Forsaken Oath

Kemanis (Thursday’s List, 2015, etc.) offers a new legal thriller centered on hardworking attorney Dana Hargrove.

A multimillionaire fashion designer is mysteriously gunned down on the first floor of his Manhattan town house. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office receives a flood of requests for information from Justice Restored, an innocence project dedicated to freeing the wrongfully convicted. Dana doesn’t have time for any of this. She serves as “Bureau Chief of Trial Bureau 90, the busiest bureau in the busiest prosecutor’s office in the country.” What’s more, she’s about to embark on a much-needed vacation with her family to the Jersey shore. When an old acquaintance at Justice Restored subpoenas Dana to appear in court during the dates of her trip, she’s annoyed. But she doesn’t suspect that anything larger is afoot, even if the murder case for which she is being subpoenaed seems an unlikely one for review. A justice-minded rival, attorney Ellen C. Fortier, is in the process of trying to help her already incarcerated con man of a brother—whom she considers innocent—get out of prison. Dana might just prove to be the key to this and the other mysteries swirling around these cases. Ultimately, Dana must find a way to protect her name and discern the truth, to save her career, and to make sure she gets to enjoy her long overdue family holiday. In this third book following the diligent prosecutor, Kemanis, a talented weaver of scene and exposition, keeps the reader engaged with each new twist and bit of evidence. The author manages to compellingly depict many distinct areas of the justice system, from the cops on the street to the lawyers on both sides of the courtroom and the convicted trapped on the other side of the prison bars. There is a lived-in feel to Bureau 90 that sets this work apart from lesser legal thrillers. Kemanis successfully spins a number of subplots simultaneously, and while readers may guess where things will ultimately end up, the how of the tale should keep them turning pages.

A clever, immersive installment in an ongoing series about a determined prosecutor.