** spoiler alert ** 
 I really enjoy Marcia Clark and the Samantha Brinkman series, so I was stalking Netgalley and Edelweiss hoping to snag an advance copy. Thanks to the publisher for granting one to me! 
 I'd love to say that I LOVED this book but for me it was an okay read. The story lines were absolutely captivating, from the murder of a young college co-ed to the death of her estranged exboyfriend that looks like a suicide but isn't, to a the B story about a girl who'd run away from home, witnessed a murder and was under witness protection until she agreed to testify in the case. 
 Clark has this habit, one that I picked up on in her first novels that seems to have gotten better but it's still a problem-- she wants us to know that she knows a lot of stuff. If there is a way to insert a lot of legal maneuvering to make a story last longer, it's in this book. The middles just.... drag. On and on. To the point where I was at 87% and nearly out of my mind-- this book is almost over and I have ZERO ANSWERS. 
 And then the end comes and it's pat and concise with a pretty bow, after the drama of the previous 90%. Not saying this book isn't a good read, but as always the book could be shorter and just as good or better. 
 Still LOVE Samantha and Michy and especially Alex. I also love the fleeting glimpses into the not-s0-glamorous life of an attorney and how the line between legal and illegal can be super thin. Samantha navigates it expertly, like a tightrope. 
 Here's to the next Brinkman novel!