Fugitive
By Phillip Margolin
Harper, $26.99
ISBN: 978-0061236235

Amanda Jaffe and her father are leading criminal defense attorneys in Oregon, having won high profiles cases outlined in previous novels in the series. Each is separately presented with another challenging defendant in the current novel.

The wife of a U.S. Congressman is charged with conspiring to have her husband murdered, but Frank Jaffe obtains evidence to convince the DA to drop the charges "with prejudice." Meanwhile, her co-defendant, accused of committing the murder, flees the country to an African nation ruled by a sadistic dictator whose idol is Idi Amin. After 12 years, he returns to face the charges (and to escape the wrath of his erstwhile benefactor). Amanda's challenge is not only to exonerate her client, but to protect him from being killed by two separate, but equally dangerous, persons who wish him dead.

The combination of the author's intimate legal knowledge and his ability to maintain a suspenseful pace in a firmly written story keeps the reader intrigued from start to finish.

Recommended.

Review by THEODORE FEIT

©2009 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.