Looking For a Good Book

Max Ringo had been a tremendous courtroom lawyer until she’d been in a car accident and subsequently became addicted to painkillers. The addiction destroyed her career and personal life but she’s been given the chance for some work that could begin to restore her name and credibility. From a list of potential mediators offered to the two parties in a  divorce settlement, Max is the only person that both sides agree to work with.

Max is grateful for the opportunity, but she recognizes that the two sides are big time players in the business community and the husband has worked in the company that the wife’s father built. There’s a lot of bad blood and the parties are suspicious of one another – if someone wants something, the other side doesn’t want to give it to them just because they suspect there’s a financial reason for it.

And there is. The husband is willing to give up everything for controlling ownership in the business that he helped turn into the success that it is. But he’s also promised some even more powerful people that he will do more once he gets controlling ownership. But of course the father of the wife doesn’t want him to control the business he, himself, started.

To make sure things go his way and that Max will go above and beyond to see that he gets what he wants, the husband in the case has Max’s teenage son, Nathan, kidnapped and promises to kill the boy if the mediation isn’t completed successfully (in his favor) within three days. She can’t go to the police and she has few friends, given her previous issues, but there’s one person who might be able to help. In the meantime, she has to try every possible angle to get the wife and her father to agree to the husband’s requests.

I never expected to be a fan of legal thrillers but I’ve found that I really enjoy author Robert Bailey’s work, which can really only be classified as legal thrillers. The stories have rich characters (that’s a pun that Bailey readers will pick up on) a strong premise, and plenty of fast-paced action that probably involves firearms of extraordinary caliber. I look forward to opening a Baily novel and I know I’ll be in for an enjoyable ride with some great characters.

This is the eighth book I’ve read of Mr. Bailey’s (how did I miss three?!) and I’d have to say it’s my least favorite of the bunch (which is still better than most authors’ works).

I struggled with the initial concept – kidnapping a teen and threatening to kill him over a divorce case. Of course it’s about more than a divorce, but reasons behind it are hidden too long and never really feel as necessary as they were made out to be.

The back and forth of the two parties, and Max’s trying to point out why her offers made sense, grew repetitive. There were only three days to find a settlement, but it seemed like we went through this more than three times (maybe it was only three, but it sure felt like more).

The climactic action relied on a lot of luck (what made Max, who was busy in mediation, decide that SHE had to suddenly rescue her son, even though someone else was already on the case?) and I couldn’t believe that a former lawyer, trying to put her life back together, agreed not to involve the police regarding a number of dead bodies and buildings being burned to the ground because they’d not want to spend much time investigating and simply pin it on her to make their lives easy.

Overall, this was the most formulaic of the books I’ve read by Bailey and our central character, while appropriately flawed but making an attempt to straighten herself out, just didn’t command the readers’ interest. Still, it was adventurous and exciting and moved along well. For me this is a true 3-1/2 stars  book.  Of course I can’t award half a star on Goodreads so I’ll have to choose whether to bump that up or down the day I make the post.

\Looking for a good book? Robert Bailey is back with another legal thrill, this one, The Mediator, centers around a once disgraced, female attorney now looking to make her come-back, starting as a mediator in a big stake divorce settlement.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Mediator

author: Robert Bailey

publisher: Thomas & Mercer

ISBN:  9781662534133

paperback, 351 pages