Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by ejl2623
Reckoning Hour by Peter O'Mahoney
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Reckoning Hour debuts a new series and new character from author Peter Mahoney. Dean Lincoln, a well-known Chicago criminal defense lawyer, has reluctantly agreed to return to his South Carolina hometown with his wife Emma. Her mother requires chemotherapy and they are going to help there. While there, he has arranged to work with Bruce, an older local lawyer who is Dean's former mentor and friend. At this point, Dean's experience in an urban area gave him more opportunities to handle complex and high profile cases, so his help is much needed on Bruce's first murder defense case. A young man is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend. He's not been in trouble before but the circumstantial evidence against him is strong and the sheriff is not looking for any other suspects. Dean is to second chair this case and first chair a pro bono arson case for another young man who is accused of burning down a barn and a field with crops worth quite a bit of money. If he did it, it would be totally out of character.
Dean is reluctant to go home to Beumont, because of a tragedy that struck his family just a few years ago. Talking about this more than this would be a spoiler, but it sets the stage for how wealthy/privileged people in town have tremendous power over local government and can make very unfair things happen. The novel then takes us through Dean's investigation of the cases, his run ins with a wealthy/privileged person that hurt plea deals his mentor is trying to get for both cases. Dean has tried a lot of cases and tries to convince Bruce that some cases should be tried. Bruce prefers not to take chances and to plead everyone out. In the town of Beaumont, no lawyers work big city lawyer hours and, actually much like most places, criminal cases get resolved without trials.
Mahoney's characters and the plot of the novel were very enjoyable. His writing is good, but less my taste The style is largely people talking with only necessary information to connect the dots among scenes. I enjoy more literary fiction writers. However, this is a 4.5 stars rounded to 4 on NetGalley but kept at 4.5 for StoryGraph. That reflects my personal preference more than the objective quality of the book, which I recommend. The narrator, Troy Duran was good.
Dean is reluctant to go home to Beumont, because of a tragedy that struck his family just a few years ago. Talking about this more than this would be a spoiler, but it sets the stage for how wealthy/privileged people in town have tremendous power over local government and can make very unfair things happen. The novel then takes us through Dean's investigation of the cases, his run ins with a wealthy/privileged person that hurt plea deals his mentor is trying to get for both cases. Dean has tried a lot of cases and tries to convince Bruce that some cases should be tried. Bruce prefers not to take chances and to plead everyone out. In the town of Beaumont, no lawyers work big city lawyer hours and, actually much like most places, criminal cases get resolved without trials.
Mahoney's characters and the plot of the novel were very enjoyable. His writing is good, but less my taste The style is largely people talking with only necessary information to connect the dots among scenes. I enjoy more literary fiction writers. However, this is a 4.5 stars rounded to 4 on NetGalley but kept at 4.5 for StoryGraph. That reflects my personal preference more than the objective quality of the book, which I recommend. The narrator, Troy Duran was good.