It is always gratifying to this reader to find a " legal thriller" that has more to offer than the perennial 'legal" and 'thriller' plot. Mr. Gimenez has managed to write a book that is much more than that by creating characters outside the common mold for such stories, and by making the rather complicated (aren't they all?) twists and turns both interesting and fascinating.

While the young soccer-playing girl, Gracie, seems at times to steal the show, my vote for best character is Ben Brice, her loner Vietnam grandfather. It would be impossible to describe the high points of this book without giving away its secrets, so I will restrict myself to the observations that it is an intelligently written account, and that the characters are as "real" as fictitious characters can be. The story is not the usual for this type of book, in that it gives the reader real insight into the lives of the involved family members rather than the more usual skimpy glossed-over glimpse, thereby letting the reader better appreciate their roles in the on-going events.

I am sorry to say that I have one negative response, and that is to the author's tendency to provide the ten-year old girl with dialogue that is stilted and at times either out-dated or precocious in an attempt to speak for her in her "own vernacular". I think that was his only mistake, and perhaps other readers will be less put-off by it. Other than that, I recommend this book as a new twist to an old theme, written by a refreshing new author.
Review by Litera Scripta