Moral Defense (Samantha Brinkman Book 2) --by Marcia Clark

Fiction / Legal Thriller

428 pages / 3548 KB

5 Stars

This was a two-sit read. I would have been a one-sit read, but I started it too late in the day. I read fiction for enjoyment and escape. Period. If I'm thrown out of a story too often (for any reason) I don't finish it. Ms. Clark has never thrown me out of her stories. Some of her characters/plots are a bit close, but nothing serious.

It might help to read them both in order and if possible relatively close together so one doesn't get confused with characters of an earlier book re-appear in the current one. 

If you enjoyed the early The Closer tv show with Kyra Sedgwick, I think you will really enjoy Samantha Brinkman. Both women have that same attitude that tells them rules are to be followed at all times unless they get in the way of justice.

An adopted teenager, Cassie, is accused of killing her brother and parents. Come to find out, she was sexually abused first by her brother who was a bully, then by her father, and when she told her mother, her mother didn't believe her. Her mother kept telling her how lucky she was to have a family like theirs. Really?

Samantha is trying to save the girl's life, and then discovers there was an adult there the night of the murders. Cassie doesn't want to admit it, but she's pretty messed up. And Sam needs to get information to the cops without breaking confidentiality. And being the armchair sleuth I'm not, I was pretty sure I had it figured out--until I didn't.

Books (and one story) by Marcia Clark I've read and reviewed:

Guilt by Degrees, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/03/guilty-pleasure-by-degrees.html

Guilt by Association, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/04/guilt-by-association.html

If I'm Dead, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/04/if-im-dead.html

Blood Defense, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2020/03/blood-defense-samantha-brinkman-book-1.html 

Blood Defense (Samantha Brinkman Book 1) --by Marcia Clark

Fiction / Legal Mystery/Thriller

400 pages /3140 KB

5 Stars

I have read some of Ms. Clark's earlier books, and found them quite enjoyable, but I do think this is the best I've read so far. This book introduces us to Samantha Brinkman, a smart, fearless, defense attorney who is barely making it. Her office manager and BFF since school days convinces her to take on a high profile case where a cop is accused of killing his girl friend, a famous and well-liked actress just coming back from addiction, and her roommate.

While preparing for trial, the cop drops a bombshell into Sam's lap—he knows her biological dad, a person she's never met, and her mother can't remember his name as it was (allegedly) a one-night stand. And someone leaks information to the press that the cop in question was also investigated a year or so earlier for raping a hooker.

Sam is convinced the cop is innocent, that the roommate was the primary target. And even if he is a jerk, he is her jerk, and she will defend him to the utmost because she believes in the law and that innocence must be defended. Ms. Clark takes us through some of the seamier aspects of LA, and brings us out at the end, a bit singed perhaps, but oh-so-much wiser. And very eager to read the next in the series, which I have already ordered.

Books (and one story) by Marcia Clark I've read and reviewed:

Guilt by Degrees, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/03/guilty-pleasure-by-degrees.html

Guilt by Association, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/04/guilt-by-association.html

If I'm Dead, http://lenoragood.blogspot.com/2013/04/if-im-dead.html

Guilt by Association

Guilt by Association (A Rachel Knight Novel) – by Marcia Clark                      

Fiction / Legal

374 Pages / 514 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

I truly think Rachel Knight has become one of my favorite fiction heroines, and Marcia Clark one of my favorite writers. I assume most attorneys would be good writers, and Ms. Clark definitely proves my case.

Rachel Knight is a strong woman, with her own demons and flaws, a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles, who seems to get into more trouble than one of the celebrated "rogue cops" of TV-Land. I enjoy both her exploits, and her friends.

The pacing of the story never lags. It starts on page one and goes to page end. In this episode, a work-buddy of Rachel's, Jake, is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Rachel is ordered to butt out, stay away, lets the Feds handle it. Yeah. Right. And then she gets her share of Jake's cases, and in solving the rape of the daughter of a prominent doctor, she also finds herself drawn into solving the murder of her friend, Jake.

The dialog between Rachel and her friends is great. There are some laugh-out-loud lines, both in the dialog and in some of the comments made by the narrator.

I've now read two novels and one story. And I'm sure I'll read as many novels (and stories) that Ms. Clark writes and publishes, at least as long as they feature Rachel Knight. And this just isn't 'my' genre. Go figure! ;-)

Although Rachel Knight is a DDA, very little of the story takes place in the court room. She is not a fem Perry Mason (perish the thought). It's far more investigation.

There is very little foul language, and though the main thread through the stories is rape and child pornography, there is no description of either. If you watch TV, you've seen far more than you'll read here. While it may not end with a 'Happy Ever After' ending, it does end with a satisfying ending, and justice for all.

By the book. You'll enjoy it.

If I'm Dead

If I'm Dead: A Rachel Knight Story –by Marcia Clark

Fiction

45 pages / 252 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

4 Stars

OK, I admit, I didn't do my homework, and thought I was buying a full fledged novel when I bought this (caveat emptor!) short story. While it was a fun read, it was also somewhat predictable. It was fun, and I enjoy the protagonist, ADA Rachel Knight.

I don't want to give away the ending, but if you're as old as I am, you've seen it on Perry Mason;-) And, you'll recognize it. I think I've seen it on a couple other shows of similar ilk.

For $0.99 it was worth it. And, like I said, if I'd done my due diligence, I still would have bought it, but wouldn't have been so upset on page 45 to find the end!

Of course, if I claimed to be smart, I would have noticed it said A Rachel Knight STORY and not Novel. But, I've never claimed to be smart.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.

Guilt by Degrees –by Marcia Clark

Fiction (Mystery)

449 pages / 598 KB

Footnotes / Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

When the OJ Simpson murder trial played prime time on Cable TV, I had an opportunity to watch part of it. In fact, I became hooked on Court TV (alas, no longer available) and enjoyed watching Marcia Clark. Guilt by Degrees is the first mystery by her I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also pleased this is not a fictionalized rehash of the OJ Trial! Mysteries aren't normally my genre of choice, but this was great fun. And I just ordered another one for my Kindle. Perhaps mysteries are becoming my genre of choice?

I would have preferred a slightly different ending, but hey, I didn't write the book! And, I have a feeling (hope?) I'll get my ending in another book. There are other Rachel Knight books out there, but you do not need to read them in order to enjoy them. Each stands alone.

The start of the book was a bit like putting a picture puzzle together – working from the outside in, rather than a linear storyline. I enjoyed it. And she did get all the pieces in place by the end of the book for the complete picture.

Rachel Knight, Ms. Clark's protagonist, is a prosecuting attorney in the Special Trials unit. When one of her cohorts almost loses the case of a homeless man's murder through his ineptness, she grabs it, and with the help of a couple of good friends, finds out the case is not all that simple. Are they ever?

Turns out the homeless man had ties to a cop who was brutally murdered a couple years before. Everyone knows his wife – everyone, that is, but the jury of her peers who saw an innocent woman and acquitted her – killed him. Ms. Knight, of course, must dig into the old killing as she tries to solve the new murder.

Many have told me that trials are high drama with limited sets. Although little of this story takes place in a courtroom, there is great drama in the pages of this book. Marcia Clark knows her way around the legal system, and has the ability to write about it in a gripping way, with enough humor thrown in so it doesn't become either tedious or too dark. I hope her other books keep the same set of characters. They're great fun. Well, except for the bad guys who get there just rewards. Don't they?