Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In his latest legal thriller (after Rogue Lawyer), Grisham addresses a timely and sensitive topic-who judges prominent judges who break the law? Lacy Stolz, a lawyer who examines instances of judicial misconduct for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, usually investigates issues of incompetence, but now she's entrenched in a corruption case. Greg Myers, a disbarred lawyer practicing under an assumed identity, claims his client, a state employee too scared to pursue a claim under the Florida Whistleblower Law, has uncovered some dirt about circuit court judge Claudia McDover, who apparently is in the pocket of the local Mafia. In exchange for rigging trials, McDover skims her share from Indian casinos and launders it with the assistance of a friendly trust and estate lawyer. This case, with its close connections to the mob, becomes a dangerous and deadly assignment for Lacy and Hugo Hatch, her married assistant who's struggling to raise his family. Verdict This captivating and suspenseful tale offers a welcome reminder of how Grisham expertly and entertainingly interweaves his story line with the mechanics of the legal process. [See Prepub Alert, 4/25/16.]-Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Grisham suffers from the paradox that has bedeviled John Steinbeck and Tom Wolfe: he's very popular, and that's probably why nobody likes him. His books are all alike, we hear, and the law his legal thrillers are based on is mighty shaky. Grumps will find more of the same here, as they wonder why they can't put the book down. Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the understaffed, underfunded, and overworked Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, looking into complaints against judges. She's pulled into a case that an informant says involves corruption at a level never before known in this country. The unfolding that follows is appropriately grandiose, featuring a judge who removes all legal roadblocks to a developer's crooked scheme and is made filthy rich in return. Grisham enjoys his crooks as much as his heroes, and his glee in detailing the minutiae of his characters' lives plus his restless, propulsive writing, punctuated with just a dab of irony draws one compulsively to the trumpets-blaring finale. Improbable? Who cares? It's hard not to surrender to storytelling on this level. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: In terms of commercial success and critical disdain (undeserved this time), Grisham is second only to James Patterson.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

"I started dreaming of getting rich, which, in Florida anyway, can lead to serious trouble": another blockbuster in the making from Grisham (Rogue Lawyer, 2015, etc.), the ascended master of the legal procedural.If justice is blind, it is also served, in theory, by incorruptible servants. Emphasize "in theory," for as Grisham's latest opens, judicial investigator Lacy Stoltz is confronted with the unpleasant possibility that a highly regarded judge may be on the take. The charge comes, discreetly, from a former lawyer-turned-jailbird-turned-lawyer again, who spins out a seemingly improbable tale of racketeering that weds the best elements of Gulf Coast society with the worst, from the brilliant legal minds of Tallahassee to some very unpleasant lads once styled as the Catfish Mafia, now reborn in an alt-version, the Coast Mafia. Lacy's brief is to find out just how rotten the rotten judge isand the answer is plenty. Naturally, this knowledge is not acquired without cost; the body count rises, bad things happen to good people, and for a time, at least, the villains get away with murder and more. Grisham has never been strong on characterization: Lacy, we learn, is content to be single, "to live alone, to sleep in the center of the bed, to clean up only after herself," and so forth, but beyond that the reader doesn't get much sense of what drives her to put herself in the way of flying bullets and sneering counsel: "His associate was Ian Archer, an unsmiling sort who refused to shake hands with anyone and reeked of surliness." In laid-back Florida? Indeed, and in Grisham's busy hands, a lot of players come and go, some fated to sleep with the manatees. Yes, it's formula. Yes, it's not as gritty an exercise in swamp mayhem as Hiaasen, Buchanan, or Crews might turn in. But, like eating a junk burger, even though you probably shouldn't, it's plenty satisfying. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.