Beach Lawyer

By Avery Duff

ISBN# 9781503943926

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

*Beware of possible spoilers*

Robert Worth has been working with a prestigious law firm for the past five years, and right when he’s about to make partner it all falls apart.  Robert is called into a litigation meeting by Jack Pierce to draw up some paperwork.  Robert is appalled by how Jack and fellow lawyer, Chase, are treating their client, but self-preservation keeps his mouth shut.  However, days later Robert reaches his breaking point with Jack when he breaks one of the picture frames in his office and Jack fires him!

Robert tries to move on, but quickly realizes that Jack has black-balled him from working at any of the other law firms in the area and is at a loss for what to do.  Well, until he talks to the client from that horrible meeting, Alison Maxwell.  The one that had called him one night stating that Jack Pierce had offered to try her case after all as long as she’d have sex with him and then proceeded to sexually assault her!  Robert puts all his time and effort into building a case against Jack.  But when it all comes together, why is it that Jack is the one that acts like he’s the one holding all the cards?

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book, I’ve seen some rather mixed reviews on the book.  It seems it’s one that people tend to love or hate, with not a lot in between.  My rating, however, does fall in the middle somewhere.

The book was interesting enough to keep me interested throughout, and I found Robert to be an engaging character.  He was the mythical honest lawyer you never thought existed; a real stand-up kind of guy with morals and a conscience.  Or is he?

There were plenty of twists and turns in this book to keep you guessing and I never completely solved the mystery.  The ones I thought were innocent turned out not to be, and those I believed to be innocent were as guilty as sin!  But I’m seriously surprised that Robert was taken by the whole banking scam that was the one thing that was pretty obvious to me!

I thought the ending was a little odd though, and I think the book went to places it really didn’t need to go.  The whole twist with Robert’s family felt a bit out there and unnecessary.

Overall, this is a pretty interesting read for those that like a good lawyer read, it reminded me a lot of the Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly.  I find this author, Avery Duff, is definitely worth reading again.