Series Sunday: Blood Defense

(Samantha Brinkman #1) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Revision. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

"When I walk into court, I'm not concerned about justice, the rule of law, or making sure it's a fair fight. Fuck fair. I'm there to protect my client. That's where my duty begins and ends."  ~ pg. 22

My Series Sunday pick is Blood Defense, the first book in the Samantha Brinkman series by Marcia Clark. Yes, that Marcia Clark from the OJ Simpson trial. Samantha Brinkman is a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney trying to make a name for herself in the legal services big leagues. She lands a double murder case that is so high profile, it turns personal. A secret revealed makes Samantha question her client's motives and innocence. Jekyll and Hyde, is that you?

It was challenging I'm sure for Marcia Clark to write from the perspective of defense as opposed to prosecution. At 389 pages, it seemed like a long read. Usually I can knock out a book within a couple days, but it took me over a week to finish reading Blood Defense. Not because of the writing or story line, but it seemed like the longest book ever.

I also had to mentally separate the fictional main character Samantha Brinkman from real life Marcia Clark. It took nearly the entire book. But after turning the last ePage, I realized there wasn't a single unnecessary detail. It was all pertinent to the story line and establishing the personality of the main character. The side cases were true to a real attorney's life; you don't just work on one case at a time. And I love a mystery where scenarios play out in the character's mind along with the reader. Blood Defense was literally down to the wire like a good Matlock episode. Even better, there is one particular sentence toward the end where I was reminded, ah yes, that Marcia Clark. Good thing the author dropped just the right amount of details and crumbs for me to be interested in continuing this series.

Title: Blood Defense
Author: Marcia Clark
Published: May 2016
Pages: 389
Edition: eBook
Rating: ♥♥♥