The Devil's Song

By Lauren Stahl

Akashic Books     2016

312 pages          

Legal Thriller

A fast read for a very cold New Year’s Day. I rushed through getting all the Christmas stuff put away so I could read in front of the fire. Aah! Peace, quiet, warmth, and a good book. What more could a person want?

The Devil’s Song by Lauren Stahl is a legal thriller with a female assistant district attorney as the protagonist. Kate Magda comes from a legal heritage—her father is the “President Judge” for the county. ( I had to look that up—it means “chief judge” in Pennsylvania.) Kate lives with her cousin Tess in a house supplied by Kate’s father, who was also Tess’s legal guardian as she was growing up. The two cousins shared a horrific event when they were very young, when Tess’s crazy step-father tried to kill them both. They continue to be haunted by the experience, but their lives are in the process of diverging. Kate is not sure what is happening to Tess, who seems to be drinking and drugging to excess.

A serial killer is on the loose, but he/she is only killing redheads, and redhead Kate is assigned to the case. She realizes very early that the killer seems to be sending a message to her, letting her know that she shares a personal link with the killer, and as a result, Kate fears for her life. The chief detective on the case, Sam Hart and Kate have had an on-again, off-again relationship, and he fears for her as well. 

There are a couple of twists and turns, and although the book starts slowly, it builds to an implausible, but effective conclusion. There are some clumsy moments, but in all The Devil’s Song is an engrossing read from a first-time author. I liked how Stahl uses her knowledge of the politics of being a district attorney to her advantage to create a subplot that is just as interesting as the main killer plot. The Devil’s Song most likely is the first in a series, and as Stahl concludes this episode, Kate has survived near death at the hands of the killer. In the final pages, we are fed hints of where the future of ADA Kate Magda may lay. 

The title, The Devil’s Song, has very little to do with the plot. It comes from a quote by H. H. Holmes, America’s first identifiable serial killer, who said, “I was born with the devil in me.” This idea, is only obliquely alluded to in the novel. Another title might have been more appropriate. I did enjoy a quote in the first couple of pages when introducing Kate. It came from the novel, Defending Jacob, which said that the key to being a successful prosecutor was to “Lure. Trap. Fuck.” I read and reviewed Defending Jacob in 2012 and loved it. Pleased to see Stahl quote that excellent novel.

Kate is a little hard to like. Tess, even less likeable. Actually, there are not very many likeable characters in the book. That may have been the intent of the author, but it made it hard to engage in the book at the beginning. Additionally, Kate is haunted by her past, but the reader is not helped to empathize with her past, horrifying though it was.

One of the things that I did like was that there were more action scenes than courtroom scenes. Sometimes legal thrillers can get stalled in the courtroom. Some authors I have reviewed try to show just how clever they are in the courtroom, and the reader is going, “Ho-hum!” Kudos to Stahl for staying out of the courtroom. I hope that as Stahl continues her series she uses her legal experience to probe more deeply into the political backdrop of her characters. That was part of attraction of The Devil’s Song.  The Publisher’s Weekly reviewer liked the book. “Stahl keeps the reader on a roller-coaster ride with unexpected twists and turns to the end.”

Law and Vengeance

by Mike Papantonio

SelectBooks     2017

336 pages     Legal Thriller

The author, Neil Gaiman, was quoted as saying, "I like stories where women save themselves." This is definitely the case with Gina Romano, the lawyer at the center of Law and Vengeance by attorney and radio host, Mike Papantonio. Like his previous book, Law and Disorder, Papantonio has created a thriller based on a real court case. Gina practically rises from the dead to avenge the murder of her lawyer friend, Angus Moore, who has saved her life.

Here is a summary of the book. 

Gina Romano is a highly successful trial lawyer with Bergman/Deketomis, a firm dedicated to protecting the public by exposing and penalizing corporate crooks and their allies in government. Well into her thirties, Gina hasn’t overcome the anger and defensiveness resulting from a bizarre and traumatic childhood. As she contemplates whether to marry solid, attractive and loyal veterinarian Bryan Penn or to send him packing, the murder of a friend and mentor, Angus Moore, turns her life into a quest for vengeance. In consort with partner Nick Deketomis, Gina runs headlong into a life and death struggle against weapons manufacturers, a gun rights lobbyist, psychopathic Chicago police, a hi-tech genius assassin, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Still, the most formidable and dangerous enemy she faces is herself.

The scene is set in the prologue with two seemingly unrelated events. A police officer named Kim Knudsen accidentally kills her partner while trying to arrest some gangbangers. Half a world away, soldier Cary Jones tries to keep Afghan terrorists from killing a little boy he has grown fond of, but instead he kills the boy's grandfather. In both cases, there seems to have been something wrong with the gun. 

The lawyers from Law and Disorder reappear, but the spotlight is definitely on Gina. I liked Law and Vengeance better than Law and Disorder and felt that the characters were better defined, although the composition remains clunky and descriptions leave a lot to be desired. It feels like Papantonio realized that he needed to fill in some empty spaces. Some text describes 1500 thread-count sheets, Gina's relationship with To Kill a Mockingbird, and her boyfriend, Bryan, serenading her with "I dream of Gina with the Light Brown Hair" which causes Gina to compare that song with other more famous Stephen Foster songs. The reader wavers between "Oh, for heaven's sake" and Who cares!"  However, when it comes to the lawyers deposing clients, the text is right on point. This is Papantonio's strength, because this is what he knows best.

Here is an interview with the author, Mike Papantonio, in USA Today. Also, here is a review I appreciated from a lawyer, Harry Graff. He says that he found the novel to be strong from a legal perspective, but "struggling with plotting and characterization." 

Mike Papantonio website.

The Girl from Home: A Thriller

by Adam Mitzner

Gallery Books    2016

324 pages     Thriller

Well, it's official. I have read more books by Adam Mitzner than any other author since I started blogging. A Conflict of Interest, A Case of Redemption, and Losing Faith all preceded The Girl from Home, which I finished reading yesterday. All four are good reads, but I believe that I enjoyed A Case of Redemption the most. In all his novels, Mitzner uses his understanding of criminal law in intriguing ways, mixing it with suspense to both ground the plot and show how the legal system works.

Jonathan Caine is a hedge fund manager, whose motto is "I want what I want," and frankly such a motto leads to an unlikeable character, which Jonathan remains throughout most of the book. Mitzner gives us an inside look into how a man like Jonathan lives, with a trophy wife, a penthouse condo, expensive meals, summer rentals, and a Bentley, which he reminds us frequently, is a lease. This is a lifestyle that few of Mitzner's readers have much experience with, although we get glimmers of it in the Trump political campaign. 

Jonathan makes some missteps with the funds he is managing, and he is fired by his company. His assets are frozen, his wife files for divorce, and his widowed father in New Jersey is dying. All in the span of a week or two—all in the first quarter of the book. Jonathan goes to his home town to care for his father, and decides to stay in his family home, since he has no job, no wife, and no money. 

At a high school reunion, he runs into Jackie, his high school crush, who is still as beautiful as she was as a teenager. Jackie, however, has a back story with as much baggage as Jonathan—an abusive husband and two teenagers. Both are vulnerable, and they quickly hook up for what Jonathan thinks will be a fling while he is in town. When Jackie's husband finds out about the affair, however, the narrative takes a dangerous turn. In her own way, Jackie is as self-indulgent as Jonathan. Can these two ever engage in a meaningful relationship?

I didn't like either Jonathan or Jackie very much through most of the book. I warmed to Jonathan during an intimate scene with his father when, shortly before his death, Jonathan's dad woke to have a father-son conversation that was very heart rending and affirming at the same time. Jackie's warmth remains elusive, and I never did find a way to identify with her. It could be that I am more forgiving of flawed male characters than I am of flawed female characters.

Mitzner shines when he is talking legal process, and the two lawyers who help Jonathan and Jackie are great guys who offer sound advice to both of the accused.  Although the cover calls this a thriller, the only thrill I got was when I realized how Jonathan and Jackie got away with murder. Mostly, it is a psychological study of an ill-fated romance.

The biggest thrill in this book is the author. It is hard to believe that a lawyer with a full time job and a family still has the time to turn out a book a year! The value of The Girl from Home for me is the author's discussion of the accumulation of wealth and the hollowness of the philosophy of "I want what I want." One revealing conversation between Jonathan and his wife Natasha early in the book gave me pause. 

"After a moment, in which she looks as if she's measuring her words, Natasha says, "Jonathan, someday you'll see that you can't always get exactly what you want" He raises his head and looks at her as if she's just uttered the worst form of blasphemy he can imagine. "Of course, I can, Natasha. I have for my entire life, and I have no intention of stopping now."

The Girl from Home was released yesterday. It's available for your spring break!

Adam Mitzner's home page.