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Book Review
Reviewed: 29 November 2024

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

by: Robert Dugoni

Keera Duggan - Book 2

  • Rating: full starfull starfull starfull starstar outline (4/5)

Manipulation at its best, can't beat a Chessmaster

I have been waiting for this book since I heard about its upcoming release. I really like the Duggan family. The family drama, flaws, and all. I connect with Keera and Patsy’s relationship, their father-daughter bond. Keera has moxie, brains, and beauty.   In the last book, Her Deadly Game, she took some big lumps and bumps but came out on top in the end. This story picks up from there. Now, she has to put on her big girl pants once again to dig in and fight, for herself, her dad, and the girl she once was. 

From the summary, you know what there is history between the Duggans and the Bernsteins, that is not very rosy. We learn about the master manipulator, Jenna, and in my opinion it seems that the apple didn’t far from the family tree.  Keera makes the hard choice to work through her past with Jenna to do the job she has been hired to do - defend Jenna in court.

Patsy, Keera’s dad is not available to help nor be her safety net. She has to draw on everything he has taught her as well as her own experiences and wit to get the job done. JP, the company investigator and former police detective not only helps with evidence gathering but also moral support, helping to ease the loss of Patsy’s presence. 

Leveraging her Chessmaster skills to put on a bold and unorthodox defense, Keera, extended the Irish Brawler legend started by her father. As her father suggested, she learned more about herself during the trial and came out the better for it. 

While Rossi and Keera are opposite sides, him on the prosecution side and her on the defense side, they still respect each other and perhaps in Book 3, may actually have a non-working relationship (just speculating, hoping, wishing …)

I was right there with Rossi and Thompson (prosecuting attorney) unsure of where Keera was going with her trial strategy. I thought was wonderfully done. I’d just about figured things out, or so I thought, when the reveal happened. Bravo!

There are so many things I could say about this book, but don’t want to spoil it for anyone. If you have not read book 1, Her Deadly Game, I recommend you. Also, if you have not read the Tracy Crosswhite series also by Dugoni, you are missing out on some great female characters, strong yet flawed families, and terrific writing!

Happy Reading!

Release Date: 22-October-2024
Read-and-Listen, Female-Led, Legal Thriller

Plot Summary

A master manipulator accused of murder. An attorney sworn to defend her. Keera Duggan returns in a riveting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

When Jenna Bernstein, disgraced wunderkind CEO of a controversial biotech company, is accused of murdering her former partner and lover, she turns to Seattle attorney Keera Duggan to defend her. Keera is more than a master chess player who brings her intuitive moves into court—she’s Jenna’s childhood friend. But considering their history, Keera knows that where Jenna goes, trouble follows.

Three years earlier, Keera’s father successfully defended Jenna when she was tried for the killing of her company’s chief medical scientist who threatened to go public with allegations of corporate fraud. Keera knows Jenna too well. When she was a kid, Keera saw Jenna for what she a manipulative and frighteningly controlling sociopath. Now, with only circumstantial evidence against Jenna, Keera is willing to bury any trepidation she might have to defend a woman she believes, this time, to be innocent.

As the investigation gets underway and disturbing questions arise, Keera puts her trust in a client who swears nothing but the truth. If this is all just another devious game, Keera might be working to set a murderer free.