Adam Mitzner’s newest novel, Losing Faith, was released today. An apt title for the new courtroom thriller that gives us an all too realistic view of how quickly someone at the top of his game can fall with one wrong decision.
There is something about any legal thriller that takes the tension up a notch for me. You too? For all the murder mysteries I’ve read, stepping into a courtroom never fails to make me pause….and gulp. Is that because it often seems up to who is the most persuasive? Or maybe because we have so little control over the result. A person accused of a crime, guilty or not guilty, faces incredible tension. All to often we see wrong convictions, just as we see the guilty being acquitted due to minor technicalities. People are put on the spot, pushed or led where they may not belong.
The Author, Adam Mitzner
So when I began Mr. Mitzner’s latest it was with a little fearful anticipation that goes along with courtroom drama. Mr. Mitzner is a practicing attorney, at a big firm much like the one portrayed in this exciting book. He knows the intricacies that take place in the courtroom, before, during and after a trial. He knows law and the justice system.
I am continually impressed with the author’s skill at producing a tightly written plot. I noticed—and appreciated–how succinctly he writes. He gives us the precise amount of background and description, all we need, without getting bogged down in too lengthy descriptions that distract our minds from the story. It is as though he doesn’t want to waste a page of writing. It’s a knack that keeps the action and suspense moving quickly and keeps the reader on track and tuned in to what happens next.
The Story
A man accused of aiding terrorists wants to switch lawyers when his case is assigned to a new judge. Seems a simple request, doesn’t it? Not so simple when you are accused of funding and supplying terrorists responsible for killing Americans. Not so simple if you have to offer the new attorney of choice $100,000 just to discuss the possibility.
Attorney Aaron Littman is at his prime, CEO of a huge, successful law firm, respected by all. He has no intention of representing the man accused of terror. Yet one meeting with the man and he is his new lawyer. His task? To convince the judge to acquit him or risk exposing a secret that could end her career. A judge who had a secret affair with the attorney while hearing a case he was defending. Basically, it’s blackmail.
That brings to mind a first question: Is anything really a secret any more?
Then one of them is killed. The other arrested for murder.
I won’t tell you any more about the plot. Let’s just say the excitement is just starting. Mr. Mitzner takes us on a roller coaster ride filled with ups and down, and yes, plenty of twists and turns. There is a good supply of suspects, a number of people all to willing to lie, and a cadre of attorneys on all sides with their own goals and motives. And through it all, you have one man wondering how things went so wrong.
When you think you have the answer, don’t be surprised if you are forced to reconsider. When you think you know how the story will end, you will just have to get to it to see.
Where would you stand?
In each of Adam Mitzner’s novels we get to know flawed, realistic heroes. You see their mistakes, the wrong paths they may have taken, sometimes wondering if they can redeem themselves. It’s true of Aaron Littman too in Losing Faith. His mistake could cost him everything. It makes you think. It makes you wonder. It makes you look at the error and the result from more than one point of view. Isn’t that a good thing to come from a novel you read?
There was one particular sentence that Adam Mitzner wrote as Aaron Littman that put it all in perspective. “It’s an ingrained part of criminal practice, to see how such small things can bring down the high and mighty to depths where even the least fortunate wouldn’t change places with them.”
Oft times it only takes one misstep.
Adam Mitzner was so kind to write a guest post for Mystery Suspense Reviews. You can read his article here about an often asked question.
Listen to a sample from the audiobook:
You can also click here to read my review of his second bestseller, A Case of Redemption.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
