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cj_mo_2222's review against another edition
5.0
“The Flinch Factor” is the latest in the long-running Rachel Gold legal series. Rachel is now widowed and raising her young son and two step-daughters on her own. She and her legal partner Jacki Brand are dealing with two difficult cases. The first case deals with a neighborhood fighting the purchase of their homes for a new development and the other involves the sister of a man found dead in a car who is convinced her brother was murdered. The two partners, along with help from Rachel’s best friend Benny Goldberg, do some sleuthing to get information to help their clients and are shocked at the direction the cases take.
I have been reading this series since the beginning and was excited to see a new installment had been written. I was not disappointed in this suspenseful, but fun novel. Longtime readers of the series will be pleased, but it’s accessible to new readers as well. The book is a great mixture of mystery, courtroom drama, and humor filled with quirky, but believable and likeable characters – some to root for and some to root against! Jacki and Benny are “characters” in every sense of the word. Rachel is more serious and more conventional than her two friends but all three are smart, loyal, and make a great team.
The courtroom scenes are excellent and it’s great seeing Rachel use her wits to turn the assignment of an unpredictable and sometimes incompetent judge to her advantage. The case involving unscrupulous developers was thought-provoking. There is depth to the book and yet it is fun to read, partly because of the balance between Rachel, the attorney, and Rachel the woman. The parts of the book showing Rachel’s relationship with her high school and college-aged step-daughters are also excellent. It’s touching to see the three help each other deal with their grief over the death of Rachel’s husband.
This is a fun, interesting book and it’s great seeing Rachel in action again. The St. Louis setting is a bonus for me and makes the book even better. Readers who don’t know Rachel, but enjoy the “Ben Kincaid” series by William Bernhardt will enjoy the latest by Michael A. Kahn.
I received this book from NetGalley, through the courtesy of Poisoned Pen Press, in exchange for an honest review.
I have been reading this series since the beginning and was excited to see a new installment had been written. I was not disappointed in this suspenseful, but fun novel. Longtime readers of the series will be pleased, but it’s accessible to new readers as well. The book is a great mixture of mystery, courtroom drama, and humor filled with quirky, but believable and likeable characters – some to root for and some to root against! Jacki and Benny are “characters” in every sense of the word. Rachel is more serious and more conventional than her two friends but all three are smart, loyal, and make a great team.
The courtroom scenes are excellent and it’s great seeing Rachel use her wits to turn the assignment of an unpredictable and sometimes incompetent judge to her advantage. The case involving unscrupulous developers was thought-provoking. There is depth to the book and yet it is fun to read, partly because of the balance between Rachel, the attorney, and Rachel the woman. The parts of the book showing Rachel’s relationship with her high school and college-aged step-daughters are also excellent. It’s touching to see the three help each other deal with their grief over the death of Rachel’s husband.
This is a fun, interesting book and it’s great seeing Rachel in action again. The St. Louis setting is a bonus for me and makes the book even better. Readers who don’t know Rachel, but enjoy the “Ben Kincaid” series by William Bernhardt will enjoy the latest by Michael A. Kahn.
I received this book from NetGalley, through the courtesy of Poisoned Pen Press, in exchange for an honest review.
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyment this. While not really relevant to others' experience of the book, part of what I liked so much was that the book is set in Saint Louis, where I live. I alway love seeing characters going to familiar places and enacting local quirks. Kahn did right by our fair city.
More widely relevant is how diverse the cast is. I always appreciate this. Rachel is Jewish (and fully adult, no 24-year-old heroine with a miraculous law degree here), her best friend is fat and successful in both his professional and romantic life, her legal partner is transgendered and hit on repeatedly (as well as being like 6' 2" and about 250lbs), the main police detective is old, one of her friends is gay, and the individuals Rachel encounters through the book came in a rainbow of races.
The mystery isn't hard to figure out. In fact, it's pretty obvious. But being a legal thriller, not a mystery, the fun is in Rachel figuring out how to prove it. I did think she took too long to put the pieces together, considering how smart she's obviously supposed to be. But all in all, a good read.
An additional note: This is book eight in a series. I've not read 1-7, but had no problem picking this one up and following it.
More widely relevant is how diverse the cast is. I always appreciate this. Rachel is Jewish (and fully adult, no 24-year-old heroine with a miraculous law degree here), her best friend is fat and successful in both his professional and romantic life, her legal partner is transgendered and hit on repeatedly (as well as being like 6' 2" and about 250lbs), the main police detective is old, one of her friends is gay, and the individuals Rachel encounters through the book came in a rainbow of races.
The mystery isn't hard to figure out. In fact, it's pretty obvious. But being a legal thriller, not a mystery, the fun is in Rachel figuring out how to prove it. I did think she took too long to put the pieces together, considering how smart she's obviously supposed to be. But all in all, a good read.
An additional note: This is book eight in a series. I've not read 1-7, but had no problem picking this one up and following it.
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