What We're Reading

REVIEW
The US churns out these legal thrillers with the same grease-coated alacrity as it churns out lawyers and they are generally solid, predictable, occasionally absorbing pieces of work, good for flights, beaches and signal problems at North Greenwich.

Ellis has earned the "heir to Grisham" mantle which picks him out as a superior version of the breed although his race-against-time, dark-childhood-secret, lawyer-as-action-hero routine doesn't veer too far away from the genre paradigms.

The story centres on two childhood friends. One became the hotshot (though troubled) lawyer Kolarich. The other one - Cutler - went off the rails as a boy when his sister was abducted and killed.

Now the former must save the latter after the child killer is murdered 26 years later with Cutler placed handily at the scene brandishing an attitude and kitted out with a motive.

Kolarich is hired in mysterious circumstances and his investigations lead to something more than a routine revenge gig and the story twists and turns with admirable dexterity.

If it wasn't personal enough, Kolarich's brother is kidnapped and he must discover the truth to save all of those close to him.

Ellis's writing is clunky, predictable and erratic which grates badly until the story kicks in by which time the lure of a denouement overrides the prose filters.