BAFFLING BINGO MYSTERY BOOK DAY: GUILT BY ASSOCIATION BY MARCIA CLARK - REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

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MYSTERY BOOK CHOICE IS.....

GIVEAWAY ENDED!
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

BY MARCIA CLARK

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Brilliant and tenacious, DA Rachel Knight lives and breathes her work and disdains office politics—a combustible combination that often gets her into trouble. She is a stalwart member of the elite Special Trials Unit, a small group of handpicked prosecutors that handles the toughest, most sensitive, and most celebrated cases in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

At the end of a typical ten-hour day, Rachel has her sights set on an ice-cold martini at the Biltmore Hotel, where she lives. But on her way she’s sidetracked by the wail of sirens and the commotion of a crime scene. Cops swarm around a seedy motel, where Rachel is surprised to discover that Jake, a dear friend and fellow prosecutor, has been murdered.

The suspicious and potentially explosive circumstances of Jake’s death are never far from Rachel’s thoughts as she takes on her fallen colleague’s most politically charged case: the mysterious assault on a young woman from an influential L.A. family. Rachel enlists the help of her best friends and partners in crime-fighting—Toni, a fellow Special Trials prosecutor, and Bailey, a tough-as-nails LAPD detective—to covertly undertake her own investigation into Jake’s murder. Rachel’s drive to clear Jake’s name exposes a world of power and violence that will have her risking her reputation—and her life—to find the truth.

PRAISE FOR GUILT BY ASSOCIATION:

“Marcia Clark’s debut novel showcases her experience and knowledge of the legal system. The pace, plot and dialogue are as sharp as they come in the genre. Her character of Rachel Knight bleeds real blood, sweat and tears on the page. Guilt is a four-bagger for Clark and her many new fans will eagerly await her next step up to the plate.” -David Baldacci

“You must read this book: it is wildly and complexly plotted, ebulliently witty and filled with riotous humor; it details the inner workings of the L.A. legal system with unprecedented accuracy and verve – and to top it off, it is a damn, damn, good thriller.” -James Ellroy

“A triumphant fiction debut that catapults her to the same level as Linda Fairstein, her fellow assistant DA turned legal thriller novelist…Clark deftly handles the multiple plotlines…Readers will want to see a lot more of Knight, who combines strength of character and compassion with all-too-human foibles.” -Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Don’t be dissuaded by the celebrity-author factor: Clark, lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson trial, pairs her knowledge of the L.A. judicial scene with a surprising flair for fiction in a remarkably accomplished debut novel….Clark offers a real page-turner here, with smart, fast-moving prose; a skillfully
constructed plot; and a protagonist well worth knowing. Rachel, whose past is only hinted at, is a well-rounded character who’s as tough with suspects as she is sensitive with young victims. A top-notch legal thriller that will leave readers wanting more.” -Booklist, Starred Review

“A corker of a debut novel in which a brainy, plucky female prosecutor refuses to rush to judgment… That the novel is marked by authenticity is no surprise given Clark’s credentials—she was, after all, lead prosecutor in the headline-grabbing O.J. Simpson trial—but what may surprise some readers is the quality of the writing, plus the considerable charm of Rachel and her buddies.” -Kirkus, Starred Review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marcia Clark is a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who was the lead prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson murder case. She cowrote a bestselling nonfiction book about the trial, Without a Doubt, and is a frequent media commentator and columnist on legal issues. She lives in Los Angeles. 

Marcia Clark combines the vibrant voice of her heroine, Rachel Knight, with her insider’s expertise in L.A. courts and criminality in this exciting debut. Intimately detailed, wildly funny, and viscerally paced, Guilt by Association marks the launch of a major new presence on the crime-fiction landscape.

MY REVIEW:

GUILT BY ASSOCIATION by Marcia Clark could be the first in a very successful series of legal thrillers with Rachel Knight, District Attorney, as the main character. Unlike many books in this genre, Knight is a prosecutor where we more commonly read about a defender. Clark personally knows the demands of working long hours in a prosecutor’s office and that background serves her well as she aptly describes those kind of days and the work Knight and her team put in. In that the main character, Rachel Knight, is narrating, I felt I heard the story straight from Marcia Clark and so it seemed more authentic and less improbable as some of these books can be. With the help of friends like the Deputy DA, Jake Pahlmeyer, and Toni, her friend from the DA Special Units Office, and Bailey, a detective with the LAPD, Knight is a force to be reckoned with.

The authentic setting that Clark knows so well, as many of the places are ones she probably worked and lived in, allows GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to take on a feeling of reality making it an easy read that grabs you right away. Also, the end of each chapter had a little hook to it, much like the writing of James Patterson, in which you just had to go on to the next chapter to find out what was going to happen next. Definition of a page turner? Perhaps.

The story moves quickly into high gear when Jake is found dead in a low rent motel with a kid known to work the streets, named Kit, beside him. The police quickly call it a suicide-murder. They are basing this on the assumption that Jake is gay as well as the fact that his prints are on the gun. Seems like “CASE CLOSED” is written immediately on this one but friends Rachel, Bailey, and Toni don’t agree at all! They knew Jake and this can’t be right. He was probably the nicest of them all as well as a hard worker and so they decide to find out what really happened. They owe it to their friend to prove his innocence in this one. Needless to say, Rachel’s warned to stay away from the case but as readers discover about Rachel throughout the book, that isn’t the kind of thing to have ever stopped her before.

Meanwhile, others have to pick up the slack left behind by Jake’s death and Rachel is assigned to the Densmore case. This entails a very well known Hollywood doctor whose fifteen-year-old daughter is raped in her own bedroom. The assumption is that someone who knew the house, and/or those who lived within, had to be the one brave enough to climb the ladder to young Susan Densmore’s bedroom. With this in mind, her father is convinced that Luis Revelo is the suspect. This is a young man who Susan was tutoring and trying to help him get into college. She thought of him as a friend and she insists Luis is not the guilty party. Just because he is in a gang doesn’t make him guilty but with a powerful father seeking revenge, Luis is targeted but he makes a deal and actually ends up trying to help Rachel find the real perpetrator.

Lt. Graden Hales is put in charge of the case on Jake Pahlmeyer and he knows that Rachel was ordered off that case. Hales likes the way she works (and looks) and he gives Rachel some help. As the story twists and turns, the two cases keep running into each other a little predictably, and perhaps too conveniently. Not surprisingly, Rachel is targeted and not only is her car totaled but she is shot at. With the short chapters, some good writing, and best of all, well developed characters, the story winds around bringing into it all sorts of evil and mayhem. Although the fact the two cases naturally run together, and there might be a little too much going on, there isn’t anything that isn’t improbable or unbelievable. Given Marcia Clark’s background and her literary aptitude, I would hope to see her develop this talent fully and even perhaps make the very likable character of Rachel Knight into a series. She kept me on pins and needles until the end, and I think those who like a good, fast mystery will enjoy GUILT BY ASSOCIATION.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT MULHOLLAND BOOKS WITH LITTLE, 

BROWN AND CO., I HAVE ONE COPY

OF GUILT BY ASSOCIATION TO GIVE AWAY

 

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