Killer ambition

Hmmm, wonder where Clark got the idea and experience to do a novel about a case with ties to Hollywood, celebrity and an all-invasive press corps trying the case outside the courtroom while putting all the details of the attorney's lives on display for all the world. . . These parts of the novel worked so well – obviously, her own experiences and role as commentator since that one case have equipped her to tackle these things. The relationships between Rachel and her friends/coworkers/romantic entanglements remain strong – although I think it was a bit more in the background this time around, and the book suffered for it. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we spent more time in court in this novel than the two previous. Which is good, on the one hand, because these are supposed to be legal thrillers, so it's good to have the courtroom proceedings. On the other hand, these are supposed to be legal thrillers, and on the whole, the pace and momentum of this books comes to a standstill in the details of the trial. Now, maybe this is just me – after my Perry Mason phase in high school, most of the courtroom depictions I've read have been by [a:David Rosenfelt 277189 David Rosenfelt https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1245933839p2/277189.jpg] or from [a:Paul Levine 88535 Paul Levine https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1364833857p2/88535.jpg]'s Solomon & Lord series – and while Clark has a fun, light touch – she's nowhere near as amusing as these two. Similarly, she doesn't have the gravitas and talent of [a:Michael Connelly 12470 Michael Connelly https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1202588562p2/12470.jpg] – by the time Mickey Haller gets to court, the brakes have failed and there's nothing to slow the runaway freight train of tension, suspense and energy. I'm not saying I want Clark to turn into a clone of any of these gentlemen – I'm just saying that until she improves, her readers are better served with Rachel & co. doing the bulk of their work in the field. In the end, it was worth slogging through the slower portions, for the resolution to the mystery as well as to see how it all played out in the lives of those related to the case – I particularly liked the storyline involving the Lindsay Lohan-ish character. Now that she's had her say about media circus trials and life under the microscope, I do hope that Clark gets back to the sorts of cases/victims that made the earlier books so much fun to read.