March 29, 2021
Law professor Bazelon debuts with a fast-paced, multilayered legal thriller. In 2006, L.A. attorney Abby Rosenberg, a deputy federal public defender, takes on the high-profile case of 19-year-old Luz Rivera Hollis, who has admitted to stabbing to death her husband, a decorated combat veteran with a history of violence and addiction, at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany. Luz maintains she acted in self-defense to protect herself and her three-day-old daughter. The case will be the first time a trial revolves around a new law that extradites civilians who commit crimes against the military outside the U.S. The trial careens out of control as Abby deals with the manipulative Luz, a cocounsel foisted on her, and a sexist judge. Meanwhile, she risks the relationship with her partner by cutting short her maternity leave. Unlikable but never boring, Abby often skirts the law as her need to win overpowers her ethics and her common sense. This tale of unchecked ambition about one woman’s efforts to balance her professional and personal lives will resonate with many. Agent: Emma Patterson, Brandt & Hochman Literary.
March 1, 2021
In journalist and law professor Bazelon's tense fiction debut, a young woman goes on trial for the stabbing murder of her soldier husband. Hard-charging Los Angeles federal public defense attorney Abby Rosenberg is due to give birth any time now, but her new case already has her hooked. Nineteen-year-old Luz Rivera Hollis was taken into custody at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany and sent back to LA after supposedly stabbing her husband, Sgt. Travis Hollis, to death. Luz has been charged with first-degree murder, but Abby isn't quite sure that her client grasps the gravity of the situation; all she cares about is getting to be with her 2-month-old daughter, Cristina. Abby manages to get the judge to set bail and release Luz to her grandmother, and then she's off on maternity leave. Abby's new baby son is a delight, but she chafes at the monotony of sleepless nights and feedings, and she angers her partner, Nic Mulvaney, by announcing that she wants to go back to work early. She's not about to hand over control of Luz's case to Will Ellet, a wet-behind-the-ears former JAG attorney with 19th-century views on womanhood, but she does have to partner with him, and he makes it crystal clear what he thinks of her decision to come back early. As Abby and Will prepare the enigmatic Luz for trial, their personal lives begin to fall apart. Bazelon knows her way around a courtroom and unfolds one surprise after another while deftly exploring motherhood and the often crushing expectations that come with raising a family, not to mention the condescending treatment of women in a largely male workplace. Abby sees herself in Luz, who is willing to do anything to protect her little girl, but was her action self-defense or coldblooded murder? A taut, nail-biting courtroom drama.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from May 1, 2021
Abby Rosenberg wasn't cut out for maternity leave, as she had long suspected. A hard-nosed public defender, she was amazed that her body had produced something as tiny and perfect as her son, Cal, but she couldn't wait to get back in the courtroom. When Luz Rivera Hollis' case lands on Abby's desk, she jumps at the chance to defend the maddening, magnetic 19-year-old accused of stabbing her husband. Abby feels a strong connection to the case; both she and Luz are new mothers and would do anything to protect their children. As the case gains national attention, Abby and her colleague Will are consumed by the shadowy details of Luz's history and the demands of the upcoming trial. Abby's singular focus makes her an excellent trial lawyer, but she's late to realize that Cal made her world bigger than Luz's case, and now she's in danger of losing everything. Attorney Bazelon's fiction debut is a powerhouse legal thriller, giving Abby a depth and breadth of backstory rare in first novels. Fans of Tana French, Scott Turow, and Lisa Scottoline will gravitate to Bazelon's tautly paced and richly detailed novel, an exploration of ambition, responsibility, and the sacrifices of motherhood.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.