Amanda Jaffe was a rising star in Portland's legal community until her well publicized battle with a brilliant sociopathβironically the trial that made her famousβleft her traumatized, filled with self-doubt, and wary of the limelight. But now she's agreed to handle a case no one else will touch.
Her client, Jon Dupre, runs an upscale call-girl service and stands accused of murdering a high-profile U.S. senator. To Amanda, Dupre's story of an ultra-secret society of extremely powerful, dangerous, politically motivated men sounds like a criminal's desperate attempt to escape justice. But suddenly too many important people are pressuring her to drop the case . . . and too many people are dying.
But Amanda will not surrender again to her fear. To get her life back, she'll follow this deadly juggernaut of an investigation wherever it leads her: to the graveyard, into the depths of hell . . . or to the highest office in the land.
Amazon.com Review
Bestselling author Phillip Margolin brings back Portland lawyer Amanda Jaffe for a repeat performance (after Wild Justice) in this mystery about a group of college killers who grow into a cadre of powerful political and business leaders bent on keeping their boyhood adventures concealed--as well as their present-day connection with a gang of cutthroat South American drug lords. There's big biotech money involved, enough to keep the so-called Vaughn Street Glee Club intent on making sure anyone who knows about their plans is silenced. Permanently, if necessary. It's up to Amanda to unmask the reason why the Glee Club is so anxious for her client Jon Dupre, the accused killer of a U.S. senator, to go down for murder. And what she learns about the lengths to which they'll go to keep their secrets, including killing members of their own family, threatens her life as well. Margolin strings a clumsy plot on a weak thread--why three affluent college boys become killers is never adequately explained--and the heroine, whose dogged perseverance is admirable, is otherwise too boring to capture the reader's interest. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Murder and intricately plotted mayhem are abundant in this latest by attorney-turned-novelist Margolin (Wild Justice), which should satisfy the most discerning and bloodthirsty of legal literati. There's a huge cast of characters, but readers shouldn't get attached-most will end up dead. Oregon attorney Amanda Jaffe reluctantly agrees to defend Portland pimp and drug dealer Jon Dupre, accused of killing one of his high-end call girls. Since Dupre also murdered his previous lawyer in a fit of pique, defending him takes guts. Jaffe's opponent in the case is state's attorney Tim Harrigan. A handsome ex-football star, Harrigan intends to parlay this sensational trial into national prominence and election to the Senate. Unfortunately, Harrigan harbors a fatal weakness and a dark secret, both of which undermine his performance as prosecuting attorney and his ascension to high-level politics. Behind all this subterfuge lurks a covert club of prominent, fat-cat officials who secretly manipulate unsuspecting men and women into implementing the club's criminal master plan to elect one of their own to the U.S. presidency. It matters little that the premise is over-the-top and that most of the characterizations are familiar. Margolin's legal expertise and narrative skill keeps the plot twisting, the action rolling and readers precariously perched on the edge of their seats.
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