Blood Lines
by Grace Monroe

Release Date: 2nd Jun 2008
Publisher: Avon
ISBN: 978 1 8475 6041 4
RRP: £6.99

The most unique lawyer I have ever come across...

From the duo that is Maria Thomson and Linda Watson-Brown comes the second in a series that features Brodie McLennan, a renegade Scottish lawyer who seems to perpetually thwart the rules and rub people up the wrong way.

Blood Lines follows on from Dark Angels, with Brodie still coming to terms with the realisation that her father was a preeminent judge, who also happened to run a paedophile ring out of a children's home, and that her mother turned out to be a prostitute (also one of the unfortunate children from the home). As if all that wasn't enough, Brodie is thrown into confusion about her relationship with the men in her life. Will she end up with the naughty but nice Jack Deans, a cut throat journalist who has run into hard times - or will she find herself back in the arms of her scary but sexy ex-husband, Glasgow Joe? Either way, it seems that she has some hard lessons to learn first.

On the sidelines are money laundering, Moses Tierney and his Dark Angels, a sociopathic rival lawyer and a killer who is out to frame Brodie. Not as atmospheric, taut or chilling as Ian Rankin can be - to be honest, I found myself struggling to care whether Brodie got put away or if she managed to scrape herself out of yet another hole. The plot surrounding the men in her life was far more intriguing than the killing and the money laundering, and the ending allowed for that heart-warming moment you knew would be coming at some point. This was neither thrilling nor terrifying, but that isn't to say it was useless. What it is - is light, fun escapism for a couple of hours and sometimes that's all you want from a book.

I'm not sure where the authors can go from here with Brodie - but perhaps the renegade lawyer will land herself in a whole heap more trouble in the not too distant future... given her clientele, I find that a likely scenario. And that wouldn't be a bad thing, at least not in my book.

© Copyright 2008. You may not copy, reproduce or otherwise distribute any content on this site without prior consent. To obtain consent - email here

The Truth About Books Limited. Registered England & Wales. Registration No: 6418483, Registered Address: Suite B, 29 Harley St, London, W1G 9QR

Send Review Copies to : The Editor, The Truth About Books Ltd, PO Box 612, Chesterfield, S40 9EU