When you're talking about a crime..."there's a difference between knowing it and being able to prove it. And if you get that mixed up, you're on a slippery slope."
It comes to pass that Ron Jameson is elected as the new DA in San Franciso. He beat out Dismas Hardy's friend and law partner, Wes Farrell, and is determined to shake things up. In fact, Jameson seems to have a vendetta against the entire firm and his first target is Hardy's secretary, Phyllis McGowan. She's served with a warrant after the grand jury indicts her as an accessory to murder! It seems that the intrepid and hard-working Phyllis has kept several secrets, and one of those happens to be that she is working as part of an Underground Railroad system that helps undocumented immigrants get out of the USA and into Canada, thus avoiding deportation. The other is that her ex convict brother, Adam, has been staying with her as he is trying to get back on his feet Unfortunately, Adam is not reformed after his time in prison. Dismas scrambles to help Phyllis with her legal troubles and incurs the wrath of the new DA. Now he and his colleagues and friends have a target on their backs as the DA also seeks to uncover evidence to further discredit them in an old case known as the Dockside Massacre. In retaliation, or as an aside, the SFPD has two detectives investigating Ron Jameson in cold case that involved murder! Yes, there's a lot going on. NO SPOILERS.
This is the 18th in a long running series featuring the attorney, Dismas Hardy, and though it is classified as a legal thriller, it really didn't have much about the practice of "law" but was more a mystery and cat-and-mouse game between all the players on opposing sides. Although I've read only a couple of the previous titles, I wasn't lost as the author keeps the reader in the loop as far as who is who in the characters. It took me awhile to become invested in the story as I kept getting distracted by the political messages imbued in the narration -- those about immigration, deportation, ICE, DREAMers, sanctuary cities, etc. The loose ends are tied up, explanations are given, solutions occur in a most convenient fashion making it all a little hard to swallow. Sometimes I wasn't even quite sure that Dismas was a "good guy" as he's painted. But then again, we're talking about criminal defense attorneys. I think most of the characters in the book are of the "either - or" variety and it was quite clear that the bad guys were awful and the ones on Hardy's side were not. Just seemed like there was quite a bit of shady stuff going on -- on both sides.
I enjoyed the book well enough but never fully invested myself in the characters though I liked Hardy's sense of humor and his love of the arcane. It might be better to read this if you have been following along the entire series instead of picking this up as a start point.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-book ARC to read and review.
This is part of a long running series and though it could be read as a standalone, I wouldn't recommend doing that.
Genre - legal but not really a thriller, more a mystery
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