New York City attorney Dan Sorenson seeks redemption in Mitzner’s compelling legal thriller, his second after 2011’s A Conflict of Interest. When his wife and daughter die in a car accident, Sorenson stops practicing law and starts hitting the bottle. A chance encounter at a Christmas party provides him the opportunity to get his life back together. Nina Harrington, an associate at a firm representing Capital Punishment Records, asks for his help on a murder case. Legally Dead, a rapper represented by the label, is accused of bashing in the head of his music megastar girlfriend, Roxanne, with a baseball bat. Given that one of Legally Dead’s songs is about beating a singer to death with a baseball bat, public sentiment is against him. Believing in his client’s innocence, Sorenson pursues a vigorous defense centered on identifying the real killer. The storyline lacks the richness of the best in the genre, but is still head-and-shoulders above most. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (May)
"Pulls you in deeper and deeper . . . It's hard to believe this is Mitzner's first novel. You will not be disappointed."
"More twists than a California cloverleaf interchange."
"This noirish tale... is sure to keep you riveted from start to finish."
"A heady combination of Patricia Highsmith and Scott Turow, here’s psychological and legal suspense at its finest. Adam Mitzner’s masterful plotting begins on tiptoe and morphs into a sweaty gallop, with ambiguity of character that shakes your best guesses, and twists that punch you in the gut. This novel packs it. A terrific read!"
"Adam Mitzner combines the real world insights of an experienced litigator with the imaginative flair of a fine novelist to produce a page-turner with deeply flawed heroes, sympathetic villains, and totally unexpected twists. I loved it"
"A heady combination of Patricia Highsmith and Scott Turow, here’s psychological and legal suspense at its finest. Adam Mitzner’s masterful plotting begins on tiptoe and morphs into a sweaty gallop, with ambiguity of character that shakes your best guesses, and twists that punch you in the gut. This novel packs it. A terrific read!"
"A heady combination of Patricia Highsmith and Scott Turow, here’s psychological and legal suspense at its finest. Adam Mitzner’s masterful plotting begins on tiptoe and morphs into a sweaty gallop, with ambiguity of character that shakes your best guesses, and twists that punch you in the gut. This novel packs it. A terrific read!"
"Ah, the crucible of the courtroom! Adam Mitzner understands its appeal so very well. Devotees of legal suspense will find themselves happily at home, zinging with the intrigue, reeling with the twists, and ultimately well fed with a satisfying (if shocking) resolution. And if you've been away from the fictional halls of justice for too long, A CASE OF REDEMPTION is where you need to come back."
"Ah, the crucible of the courtroom! Adam Mitzner understands its appeal so very well. Devotees of legal suspense will find themselves happily at home, zinging with the intrigue, reeling with the twists, and ultimately well fed with a satisfying (if shocking) resolution. And if you've been away from the fictional halls of justice for too long, A CASE OF REDEMPTION is where you need to come back."
"Mitzner's courtroom drama is Grisham-like in suspenseful before-the-bench action....a wicked ride, with more loops and flips than Coney Island's Cyclone."
"[W]hen you help a rapist get acquitted and your wife and daughter are killed the next day, it's awfully hard to convince yourself that karma doesn't exist," muses Dan Sorenson in Mitzner's (A Conflict of Interest, 2011) second legal thriller. After resigning from a prestigious NYC law firm following the death of his wife and daughter at the hands of a drunken driver, Sorenson spent 18 months drowning his guilt and grief in whiskey. That accident happened after Sorenson's successful defense of Darrius Macy, NFL Super Bowl hero. Now he's been confronted by Nina Harrington, a young attorney. Harrington is resigning from another prestigious firm to defend Legally Dead, a rapper incarcerated for the murder of Roxanne, a rising pop star. She's certain of his innocence. Harrington inveigles Sorenson into interviewing the rapper at Rikers Island. Legally Dead has fired Marcus Jackson, prominent African-American attorney, because Jackson suggested plea negotiation. Mitzner, a Big Apple attorney himself, isn't afraid to employ the headliners as tropes--Jackson could be Cochran, Roxanne is Taylor Swift-ian, and Legally Dead and Darrius Macy could be edgy celebrities like Chris Brown and Ben Roethlisberger. Given he neglected his family pursuing the brass ring of celebrity, Sorenson's emotional collapse is nicely realized, especially considering his moral quandary upon learning Macy lied about his innocence; so also is Sorenson's perception of the new case as possible redemption. Despite Harrington's tangled love life and ultimate motivation, she and other characters--Brooks, monomaniacal record mogul; Nuts, Legally Dead's friend; grandstanding Judge Pielmeier--are more one-dimensional. Nevertheless, Mitzner's courtroom drama is Grisham-like in suspenseful before-the-bench action. The book is plot-driven, and it's a wicked ride, with more loops and flips than Coney Island's Cyclone, right up to the surprise-and-bigger-surprise denouement--one leaving open the possibility Sorenson might reprise his role as the go-to guy when a celebrity needs a mouthpiece. Law and Order-like twist-and-turn, moral-quandary suspense needing only the echoing cell door sound effect.
