Thursday 25 July 2013

The Past Never Ends by Jackson Burnett

 

"Chester Morgan believed in hunches. All good trial attorneys do, or at least used to, until procedural manoeuvring and endless discovery made litigation a contest of attrition to be won by wealth and endurance."

 
 
Don't be put off by the less than sexy cover - it reminds me of the Young and the Restless and certainly doesn't do this fantastic read justice - although I'm probably wearing my marketing hat at this point.

Chester Morgan is a delight - he mixes hard boiled noir detective with good hearted attorney for a winning and engaging combination. You are rooting for him to triumph and lord knows you want him to do more roller skating with strippers. Read the book for more information.

I loved the mix of the procedural limitations of the law and the notion of justice being reliant on having the pockets to sustain a trial. I'm currently studying law in the common law system and it is interesting to compare the two systems and see such similarities. It is even more dumbfounding to think that these notions are derived from a hard boiled crime novel. That in itself is a testament to the fantastic writing.

I took a considerably longer time than usual to read this novel. Perhaps, that is attributable to reading it as an epub on my phone, or, more likely, it is because I was reticent to leave the company of one Chester Morgan.

It would be remiss to end this review without mentioning the delightful supporting cast and in particular the ever resourceful office manager  slash investigator Shawn - here is a woman who gets things done!

5 out of 5, dead strippers still tell tales apparently.

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