13 Jun 2021

We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of justice.

But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.

Published: 25th October 2016
Publisher: Doubleday
Goodreads : Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Book 1, The Whistler
Source: Owned

MY REVIEW

I can't tell you how much fun I am having re-reading all of John Grisham's novels, especially as I have now got to the point where I have not read those books. This book came out in 2016 and that was about the same time I started to collect John Grisham's novels (hardback, for sure, some where very difficult to find) ready to read and it was from that point that I would still buy his novels when they come out but not read them as I wanted to start from the oldest to the newest.

What I loved about this book was, of course, the plot. We are following investors, mainly Lacy, from the Board on Judicial Contact (not a lawyer this time) who receives a complaint against a local judge, which they are obliged to investigate. Although, for me, there were not as many twists and turns that I would have liked, I still enjoyed every minute of this story. Certainly, the events that lead up to the ending just kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put the book down!!

If you have not yet picked up a John Grisham novel, you should!!