Book Review: Write to Die

Write to Die

by Charles Rosenberg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

I love a good courtroom thriller so when Charles Rosenberg’s Write to Die (Thomas & Mercer 2016) showed up on NetGalley, I grabbed it. It tells the story of an entertainment lawyer (Rory Calburton) whose slam-dunk copyright infringement case unexpectedly goes sideways when he finds out his client has been lying to him. As he struggles to save the case, or at least minimize the damage to the studio who is one of his firm’s largest clients, he is asked (ordered?) to defend the firm’s owner from murder charges. Assisting him is new associate, Sarah Gold, an enigmatic character who’s clever, sharp, unorthodox, as unpredictable as she is beautiful–and drives Rory nuts with her outside-the-box thinking that not only endangers her but the firm’s reputation.Since Rory is much more the button-down, traditional lawyer, their interplay and inevitable conflicts are fascinating to experience.

As with two of my favorite legal thriller writers (Scott Turow and Philip Margolin), Rosenberg imbue’s his tale with the courtroom detail that only insider’s know and we readers salivate for.

“Rory did have some other things he wanted to know but, satisfied with Chen’s last answer, decided that they could wait to be asked at trial. Which would be after their own experts had gotten their hands on the receipt and used DNA testing to see if there was any third-party DNA on the receipt...”

Rosenberg has a bright voice with just enough humor to keep readers subconsciously giggling rather than hyperventilating.

“It had surprised him that the entry door into the stairwell was unlocked and annoyed him that he was out of breath by the time he got to the top.”

“…was a no-nonsense judge (had any judicial profile, Rory wondered, ever described one of their honors as a nonsense judge?) who ran a tight ship but had a wry sense of humor when it pleased her to display it.”

I love discovering a new author who can fold me into his/her story of a different world for at least a few hours. By Chapter Two, I knew this was that sort of experience. I’m crossing my fingers that this is the start of a series.

More lawyer thrillers:

My Summer with David Rosenfelt

Hounded

Capitol Murder

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy and To Hunt a Sub, her debut fiction. She is the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer,  a columnist for TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her nonfiction books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.

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