An Unreliable Truth

by Victor Methos

Overview

From the bestselling author of A Killer’s Wife, Victor Methos’s acclaimed Desert Plains series continues with the saga of two brilliant defense attorneys and a client whose confession may not be what it seems.

Two couples cut to bits near a canyon close to the Nevada border. The police pull over blood-soaked Arlo Ward not far from the site of the grisly murders; he fully cooperates with the officers, grinning through a remorseless confession dripping with gory detail. Investigators find no murder weapon, but young, awkward Arlo’s confession is signed, taped, and delivered.

Defense attorney Dylan Aster and his partner, Lily Ricci, are two rising legal stars. They’re hesitant about pursuing the Arlo Ward case, as it seems like a slam dunk for the prosecution—Arlo was covered in the victims’ DNA and admitted to everything. But the state psychiatrist shares the impossible with Dylan: Arlo Ward is likely innocent. The man is racked with delusional schizophrenia, seizing on these murders as an opportunity for macabre attention.

Dylan can’t resist. He and Lily take on Arlo as their client, but once the trial commences, it’s clear that the real secrets and lies are just beginning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542022668
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Series:	Desert Plains Series , #3
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

At the age of thirteen, when his best friend was interrogated by the police for over eight hours and confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, Victor Methos knew he would one day become a lawyer.

After graduating from law school at the University of Utah, Methos sharpened his teeth as a prosecutor for Salt Lake City before founding what would become the most successful criminal defense firm in Utah.

In ten years, Methos conducted more than one hundred trials. One particular case stuck with him, and it eventually became the basis for his first major bestseller, The Neon Lawyer. Since that time, Methos has focused his work on legal thrillers and mysteries, winning the Harper Lee Prize for The Hallows and an Edgar nomination for Best Novel for his title A Gambler’s Jury. He currently splits his time between southern Utah and Las Vegas.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Victor Methos

An Unreliable Truth

“A straight-A legal thriller, with a final scene as satisfying as it is disturbing.” —Kirkus Reviews

A Killer’s Wife

An Amazon Best Book of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

“A Killer’s Wife is a high-stakes legal thriller loaded with intense courtroom drama, compelling characters, and surprising twists that will keep you turning the pages at breakneck speed.” —T. R. Ragan, New York Times bestselling author

“Exquisitely paced and skillfully crafted, A Killer’s Wife delivers a wicked psychological suspense wrapped around a hypnotic legal thriller. One cleverly designed twist after another kept me saying, ‘I did not see that coming.’” —Steven Konkoly, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

“A gripping thriller that doesn’t let up for a single page. Surprising twists with a hero you care about. I read the whole book in one sitting!” —Chad Zunker, bestselling author of An Equal Justice

From the Publisher

2021-06-02
Defense attorney Dylan Aster’s unblemished trial record is threatened by an impossible case he gets sucked into.

Madeline Ismera, a public defender in Oregon’s Jackson County, reaches out to a friend in the DA’s office of Nevada’s Clark County to ask Dylan for help exactly because of his stellar reputation. The defendant she’s been assigned, diagnosed schizophrenic Arlo Ward, is accused of a horrific crime in Coyote Canyon: the slaughter, partial dismemberment, and lewd posing of three young campers (a fourth, Holly Fallows, escaped only by jumping off a cliff ahead of her shadowy pursuer). The police picked him up covered with blood very close to the crime scene, and he’s actually confessed to the murders in the hope of attracting media attention that will build the audience for the tell-all book he plans to write in order to leave the proceeds to his wife and daughter. Meeting with Arlo, Dylan and his law partner, Lily Ricci, quickly realize that the best defense they can possibly provide will have to contend with an obstacle even more daunting than ravenously competitive Jackson County DA Kelly Whitewolf: Arlo’s own refusal to plead not guilty. “I think he wants to believe he did this,” Madeline tells Dylan. What can a lawyer do when everyone he meets, from the prosecutor to the police to the witnesses to his own client, is determined to thwart his attempts to save the client’s life? The courtroom duels are correspondingly sharp even though the outcome seems like a forgone conclusion. Or does it?

A B-minus mystery that’s a straight-A legal thriller, with a final scene as satisfying as it is disturbing.

Kirkus Reviews