“Gripping moral dilemmas in a top-notch crime/legal thriller.”
Whether British or American, we like to think of our laws and our legal system as the bright moral lines in the sand of our respective communities. Those clear points where we’ve collectively agreed thou shalt not cross. Sure we know no institution is perfect, nor the people within them. Still we hold firm to our blind conviction that if our ideals are right and moral, then the result will (most times) be right and moral too.
And when it isn’t?
Family vs Ambition
As one of the few women to reach the level of barrister, Sarah Newby has worked hard, studied harder and sacrificed most of her family life to go from being a teenage dropout and single parent to player in A GAME OF PROOF.
She’s polished her lawyerly exterior to be as tough as the motorcycle leathers she wears while riding her Kawasaki 500 to work. She’s set her ambitions on the next rung — Queen’s Counsel. And she may just have the case that will take her there — defending a violent petty criminal from a rape charge that may be tied to a string of rape murders.
Ambition vs Reliance
Suddenly, Sarah’s world is turned upside down as first her daughter and then her son’s life becomes dependent on the workings of this flawed game she’s worked so hard to learn. Can she rely on a system where not just the criminal, but the professional lies, bias, ambition and petty motivations can tip the scales of justice.
What can she do when all 50 shades of legal grey become deeply and horrifyingly personal.
Reliance vs Family
How close to the legal line would any of us feel compelled to get if a loved one was in jeopardy and what moral dilemma would it take to drive us over? If we’re lucky we will never know the answer. But for Sarah it is already too late. With the fate of her son at stake, Sarah must determine what shade of grey she is willing to wear.
Sarah Newby is not an oversized superhero out to save the world. She’s a flawed woman determined to do her job and live her life the best she can. That her life is filled with uneasy relationships with her husband, kids, and other professionals makes her all the more real (especially to female readers) and worth rooting for — even when she’s at odds with the equally compelling and appealing detective Terry Bateson.
Author Tim Vicary delivers a top-notch read, beautifully weaving the many moral and ethical dilemmas into a gripping crime/legal thriller and setting the stage for what looks to be a not-to-be-missed series.
A GAME OF PROOF is the first of three books now available in THE TRIALS OF SARAH NEWBY series.
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