I read this crime book before!!!! Methos is not my favorite author of legal thrillers,  but he’s up there and getting better.  He often writes about social issues rather than murders which too often turn into standard who-done-its or chase stories.  For several chapters I thought I’d read the book before due to some plot similarities, but as it progressed I decided that I hadn’t. But then toward the end I realized I was right – yes – I had read it before!   Omg. I’m not usually big on rereading genre crime novels – heh.

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The Shotgun Lawyer
By Victor Methos
2018 /
Read by Will Damron 9h 35m
Rating:  A+ / legal thriller 
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Oh well … I wasn’t remembering most of it at all – and I didn’t quite remember the ending.  I’m thinking I must have read it about 3 years ago, when it came out.  ???  But there’s no record of my reading it anywhere. 

Whatever … The Shotgun Lawyer opens (as usual) with a chapter or two showing the reader that although the protagonist, Peter Game, our 1st person narrator, likes to defend the good guys, he doesn’t always play by the rules of the courtroom. Then there is a chapter or two about his home and office life. After that comes the main case which is going to be played out across the remaining chapters.  (And therein lies the problem with the book – I’ve heard the arguments over and over and there’s nothing new here.) 

A shotgun lawyer is one who takes the cases, among others,  which the big lawyers don’t take (or keep) and which scatter out like buckshot. Peter Game is one such lawyer with his own tiny office in Salt Lake City.  He is also divorced with a teenage son and he has bills to pay.  

Then Melissa Bell walks into the somewhat unethical lawyer’s office with a case she wants him to take.  Her 7-year old son was one of several victims in a recent school shooting. She wants to sue the gun manufacturer.  

Okay? Fine.  Good book.  Good writing.  Good dialogue. Good plot although sometimes a bit heavy on the political issues (even if I do agree).