Defense Attorney Josie Bates is haunted by the outcome of a
trial where she successfully defended a guilty client. Trying to now live
low-key, practicing law in a small firm in a beach community, Josie’s old
college roommate shows up at her door, begging her to defend her daughter
Hannah. Josie has no intention of jumping into that life again…until she meets
Hannah.
Josie Bates is a
likable, strong woman who is living life on her own terms until her world is
turned upside down by murder suspect Hannah Sheraton.
Josie’s intention is—for
old time’s sake—to meet the girl, and then refer them to appropriate counsel.
But there’s something about Hannah that compels Josie to go against her own
reasoning. Josie expects a battle with the prosecutor, but didn’t envision a battle
with the girl’s own family.
Forster jump-starts the
story by walking us through the hard-core booking process of the sheltered
young beauty arrested for murder. The contrast of the delicate character to the
crude experience immediately drew me into this drama. Forster does a great job snagging
sympathy for this character. Suffering from an extreme case of OCD, Hannah is
shunned by her powerful step-father and smothered by a dreadful mother. The
reader can’t help but feel compassion for this poor girl—innocent or guilty.
This book grabbed my
attention and held it to the end. The pace is good with lots of action and
courtroom drama. Forster’s descriptive writing pulled me into the scenes without
it getting in the way of the story.
Although the main character
was well developed, there is room for Josie to evolve even more in the next
book of this series. And I do plan on reading book two and more from this
author. I truly enjoyed this story and gave it five stars.
