Life is good for Holt Douglas. He’s with the woman of his
dreams and his career as assistant DA is very successful. But then he stumbles
across information regarding the death of a very wealthy, local man. While it
was ruled a suicide, Holt believes it may have been murder, so he begins
investigating on the side. He quickly faces opposition as he begins to search
for clues. During the course of the investigation, a dark secret from his past
haunts him, and Holt risks having this secret unravel his life before he can
finish his investigation. Will Holt discover the truth before it’s too late?
I have a fondness for legal thrillers, and I’m surprised
that it took me this long to pick up a novel by Robert Whitlow.
The story starts out strong. Holt is shown to be a strong
lawyer and he has a great working relationship with a local police officer,
Trish. Both are strongly written characters. Many of the supporting characters
are a little two dimensional, but the leads help make up for this. The story
starts out strong, and sets up a firm pace that continues throughout the novel.
The ending is genuinely surprising, taking a few characters in some unexpected
directions.
Unfortunately, the middle of the story isn’t quite as interesting
as the beginning and the end. The spiritual element of the novel comes off very
heavy handed and overly preachy. Additionally, there is a subplot involving
Trish’s church that seems to be left unresolved. I couldn’t tell whether there
will be a sequel or not, but this particular thread felt like there wasn’t much
more left other than a conclusion. Another, completely random side story,
involving Holt’s dog, seems completely unnecessary.
All in all it was a fine legal thriller that started and
ended strong. Unfortunately, it was bogged down by a middle sections that went
contained many unnecessary or over-used elements. I was also a little bit
disappointed to find that most of the story didn’t center around an actual
court case but instead involved an investigation, with only the occasional
scene including any sort of court room action.
3/5 stars
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free
from the publisher through the BookLook book review bloggers program. I was not
required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,
Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in
Advertising.”
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