Author: Marcia Clark
Genre: Mystery, thriller
Published on: August 29, 2017 by Thomas & Mercer
In the third installment of Marcia Clark’s bestselling series, attorney Samantha Brinkman’s investigation into a family’s deadly secrets is compromised by a threat from her past.
When the daughter of prominent civil litigator Graham Hutchins is found with her throat slashed, the woman’s spurned ex-boyfriend seems the likely suspect. But only days later, the young man dies in what appears to be a suicide. Or was it? Now authorities are faced with a possible new crime. And their person of interest is Hutchins. After all, avenging the death of his daughter is the perfect reason to kill. If he’s as innocent as he claims, only one lawyer has what it takes to prove it: his friend and colleague Samantha Brinkman.
It’s Sam’s obligation to trust her new client. Yet the deeper she digs on his behalf, the more entangled she becomes in a thicket of family secrets, past betrayals, and multiple motives for murder. To win her case, she’s prepared to bend any law and cross any boundary that stands in her way. Sam has always played by her own rules, and it’s always worked…so far. But this case cuts so deep and so personal that one false move could cost her everything.
Defense attorney Samantha Brinkman is back with her newest high-profile case. She and her associates (Michelle Jones and Alex Medrano) first find out about it through the news. Alicia, a college freshman, was found dead in her bathtub. As usual, the primary suspect is her ex-boyfriend Roan. There are…issues that point to his guilt. The case against Roan takes a wild turn when he turns up dead too. While the police investigate the circumstances, Alicia’s father Graham Hutchins stops by Samantha’s office. He feels like he may need an attorney soon.
Samantha first gives Graham condolences for the loss of his daughter. He’s a lawyer too, so Graham and Samantha are acquainted with each other. When Roan’s case becomes more pressing, Samantha officially takes on Graham as a client. She and Alex, her investigator, begin looking into Alicia’s life. They interview her friends seeking to find out who killed Alicia. Samantha’s goal is to discover if someone may have wanted both Alicia and Roan dead.
Since Graham is also an attorney, Samantha figures he won’t make many missteps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out that way. Roan had a loving family, and they press the police to bring his killer to justice. Things are said that make Graham fire back, but it ends up hurting his case. This frustrates Samantha, of course. She hasn’t had a client like this before. And it’s also highly likely that Graham is guilty. After what Roan did to his daughter, who wouldn’t jump to the conclusion?
There’s a big subplot in Snap Judgment. A little while back, Samantha ended up in the debt of a powerful crime lord, Javier Cabazon. He’s nowhere near as funny as his surname suggests (Cabazon sounds like the Spanish slang word cabezón, “pigheaded”). Now the boss is back to demand a favor. Cabazon wants Samantha to track down a certain someone. This person could bring serious problems for a member of Cabazon’s family if she’s not found. Samantha has no choice but to accept to do this favor. She doesn’t involve Michelle or Alex, though. Samantha doesn’t want them to have anything to do with a man as dangerous as Cabazon. He does know Samantha’s father, Detective Dale Pearson, so she enlists his help.
When the identity of the main antagonist is revealed, I was shocked. It wasn’t anyone I expected. And the things this person did…they’re chilling, as is the true reason Alicia died. The antagonist’s mind is sick and twisted. As for Samantha, she’s a compelling protagonist. There’s one thing I found curious about her, though. In every book so far, Samantha consumes at least one glass of Patron Silver every night without fail. She’s not an alcoholic, not technically, but come on. That much liquor? Even with cabezón in the picture, that is pushing it. Anyway, other than this, Snap Judgment was an excellent third entry in the series. It’s just as good as the Rachel Knight novels. Fans of legal thrillers won’t want to miss this.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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