Losing Faith by Adam Mitzner

Published by Gallery Books on April 14, 2015

Aaron Littman heads a high powered New York law firm. He is surprised when he is asked to take on the criminal defense of Nicolai Garkov, who is charged with securities and bank fraud and suspected of terrorism. Garkov's trial, just a month away, has been reassigned to Judge Faith Nichols. Neither Littman nor Nichols want anything to do with Garkov's case, but Garkov knows how to get what he wants. Littman finds himself with a Hobson's choice: refuse Garkov and lose his career or do Garkov's bidding and risk losing much more.

What begins as a simple blackmail story takes an ominous turn about a third of the way through the novel and an even sharper turn at the midway point. Losing Faith addresses a murder accusation, the usual focus of courtroom dramas, and challenges the reader to guess who committed the murder. It does those things quite well.

Losing Faith paints a bleak but accurate picture of life for lawyers in large corporate firms ... if you can call it a life. Adam Mitzner is spot on about the willingness (indeed, eagerness) of large corporate law firms to put profits ahead of principles. The novel's political dynamics (Faith has a shot at a Supreme Court nomination but only if Garkov is convicted and sentenced to the max) reflect a jaded view, but it is also a realistic view of how the career path of a judge is influenced by politics and grandstanding more than the judge's fidelity to the law.

The novel also offers bleak but accurate insights into how the criminal justice system railroads innocent people. It includes a fair amount of the "inside baseball" that makes a courtroom drama credible, all of it presented from a knowledgeable perspective. It accurately depicts how prosecutors can use the immense power of the government to coerce witnesses into giving testimony that will help secure a conviction. Not that, by the novel's end, the defense lawyers come across as any more ethical than the prosecutors. Most courtroom dramas paint either prosecutors or defense attorneys as knights in shining armor, but Losing Faith exposes the ugly truth that in many instances, both sides care only about winning and are willing to sacrifice their integrity to achieve that goal.

The courtroom scenes are riveting and the underlying mystery is a good one. My only significant objection is that the murder accusation is based on evidence that is not only circumstantial but weak -- so weak that I doubt a prosecutor would have based an indictment on it. While the story depends upon readers believing the government had a strong case, the prosecution's case seemed quite doubtful to me. That's a small complaint, however, and one that did not impair my overall enjoyment of the story.

If the reveal of the murderer at the novel's end is not entirely unexpected, Losing Faith has the virtue of being a novel that never overreaches. Too many courtroom dramas (and mysteries in general) rely on preposterous endings to achieve the element of surprise, but Losing Faith never produces an eye-rolling moment. While not quite on the level of Presumed Innocent (still the gold standard of courtroom dramas), Losing Faith tells a credible, satisfying, attention-grabbing story with flawed (and thus realistic) characters who are nevertheless sympathetic.

RECOMMENDED

Mystery, Inc. by Joyce Carol Oates

Published by MysteriousPress.com on April 7, 2015

"Mystery, Inc." is Joyce Carol Oates' contribution to the Bibliomysteries series from Mysterious Press. Each short story is the creation of a crime writer. The stories are blurbed as "short tales about deadly books" but they more broadly address deadly authors, deadly bookstores, deadly libraries, and other deadly aspects of the literary world.

The owner of several mystery bookstores would love to acquire Mystery, Inc. in Seabrook, New Hampshire, the finest example of a mystery bookstore he has ever seen. To obtain the store at a good price, however, the current owner will have to die. How unfortunate.

"Mystery Inc." is as much an homage to mystery bookstores and mystery booksellers as it is a mystery story. Atmosphere is everything in a narrative that takes us for a loving stroll past cabinets filled with first editions of Poe and Doyle, pulp magazines filled with Hammett and Chandler, and a variety of art and memorabilia relating to death and crime.

Oates also delves into the philosophy of the mystery story and its relationship to the mystery of life. Mystery books, a character opines, allow us to see the many mysteries of life more clearly, from perspectives that are not our own.

Of course, a reader expects to encounter murderous perspectives in a murder mystery. Oates does not disappoint; the bookstore has a dark history. And of course, good mysteries deliver plot twists. Oates does that, and if the twist is not unexpected, it is nevertheless satisfying. "Mystery Inc." lacks the depth of Oates' best work but her stories never fail to entertain.

RECOMMENDED

Intrusion by Reece Hirsch

Published by Thomas & Mercer on December 9, 2014

Trying to make Intellectual Property law interesting is, well, just plain impossible. Trying to make an IP lawyer into an action hero is, well, just plain silly. Reece Hirsch gave it a good try but, at least in this novel, didn't make it work.

Someone has stolen the search algorithms of Zapper (a thinly disguised Google), causing Zapper's CEO to assemble a Dream Team of hackers and security specialists. The culprits appear to be in China, perhaps even working for the Chinese government. Zapper's IP lawyer, Chris Bruen, improbably decides to go to China to track down the thieves himself ... because IP lawyers are so well-equipped to take on the People's Liberation Army. Bruen specializes in safeguarding the privacy of clients but he takes a more hands-on offensive against hackers than the traditional "sue them into oblivion" approach. He is assisted by a former hacker who now runs the law firm's forensics lab.

Bruen's exploits in China are the conventional stuff of thrillers but they seem all-too-easy. A section of the novel that explains the making of a Chinese hit man is equally unconvincing. After Bruen returns to the US, he spends most of his time dodging the hit man. His actions are predictable and dull. He later comes running to the rescue of another character in San Francisco instead of waiting for the police to respond to his request for assistance. Seriously? Some of the novel's dialog fails to ring true although the prose in general is passable if unmemorable.

To be fair, there is an element of mystery to the plot. The kind of misdirection that is common in a mystery worked on me, although when the mystery was resolved I didn't buy the resolution (I can't say why without spoiling the mystery). Since the plots of most modern thrillers are founded on the implausible, however, I can't fault Hirsch for following that trend. More troublesome is that, once again, Bruen's ability to expose the wrongdoing is just a little too easy. Thrillers need to build tension and this one doesn't.

Intrusion does contain some interesting discussions about the ethics of hacking and the desire to set information free. Hirsch obviously understands the implications of data mining and the uses (some good, some nefarious) to which they can be put -- whether by the Chinese government, the American government, or a corporation like Google. That makes the novel interesting rather than exciting. The basics of a good thriller are here, but the thrills are largely missing and the characters are dull.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Fox Is Framed by Lachlan Smith

Published by Mysterious Press on April 7, 2015

The family saga that began in Bear Is Broken and Lion Plays Rough continues in Fox Is Framed. We learned in the first two novels that Lawrence Maxwell was wrongfully convicted of killing the mother of his two sons. He may or may not be guilty but the prosecution concealed evidence that might have created a reasonable doubt about his guilt.

Like Lawrence, Leo and Ted Maxwell are both lawyers. At the beginning of Fox is Framed, they win the release of their father on bail. Ted is convinced of his father's innocence but a head wound that Ted received in an earlier novel has shattered his career. Leo continues to feel conflicted about his father even though his father's prison inmate connections may provide a steady supply of clients. In any event, the prosecution decides to take Lawrence to trial again and a new lawyer is appointed to represent him.

When a prosecution witness dies, Lawrence becomes a suspect in that murder, as well. The reader's challenge (and Leo's) is to figure out whether Lawrence had anything to do with the new murder and, if not, to discover the true culprit. Leo knows that proving Lawrence's innocence of the second murder might be the key to an acquittal on the first murder charge, since the prosecution's other evidence of his guilt is scant. Like Leo, however, the reader wonders whether Leo's father might have been the killer in both instances.

Lachlan Smith is at his best when the scenes turn to courtroom drama. He deftly conveys the tension and unpredictability of criminal trials, the risks and rewards of cross-examination, the gambling on strategies that either work or backfire. The novel loses some of its punch when it turns from courtroom drama to family drama but it never descends into melodrama. The novel's ending sets up more family drama in the future, which is unfortunate. I'd like to see this series move in a new direction. Apart from that, the ending leaves certain questions unresolved, which is a cheap setup to force curious readers to continue with the series. That's something I would have done anyway, given my admiration of Smith's ability to craft strong courtroom scenes.

RECOMMENDED

Before He Finds Her by Michael Kardos

Published by Mysterious Press on February 3, 2015

An elderly reporter, nearing death, blogs about the unsolved murder that has obsessed him -- unsolved in the sense that Ramsey Miller, who killed his wife and fled with his daughter, has never been apprehended. Of Ramsey's guilt and the daughter's death, the reporter is certain.

Melanie hates the isolation that defines her life, but living in witness protection means no internet, no travel, and no real friends. Melanie lives with her aunt and uncle and is, of course, hiding from Ramsey.

Early chapters of Before He Finds Her alternate between the past and present. The chapters in the past follow Ramsey, who believes he is just awakening to the beauty of life but is actually awakening to madness, embodied in his belief in an impending apocalypse he attributes to the "orbital axis." Ramsey's childhood is depicted more realistically and sympathetically than most thrillers manage.

As the novel moves forward, Melanie, being young and foolish, decides she needs to find Ramsey before he finds her. Michael Kardos never quite sold me on that motivation. In any event, to further her quest, Melanie meets with the blogger. Her investigation proceeds in an unexpected direction. More than that I will not say.

Most of the first half of Before He Finds Her reads more like a human interest story than a suspense novel. I would not say that the second half is more suspenseful but it reads more like a thriller. None of the surprising revelations are particularly surprising, which is the novel's greatest weakness.

While I was reading the first half, I found it difficult to suspend disbelief in certain aspects of the story that just didn't seem plausible. To my relief, Kardos deals with those in the second half. That cemented my interest. The story is plausible (a plus in the modern era of implausible thrillers). Even if the ending is telegraphed at an early point, eroding the excitement and shock value that thriller fans crave, I enjoyed the characters and the storytelling.

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