Book Review: A CASE OF REDEMPTION, by Adam Mitzner

Adam Mitzner
A CASE OF REDEMPTION
Gallery Books, 2013
336 pages
Legal Thriller

When I finished reading Adam Mitzner's A CONFLICT OF INTEREST, I thought I'd never read a better, more well-written legal thriller by the author. Figured he'd peaked with his debut. And then I read A CASE OF REDEMPTION, and I am not sad to say --not sad at all-- I was wrong. If you are me, and love courtroom dramas, legal thrillers that hinge on the law, and lawyers, and judges, and conspiracies, and witnesses, and juries . . . Give Adam Mitzner a shot!

In A CASE OF REDEMPTION we meet Dan Sorensen. He was once a pretty high-powered attorney, well-positioned in a infamous law firm. A rising star. When tragedy strikes, Sorensen's life is shattered. The millions of shards are nearly impossible to fit back together. Unable to adapt, move forward, Sorensen leaves the firm, quits practicing law, and instead decides wallowing in his pain and loss is the best bet.

That is until everything changes. Nina is a girl he met at a party. Although he was intoxicated, he can't recall most of the encounter. Apparently he'd promised to hear her out on a legal matter. She's a third year associate at a small firm --a firm she'd just walked out on. She has a case. An up-and-coming rap star is behind bars. He has been charged with murdering a famous pop singer.

The prosecution has no evidence linking the rapper to the crime, other than the two had been romantically involved.

Meeting with his new client, Sorensen realizes two very important things. The rapper, Legally Dead, is innocent, and that maybe, just maybe Nina is the one responsible for saving his life before he hit rock-bottom.

The two, Sorensen and Nina, work day and night on the case, determined to get to the heart of the matter. Unfortunately, the more they seek out the truth, the more lies they uncover. Time is running out. The trial begins soon, and they have little by way evidence to prove Legally Dead did not kill the world-loved popstar!

I hate, hate comparing one author to another. I did it when I reviewed Mitzner's A CONFLICT OF INTEREST, because it was his debut. I said it was as good as when Grisham and Turrow released their first novels (A TIME TO KILL, and PRESUMED INNOCENT). And I stand by that. This time, though, I want to point out that Mitzner is clearly his own writer. A talented storyteller, Mitzner creates characters that readers will care about. More than once I was brought to tears. A CASE OF REDEMPTION is one of those tug-at-the-heartstrings stories. It got to me.

I love the courtroom stuff. The Objections, both sustained and overruled. Discovery is intense. What will they find? What's been left out? Who is hiding what? Mitzner makes me feel as if I am a paralegal working the case beside Sorensen and Nina the entire time! It's like watching a movie. Loved it!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire Series,
and The Vaccination Trilogy