The President's Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins Book Review

About the Book:

A high-stakes legal thriller that is perfect for fans of John Grisham and Scott Turow following a Washington, DC, litigator who is hired to defend his best friend, the former President of the United States, against a murder charge.

After a long career as one of DC’s most powerful litigators, Rob Jacobson is faced with the case of a lifetime: the former President of the United States—his childhood best friend—has been accused of murdering his mistress.

Rob knows he’s the only one who can prove his friend’s innocence, but he is soon overwhelmed as he attempts to devise a strategy to defend an authoritative man with a taste for infidelity, serious anger issues, and unconventional sexual appetites. As the high-profile case unfurls, the troubled, intertwining pasts of the two men complicate Rob’s efforts and soon, doubts begin to grow in his head. Could his oldest friend truly be capable of murder or is something even darker at play?

My Review:

I liked this engaging legal thriller, right up until the last chapter. I am not sure I would believe, however, that a lawyer who was a childhood friend of the accused and who had had an affair with the murdered woman would even consider the job. I think there was just too much conflict of interest and too much that could come out during trial and ruin the whole thing. Nonetheless, the lawyer does defend his childhood friend, the ex-president. The defense aspect of the novel was quite informative. I appreciated Robbins' attention to detail and his extensive knowledge of how to make evidence prove what you want it to.

The very last chapter was an unexpected twist. While the novel itself covered a trial in detail, the last chapter glossed a couple of years of really important action in a few sentences. While the twist was foreshadowed, I guess, I did not like it at all. I felt it sort of ruined or discounted all the preceding events in the novel.

This novel is a very informative in the details of legal procedure. There is some kinky sex mentioned but not described in detail. I think Robbins has a good future in writing more legal novels. A more traditional ending would appeal to me better than something like was done here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Lawrence S. Robbins is an acclaimed trial and appellate litigator who has famously argued twenty cases in the United States Supreme Court, and sixty others in the federal circuit courts of appeals. He served as counsel to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and the Biden campaign, among others. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law, he formerly served on the United States Court of Appeals, founded Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner, and is currently a partner at Friedman Kaplan. Photo credit: Francis Ayisi

Atria Books, 320 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.)