**** 4 Stars
One of the first crime/thriller books I ever remember reading was The Firm by John Grisham. I read it when I was fifteen whilst on holiday in Portugal & then when I can home from my holiday it was out in the cinema. Reading The Firm made me at one point consider becoming a solicitor & led to me reading similar types of books by authors like Robert North Patterson and Scott Turow. So I was really pleased to be able to join the blog tour for Carys Jones latest book, First To Fall, featuring lawyer, Aiden Connelly.
The Blurb
Aiden Connelly’s first case will be one he’ll never forget.
Lawyer Aiden Connelly has traded the frenzy of Chicago for a slower pace in sleepy Avalon – and his first case appears to be as open-and-shut as he could hope for. Hired to defend a local ex-beauty queen accused of murdering her husband, he’s confident that he’ll have the case closed in record time. But below the surface lurks a darker truth…
Suddenly, a quiet backwater has transformed into a dangerous pressure cooker. In a town where everyone knows everyone, gathering evidence should be easy… but the harder Aiden searches, the more he appreciates how tangled this net of loyalties is. And as he digs deeper, Aiden begins to realise that his very first case in Avalon could be the beginning of his undoing…
Lawyer Aiden Connelly has traded the frenzy of Chicago for a slower pace in sleepy Avalon – and his first case appears to be as open-and-shut as he could hope for. Hired to defend a local ex-beauty queen accused of murdering her husband, he’s confident that he’ll have the case closed in record time. But below the surface lurks a darker truth…
Suddenly, a quiet backwater has transformed into a dangerous pressure cooker. In a town where everyone knows everyone, gathering evidence should be easy… but the harder Aiden searches, the more he appreciates how tangled this net of loyalties is. And as he digs deeper, Aiden begins to realise that his very first case in Avalon could be the beginning of his undoing…
My Thoughts
From the outset this book really echoed for me John Grisham's A Time To Kill, only without the Ku Klux Klan. Aiden Connelly, has moved his wife and daughter to the small town of Avalon from Chicago to escape the rat race. It had gotten to the point that he wasn't getting home to late, he was barely seeing his young daughter and things were becoming strained on the marital front.
He accepts a job as a partner at a small family law office and is led to believe that his first case is an open and shut murder case. The beautiful, Brandy White, has admitted to murdering her husband, Brandon and is now awaiting trial with the most likely outcome the death penalty. Right from the start things don't quite add up for Aiden. Are things as cut and dry as them seem? What made Brandy kill her husband?
Add to the mix that Brandon's father is a much respected businessman, Brandon himself was the towns blue-eyed boy, a popular footballer who everyone thought very highly of and that the town Sheriff is pretty corrupt and you have yourself a fast paced thriller. I pretty much read the whole book in one sitting as I just needed to find out why Brandy killed her husband and what would happen at her trial.
Aiden and his wife very soon become outcasts in the small town, those that greeted them so warmly when they arrived begin to ignore them because of Aiden's involvement in defending, Brandy White. This helps to ramp up the suspense and leads the reader to a shocking twist that I just didn't see coming.
Overall this was an enjoyable quick read with a great mix of characters and I really liked Aiden and his sense of fairness and justice. Carys Jones writing captures the feel of a small town, America and I am pleased to see that it looks like there is going to be a book 2.
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