Her Cold Justice

No longer in the Irish Brawler’s shadow

Keera hits the ground running after her well-deserved vacation in Italy. JP, the firm’s investigator and Keera’s friend, asks for her help in defending this nephew, Michael. The fear is real that Michael could be in jail for the rest of his life, based on the prosecutor, Anh Tran’s, reputation and conviction record.

This story was humming from the beginning and kept on going. Patsy is out of rehab and doing well. He is there is Keera needs him. Not to give too much away, but we get to see a bit of why he is referred to as the “Irish Brawler”. For those who also read Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswaite series, you might recognize the restaurant mentioned towards the end.  

I am getting a little ahead of myself, jumping to the end. This story was very well paced, plotted, and voiced. It feels as if a lot of research was put into understanding not only the judicial system, but also those who could relate to the treatment, thoughts, and feelings of the characters. The Irish lawyer is defending a young Black man who is the son of an Immigrant being prosecuted by an Asian woman. In this series and others, Dugoni has been adept at creating and portraying strong, confident, flawed, and successful female characters. He has done the same with tapping into the cultural nuances in this book. I felt as though he talked with people in the Black and Asian communities to get a sense of their view of the justice system. It made even some of the smaller characters have depth. While the story is a legal thriller forward, there are a few themes along the edges. 

It was nice to see Detective Billy Ford lead on a case instead of Detective Frank Rossi. If you have not read books 1 and 2, you won’t be lost, but if you liked this one, maybe go back to them. Having Ford as on the prosecution team created opportunities for Dugoni to delve into deeper commentaries. Ford, a tall 6ft 8in Black man and father of three boys, understandably has some feelings about the case against a young Black man who has had a couple of missteps in his youth but seemed to be on the right path until now. 

There is JP, who is also a Black man. While Ford is from the South, JP is British. He and his sister, Michael’s mom, immigrated when they were young. JP is also a former police officer. Both JP and Ford bring a perspective and insight that Keera needs to understand how to defend Michael.

Anh Tran’s backstory … the resilience and strength shown to overcome the horrific death of her parents and, for all intents and purposes, succeed was very well presented. I grew up hearing “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Anh lived it. My feelings about her actions are that she had good intentions when her career began. She didn’t seek fame nor financial gain. However, one decision forever changed her and her path. I could empathize with how she got there. Would I have made the same decision? I cannot say for sure, but I believe I would have definitely considered it.

This character-driven legal thriller has stuck with me. I admit that some plot points I did figure out before their reveal. It felt more like a pat on my back for keeping up than a critique of the author's execution. The bob-and-weave (brawler reference, couldn’t resist) that Keera had to do to fight in court was amazing. I think Patsy gave some of the best advice, to play her own game.  

There is more I could say, but I fear I would give too much away. As I have come to expect and admire, there are many strong, capable female characters in this story. The plot kept me engaged from the very first page. 

One more thing: Judge Patel (also a woman) imparts a pearl or two of wisdom… foreshadowing???

Overall, a fantastic, thought-provoking read.

Happy Reading!