This is the first James Patterson I’ve read where he has someone other than Maxine Praeto co-writing with him.  It took me awhile but at about a third of the book the plot took off.  Someone was murdered and the whole situation had the makings of a real legal thriller = not one of the best I’ve ever read but it kept me up turning pages.  

The Jailhouse Lawyer
by James Patterson/Nancy Allen
2021 / 
Read by Megan Tusing 6h 4m
Rating: B / letal thriller
(This book includes a second novel but I’ll read it later.)  

Martha Foster is hired as at the Public Defender for Douglass County, Alabama, so taking her 5-year old son. so she’s  relocated and it seemed like such a good move. There were welcomes and introductions and it felt like there was definitely a place for her. But the down side was that there was almost nothing for her to do.  People who were arrested for misdemeanors were not allowed the services of the pubic defenders and felonies were transferred to a different court.  The prior public defender had committed suicide. And before long Martha realizes things are not going the way they should be.  

Slowly what is really going on is unearthed and someone is killed. Martha is not one to keep quiet but the judge there is determined to keep things as they are.  It’s an interesting book after the action starts – about 1/3 through.  

I can only give the novel a B for two reasons. It sometimes seems so slow it’s a bit like a cozy legal suspense novel. At other times it’s over the top in the way the characters behave. Also, the protagonist’s child is a bit mouthy for his age – or that’s how it seems to me, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a 5-year old around.