Review: Indefensible

Indefensible

Pamela Callow

Series or Stand Alone: Kate Lange series, book two

Release Date: December 2010

Publisher: Mira

Pages: 502

Author Site: http://www.pamelacallow.com/

My Rating: 5/5

Source: Received for review from Planned TV Arts

Synopsis:

[from goodreads.com]

When Elise Vanderzell plummets from her bedroom balcony one gorgeous summer night, her children awaken to a nightmare.

Their mother is dead.

Their father is charged with her murder.

Lawyer Kate Lange knows all about nightmares. She's survived the darkest period of her troubled life and the wounds are still raw. Now she's been handed a case that seems utterly unwinnable: defending her boss, high-profile lawyer Randall Barrett. A prosecutor's dream suspect, Randall is a man who was cuckolded by his ex-wife. A man who could not control his temper. A man who had argued bitterly with the victim the previous day in full view of the children.

With limited criminal law experience, Kate finds herself enmeshed in a family fractured by doubt. Randall's teenage son is intent on killing him. His daughter wants only to feel safe again. And the entire legal community would like nothing better than to see Randall receive a public comeuppance. As Kate races to stay a step ahead of the prosecution, a silent predator is waiting for the perfect time to deal the final blow.

Review:

I never really considered myself a big thriller/suspense kind of girl but I think I’m converting into one. I think I especially like a really well written, on-the-edge-of-your-seat, can’t-stop-turning-the-pages kind of suspense novel. I couldn’t really find anything wrong with Indefensible. I enjoyed the heck out of it! It’s the second in a series and I didn’t feel lost at all. The characters were so well developed that I got a really good sense of everyone’s personality and a pretty good idea of the story introduced in the previous novel.

Kate Lange is recovering from a near-death attack by a serial killer and she’s back at her the law firm. She’s not completely whole because she still has horrible nightmares and she’s still physically recovering from the ordeal. She’s also wondering about the tension between her and Randall Barrett, her boss. Is he interested in Kate? Does she want him to be interested in her after all that she’s been through recently? Before Kate can really examine her thoughts and answer her internal questions, Randall’s ex-wife is murdered. She quickly finds herself smack in the middle of a broken family and defending a case that seems impossible to win.

Kate’s ex-fiance, Ethan, is one of the leading homicide detectives on the case. He tries not to let his bias opinion of Randall shape his work in finding his ex-wife’s killer but it’s a losing battle. Ethan has Randall pegged for the murder and he’s not the only one. Everyone seems to think Randall did it including his law firm. Having blacked out after drinking too many drinks, Randall isn’t sure if he’s innocent or not. Could he really have hurt Elise? Could his angry and bitter son have killed her and named Randall the murderer? Or was Elise so depressed that she threw herself off the balcony?

Indefensible is filled with questions, doubt, pain, intrigue and And as I mentioned before, it’s really well written. Coming in a little over 500 hundred pages I hardly noticed the length because I just wanted more of the story. I liked all of the characters. Each of them is misunderstood in some aspect and I look forward to finding what exactly what happened between Ethan and Kate and Kate and Randall. It’s not really a love-triangle per se but it’s definitely an added bonus to the story.

I loved how Cowell could pack emotions into her characters and story. Randall’s children are really put through a lot in the novel. I could really get a sense of Nick’s anger towards his father and I felt horrible for what Lucy was going through. These kids were broken after their mother died. I had a tough time not feeling bad for Randall either. I didn’t know if he killed Elise and neither did he. But he wasn’t the horrible person he was portrayed to be in the beginning. Yeah, he sucked as a father but he was still hurting as well.

And of course the twist in the novel came out of nowhere. I remember reading the chapter where the killer is introduced and I just shook my head and said “Oh, no…” It was funny because I was in front of my family at the time. But even though the killer is introduced a good two thirds into the novel, it didn’t take anything away from the story. I was still sucked in. I’m definitely going to be reading Damaged as soon as I can and I’m excited to get my hands on the next installment, Tattooed, which is scheduled to be released January 2012.

I definitely recommend Indefensible to any suspense lover. It’s exciting, heart-breaking, and filled with an emotional weight that will have you turning those pages until you finish. It can be read as a stand-alone novel but I’m sure it would be a better reading experience if you start with Damaged.

P.S. (cover talk)

It goes really well with the first book. I love themed covers, they make me happy =)