Her Deadly Game - Robert Dugoni - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Robert Dugoni

GENRE: Legal Thriller

RATING: 4.5 Stars.

In a Nutshell: A fast-paced and entertaining legal thriller with great characters. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Story Synopsis:

Keera Duggan was an up-and-coming prosecutor until her romantic relationship with a colleague Miller Ambrose ended badly. Now she is forced to work in her family’s criminal defense law firm, which itself is struggling after her father’s repeated alcohol-induced misbehaviour. For Keera, who has always been an overachiever and a chess prodigy, this is a big comedown.

When wealthy businessman Vince LaRussa, who is arrested on the charge of murdering his wife, approached Duggan’s firm to represent him, Keera knows that this is the chance to get everything – career, family, business – back on track. But there are many challenges as well, not least of which being that the prosecutor handling the case for the state is Ambrose himself.

As Keera handles the defense side while navigating through some tricky leads, she realises that she is in a far more dangerous game than she had bargained for.

The story comes to us in the limited third person perspective of Keera and another key character, Frank Rossi, who is the lead detective on the LaRussa case.

Where the book worked for me:

♛ Let’s be honest. No one reads legal thrillers wondering if the lawyer/character we see will win the case. Of course, they will! What we want is to see a brilliant legal battle unfurling inside and outside court, one that keeps us on our toes and challenges many assumptions. On that count, this book is a big winner. The courtroom scenes were fascinating.

♛ That said, some parts of the ending did take me by surprise. I appreciate how the author didn’t push too hard to ties all ends neatly. A few things are left unsaid, with just enough for us to know what might transpire.

♛ Keera Duggan makes for a compelling lead character. While she does meet the standard portrayal of having a prodigious intelligence and a competitive streak, she is also not shown as a superwoman who can handle everything alone. I love how the author showed her as a team player.

♛ I think this is the first time ever that I have ever counted an alcoholic character as among my favourites. Patrick Duggan, Keera’s dad, is so well-written! He shines not just as a lawyer but also as a dad. His addiction to the bottle is also depicted well in the story. I appreciate how alcoholism is portrayed not as a choice but as an illness.

♛ Through Keera’s big family – two brothers, two sisters and parents, we get a great glimpse of a dysfunctional family’s dynamics. The sibling relationships across the three sisters are especially spot on.

♛ A book with many strong women characters, none of whose portrayals are sexualised and none of whom are perfect role models but *almost* regular humans - this deserves credit, all the more coming from a male writer. A further plus point for not forcing a romantic track into the book.

♛ The story is well-paced, with the action ranging from fast to medium but never slow. Perfect for a legal thriller.

♛ The last time I read a satisfying legal thriller must have been when John Grisham was in his heyday. So to return to this genre after so many years gave me a nice glimpse of modern-day legal proceedings, complete with PowerPoint presentations and videos. The author’s being an ex-lawyer is a huge advantage, because there is a ring of authenticity to all the scenes.

♛ There is plenty of chess in the book, and every reference is used intelligently. I don’t play chess, but I know the pieces and the basic moves. So while I loved the references to the game coming through various characters and situations, I speed-read through the paras detailing an online chess game Keera was playing with an online opponent. What surprised me most was that the author doesn’t play chess, as he reveals in his final note. After the way he incorporated chess seamlessly into the narrative, I sure didn’t see that coming!

♛ On that note, the author’s note – one of the best I’ve read. Well-detailed, and providing the perfect background to the story and the events therein. Loved it!

Where the book left me with mixed feelings:

♞ As an ardent fan of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, I both loved and hated the way the play was used in this story. Also, I beg to differ, Keera, but ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ is NOT similar to Wilde’s play!

Where the book did not work for me:

♟ Sorry, minor spoiler here.

----- SPOILER BEGINS -----

I am a bit tired of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) being brought up in reference to criminals. DID doesn’t automatically indicate psychopathic tendencies. In this story, the mention of DID wasn’t even necessary. Simply portraying the said character as a sociopath or a psychopath was enough to make us understand his motivations. Why was the DID reference shoved in? ASPD would have made far better sense.

----- SPOILER ENDS -----  

All in all, you can see from the skew of my feedback that this was a great read for me. After a long while, I have read a legal thriller that IS a legal thriller and not a dressed-up crime thriller or police procedural.

I hope the author plans to turn this into a series, because I would love to see more of Keera Duggan and Frank Rossi, not necessarily together. Could we please have more of Pan and Ford in the next installment? And do bring back Harrison as well. Oh, and Patrick Duggan too! Heck, just make sure every good key character returns, dear author!!

This was my first Robert Dugoni work, and it won’t be the last!

4.5 stars, happy to round up in the hopes that the author will be convinced to write a sequel!

My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the DRC of “Her Deadly Game”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The book is also available on Kindle Unlimited.