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I love a good legal thriller, so when I found this book at the local bookshop, I snapped it up. Having heard how great it was, how could I not?

It had all the right ingredients. The dysfunctional family, complete with abusive husband, a wife suspected of infidelity, and of course your token troubled children. Toss in hints of corrupt police and lawyers and you are sure to have a novel that sizzles.

I was a little disappointed then when I thought I had the plot figured out after reading just the prologue. It seemed so obvious. Thankfully there is still an author out there that can surprise me, even if my second theory proved accurate.

Self Incrimination introduces us to Leslie Connors, a lawyer who just a few months ago was studying for her bar exam, and now faces her first murder case. Wealthy executive James Bannister is shot dead in his home, and his sixteen-year-old stepdaughter, Tara, claims self-defence. With Tara and her mother’s battered faces to back up the allegations of ongoing abuse, it seems an open and shut case. Until Leslie meets with the Prosecution.

Faced with evidence that this was no simple case of self-defence, Leslie must now hunt out the truth from her reluctant client. Help comes from an unlikely source when Leslie is approached by a fellow lawyer who claims his insurance fraud case is somehow linked to the Bannister murder.

While her law partner fiancé, Brad Carson, is busy with his own court case, Leslie not only faces handling this trial on her own, but also a life-threatening medical condition and wedding plans.

Self Incrimination is certainly a page-turner. However, I did find the 450 pages a little weighty. The storyline sagged towards the middle of the book with too much time spent on Leslie’s health problem. A little trimming would have turned this into a tight, sensational read.

You have to question the sanity of any male author that chooses to write a complete novel from a female first-person point of view. Singer pulls it off rather well, not an easy job when you combine it with the fact the book is also written in present tense. It so impressed me that I found myself dreaming in first-person for several nights.

Self Incrimination is a worthwhile read. I’m sure it won’t be the last Randy Singer book I’ll indulge in.

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