Judgment Calls: A Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing Legal Thriller
Review: A hard-to-put down legal thriller by a debut mystery writer with a great new voice. The protagonist, Portland ADA Samantha Kincaid, is witty, gritty, and wise, a likable fighter for justice. The plot has already be told and retold, so I won't go there, and just will say I was hooked from the first few pages. I'm now getting ready to read the second book in the series, "Missing Justice." As others have mentioned, she is a talent in development, demonstrating the literary genes of her legendary author father, James Lee Burke.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended with mild reservations
Review: Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid of Portland Oregon is faced with a particularly disturbing case. A thirteen year old girl is found raped, sodomized and left for dead in the woods outside of town. The girl, Kendra Martin, identifies her attacker as Frank Derringer. With that evidence the case is brought to trial. However, with flimsy evidence, Samantha sees pitfalls ahead as she goes against an idealistic and aggressive public defender. As the complexity of the case reveals itself, Samantha actually finds herself in imminent danger.
Alafair Burke, daughter of MWA Grand master James Lee Burke, has written a very different book than the lyrically beautiful writing of her father. I don't mean this in a negative sense. Alafair Burke is a law professor and, like Samantha, a former DA in Portland. The book is character driven. With much influence from Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Nevada Barr and Laura Lippmann to name a few, the character of Samantha is the key to everything. We must, of course, know everything about her including her preferences in food and love. She must have the obligatory pet, live alone, have a lover etc. In spite of the fact that this book is not of my personal taste, there is much promising about this debut writer. She delves into the personality of Samantha Kincaid with vigor in first person narrative. The character is dead on. I wonder if it is the author herself we are getting to know. The conclusion is complex with the obligatory exposition scene of the villain holding the gun over the hero while divulging all. Yet, it is deftly handled. Overall, recommended with mild reservation.

Rating:
Summary: promising debut
Review: JUDGMENT CALLS marks the debut of Alafair Burke, daughter of famous crime writer James Lee Burke. The plot involves Samantha Kincaid, an assistant DA in Portland, who's prosecuting a brutal rape/attempted murder. The case looks airtight, but then a possible link to a serial killer arises, as does the possibility that Samantha's lover (a cop) may have put an innocent woman in jail.

Much of the book details the legal maneuverings around the rape case, and there's quite a bit of description of legal procedures that will be familiar to anyone who has seen a couple of episodes of Law & Order. At times I thought the book dragged, but I enjoyed being in the company of these characters and the final plot twist is genuinely exciting. I look forward to reading more from this author.