If you're a fan of straight up
legal dramas then you won't be disappointed by Hostile Witness (and it
was a freebie at Amazon - doesn`t get much better than that). It reads
like any great lawyer show you might watch on TV or see at the movies.
In fact it would make a great movie. I was hooked right from the opening chapter. A
well-loved, Supreme Court Justice Fritz Rayburn is dead and a young 16
year old girl, Hannah Sheraton is in jail accused of his murder. Josie
Baylor-Bates is a great lawyer. She's an athlete who enjoys a little
beach volleyball, has a great no strings attached, mutually satisfying
relationship with ex-cop turned PI Archer and a great low stress job at a
laid back practice in Hermosa Beach...ahhhh that's the life.
But
once upon a time Josie was a big time lawyer, forced into the spotlight
when she defended a young woman, a mother of two small children. Josie
defended her client so brilliantly that she walked only to later
perpetrate the greatest crime a mother could commit. Josie never wanted
to be in that position again so she threw in the towel for local small
time, small problem law. Until a blast from her college days Linda
Rayburn begs and pleads for Josie to defend her innocent daughter,
accused of murder...the murder of Judge Rayburn.
The whole case is extremely interesting and complex. Hannah was a disturbed teenage whose metal status I continually questioned. She's got OCD, cuts herself with razor blades and has been in trouble with the law in the past...basically she's a mess. Did she or didn't she do it?
The whole case is extremely interesting and complex. Hannah was a disturbed teenage whose metal status I continually questioned. She's got OCD, cuts herself with razor blades and has been in trouble with the law in the past...basically she's a mess. Did she or didn't she do it?
It's
up to Josie to figure out the truth from the lies. What hidden Rayburn
family dynamics are at work? The judge's son Kip, married to Hannah's
mom Linda is poised to assume his father's seat on the bench. Who's
willing to lie to keep the truth hidden? And is a little bit crazy
Hannah going to be the scapegoat? I really enjoyed Hostile
Witness. It keep me guessing (even at 90% into the story). Was Hannah
really innocent? Was she a consummate master manipulator? Josie was
steadfastly in Hannah's corner, defending her with every lawyer bone in
her body when others would have sacrificed her to further their own
agenda. Was history going to repeat itself? Was it possible for Josie to
be so wrong about someone for a second time?
