Sunday, August 11, 2013

THE LAST ALIBI by David Ellis

I have a terrific legal thriller for you today, The Last Alibi by David Ellis.  Since this is the ninth book in the Jason Kolarich series, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I've just discovered Kolarich.  Needless to say, I'll be looking for the previous eight books now.  

In this story Kolarich has had knee surgery and unfortunately was given Oxycontin for postop pain.  That's the one piece of the mystery that I found hard to believe.  Oxycontin, the highly addictive pain killer, for this type of pain?  Anyway, Kolarich has become addicted and when the doctor refused to prescribe any more of it, he started buying it illegally on the street.   Meanwhile, his life is in such a downward spiral that even he begins to be aware of it, but he's too addicted to stop.

His legal partner, Shauna Tasker, can see something is very wrong but doesn't know what and he refuses her help.  She is handling a huge civil case with their junior associate so she's really too busy to catch on anyway.  Then a court reporter catches Kolarich's eye and she becomes his lover and his enabler.

During this time a new client enters Kolarich's office.  He says two women he has some connection to have been murdered and he's afraid the police will arrest him but he's innocent.  Sounds fishy but then Kolarich isn't too sharp under the influence of the drugs and he promises to be the guy's lawyer if he is arrested.  From that point on the lawyer's life takes a hinky turn that grows worse and worse.  And I was definitely hooked.  There are so many things for the reader to worry about and work out, twists and turns that defy attempts to solve them, and you just have to keep turning pages.  It's an amazing plot and one that I loved.

Author David Ellis has written a couple books with James Patterson but don't let that influence your decision whether to read this one.  Personally I think Patterson has lost his touch and I don't read his books anymore.  Maybe that's why I never read Ellis before.  Who knows?

Highly recommended
Source:  won from LibraryThing

3 comments:

  1. It is very true they hand out a lot of oxycontin these days for post-op pain. No wonder addiction has become such a problem! (And who HASN'T cowritten a book with Patterson? LOL)

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  2. You're not preaching to me. This is a new author and new character for me and I'm wondering why I've never heard of them. This sounds good!

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  3. I do like legal thrillers so on the list this one goes. Glad u liked it Barbara. Have a good week.

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