Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni Book Review

About the Book:

A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.

My Review:

I liked this legal and courtroom drama novel. Dugoni has done a good job of combining preparing a defense case with personal drama. Keera is a capable attorney and has a good team behind her. The part of the novel building up to the courtroom was engaging on two fronts. One was the actual work she was doing, the other was the drama in the family business. Dugoni mentions in his afterward that he wanted to bring into the plot the personal family aspect and he has done that well. Alcoholism and sibling rivalry both show themselves. The chess aspect was interesting too.

Two issues really caught my attention. One was the action that might be taken to win a case. Here we see nefarious action on the side of the prosecutor. We see how desperate one might be to gain political power.

The other issue was the concern of successfully defending an accused murderer yet being unsure of his innocence. Dugoni did a good job of keeping tension going as we do not know for sure, not only the outcome of the court case but also the actual innocence or guilt of the defendant.

Overall, a good legal investigation and courtroom drama novel. I hope there will be more featuring Keera.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series, which has sold more than eight million books worldwide. He is also the author of the bestselling Charles Jenkins series; the bestselling David Sloane series; the stand-alone novels The 7th Canon, Damage Control, The World Played Chess, and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni won an AudioFile Earphones Award for narration; and the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post best book of the year. He is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Book Award for fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for the Thriller Awards and the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, as well as a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for mystery and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards. His books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Visit his website at www.robertdugonibooks.com.

Thomas & Mercer, 396 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)