Moral Defense by Marcia Clark (#2)

The second in the Samantha Brinkman series. She's a defense attorney -- and, for her, it's not about whether the client is innocent or guilty. She wants to make sure they walk.

As usual, snarky and sneaky DA Samantha Brinkman is up to her old tricks. She has her own peculiar brand of justice even as she does everything she can to get even the most heinous criminals acquitted or pled out. In this second book of the series, Sam is counsel for a 15-year-old girl, Cassie Sonnenberg, who is accused of committing the brutal murders of her foster family: brother, father and mother. As Cassie reveals the despicable activities that were going on in that home, Sam can't help but get personally involved as the revelations bring back terrible memories for her.

Meanwhile, Sam and her two associates are dealing with several other creepy clients and things are getting pretty dicey. Sam has to figure out how to keep the bad guys from coming after her because of some of things she "influenced" in questionable ways. Always on the edge of crossing over to the same side as her defendants, Sam is a very unusual defense attorney.

I enjoy this series though I worry that Sam's ways and means make her just as bad as those she defends. She definitely wants to win at any cost, though she does care about the truth no matter what she presents to the court.  Sam is a complex character and the writing is crisp and clear. There is a lot of action and it's easy to keep turning the pages because the reader just can't wait to see how all the cases turn out. Just when you think you have it all figured...surprise! You can tell this book is written by someone who does have an inside track - as does this author, a lawyer.

Looking forward to the next in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the e-book ARC to review. I also want to read her other books.