#BookReview ~ Contempt: Legal Thriller by Michael Cordell

A Story That Won’t Disappoint

ABOUT THE BOOK

Playing by the rules landed him on death row. Now he’ll have to break all the rules to survive.

After spending five years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit, lawyer Thane Banning agrees to take on a case defending a former inmate against the same DA who put Thane behind bars.

Thane is besieged by death threats from the alleged victim’s father and a tidal wave of public outrage following his release, not to mention the corrupt DA who has a grudge to settle. But he doesn’t have much time to think about his personal problems because the case is turning into a nasty fight.

Luckily, prison taught Thane a thing or two about survival in a world full of criminals. The last time he played by the rules in court, he landed on death row. This time he’ll have to break more than a few rules to come out of this battle unscathed.

With help from an ex-inmate and an ambitious law student, Thane will do everything in his power to make sure another innocent man isn’t locked up. But will they be able to uncover the truth in time and convince the jury before the gavel drops for the last time?

Fans of An Innocent Client by Scott Pratt, The Neon Lawyer by Victor Methos, Time of Justice by Robin James, and Hard Evidence by John Lescroart will love this book.

Details

• Title Contempt
• Author Michael Cordell
• Publisher TCK Publishing
• Publication Date July 27, 2020
• Pages 213
• Excerpt

My Thoughts

Contempt by Michael Cordell is a book that will capture your interest immediately. If you read many of my reviews you already know that I love legal thrillers. The mystery part intrigues me, and I absolutely can’t close a book where lawyers are playing the cat and mouse game of trying to outsmart each other.

This book ticked all the boxes for me.

🗹 The story caught my interest in the first chapter.
🗹 The writing didn’t distract from the story. (see below)
🗹 The characters were believable.

🗹 The story moved at a good pace.
🗹 I wanted to read more stories with these same characters.
🗹 The ending, for the most part, was satisfying.

I can’t say enough good about this book. It starts with Thane Banning being released from prison after five years of incarceration. (That’s interesting. Why was he in prison?) Thane claims to be innocent. (I’ve heard that before.) He discovered a legal matter that was enough to warrant his release. (Interesting.) Then add the fact that he is a lawyer. I sat up and took note! (A lawyer in prison?)

We’re off to a great start.

Writing That Distracts

What does that mean? It means writing that stops the story dead in its tracks by calling attention to itself.  I’ve read some books that the dialog alone nearly had me in tears since my attention was drawn away from the story and directed toward the intrusive writing. This writing is seamless.

As far as the characters, they faced challenges that I understood and sympathized with. Thane and his wife had been separated for five long years. And shortly after his incarceration Thane stopped writing or accepting visits from his wife. He wanted her to go on with her life. But now, though they still cared for each other, they felt more like strangers.

The story quickly drew me in when Thane is asked to step out of his role as a real estate lawyer, to defend someone who he met while in prison, it becomes another interesting dilemma. Also, this position would pit him against the lawyer who was responsible for helping convict him. A person who Thane felt confident knew that he wasn’t guilty.

Thane puts together a team to work with him on his new case that is quite unique. A former inmate and a law student who plays a fairly minor role. But she is a very determined, high-spirited, lady that I’d like to see more of in the future.

I’ll cover the ending in What Concerned Me, but it had a twist that most will not see coming.

What Concerned Me

Basically, the only thing that concerned me at all was the ending. Yes, it was an exciting twist, but I felt the story didn’t offer enough clues to totally support the ending.

Also, it felt like too much was fed to us too quickly. Okay, it’s possible that since I couldn’t put the book down and it was 2 A.M. when I finished it, that the hour might have had something to do with me not comprehending everything. But after reading it a second time I still have to agree with my earlier thought. The 2 A.M. one.

What I Liked Best

Since you’ve probably already picked up on the reasons I highly recommend this book, I will just mention that I love the fact that I’ve discovered a new author to follow!

If you, too, love legal thrillers, Michael Cordell is definitely an author to keep on your radar.

My thanks to TCK Publishing for a copy of this book and the ability to post a review stating my opinion.

Rating

True rating is 4.5 but I round up.

Michael Cordell is a novelist, playwright and produced screenwriter. He has sold three screenplays to Hollywood, including Beeper, an action-thriller starring Harvey Keitel and Joey Lauren Adams. Michael currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he has taught screenwriting for over fifteen years.