Dark Moon

A Legal Thriller

By: Deborah Hawkins

Narrated by: Alan Taylor

Legendary criminal defense attorney Sarah Knight has spent all of her 46 years hiding the unspeakable secrets of her past. Now, newly arrived in San Diego from New York, she is appointed to represent Alexa Reed, a former US Supreme Court clerk and the daughter-in-law of Supreme Court Justice Coleman Reed. Alexa is arrested for the murders of her ex-husband, attorney Michael Reed, and La Jolla psychologist Ronald Brigman. During bitter divorce proceedings, Brigman declared Alexa's reports of Michael's domestic abuse false, diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder, and gave Meggie and Sam, ages six and five, to their abusive father.

All the evidence points to Alexa. Her gun was the murder weapon and her cell phone places her at the scene of the murders. Sarah is warned that doing anything more than the minimum for her client will be professional suicide. Coleman Reed wants Alexa sentenced to death without delay.

But Sarah and her investigator, ex-FBI agent Jim Mitchell, refuse to be intimidated even after attempts on Sarah and Alexa's lives. They discover Michael Reed's taste for high-priced call girls and his entanglement in an extensive pattern of criminal financial dealings. But when Coleman manipulates the trial judge to exclude Sarah's star witness on the eve of trial, she must risk discovery of her own terrible secret to save Alexa's life.

©2016 Deborah Hawkins (P)2017 Deborah Hawkins

Dark Moon is a twisted road

Dark Moon by Deborah Hawkins is a suspenseful mystery as well a legal procedural . The way it was written reminded me of the noir detective novels , always announcing date and time . In this fashion the narrators did a great job. Very clipped speech. I don't know if it was intentional or not . But I did enjoy it. Full of plot twists , most of which you don't see coming .

Defending Against the System

This is an interesting and complex story. Attorney Sarah Knight defends an abused mother, also trained as an attorney, against the charge of murdering her violently abusive husband. Knight must overcome her own personal issues, the clinical silence and unresponsiveness of her client, and the internal politics of the judicial system, as well as the personalities and politics of the law firm involved in order to find the true murderer. All the characters were well read and given distinct personalities. But I did find it a bit long and sometimes slow.

A bit corny

The descriptions were too over the top--all the women were overwhelmingly beautiful and the man male character had everyone falling in love with his eyes. The storyline was okay, but not very believable. The suspense I was hoping to find in a legal thriller was hampered by the writing style.

Truly awful

While the legal stuff is acceptable, the personal stories are not. Plot is implausible and completely unrealistic. I regret staying with the book to its finish.

Pointless

The characters are likable but the author has everyone fall instantly in love with everyone else...and then nothing. Threatening is ignored and pointless. Super lawyers seem to drink but not work. And former FBI agent turned PI couldn’t find his own necktie. I kept waiting...but just dragged on...