life and Death” at this point I didn’t feel lost at all, it reads beautifully as a stand-alone.

In a few words:

Well-plotted drama vividly said and played out by a cast of wonderful characters.

I received this ARC from St-Martin’s Press via Netgalley for my thoughts, this is the way I see it.

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