"Betrayal", by Phillip Margolin

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