RICH WATERS - Robert Bailey

Attorney Jason Rich recently won a large court case, his first, really, despite being a lawyer for many years.  He's made his money as an 'ambulance-chasing' accident attorney. His "In an accident? Get Rich!" billboards dot the landscape around his hometown of Guntersville, Alabama. But winning a major case doesn't mean that his life is back on track.  Not giving in to his substance abuse tendencies is still a daily challenge, and he and his 17-year-old niece, Nola, have not been getting along. She's been skipping school or coming to school under the influence of something (alcohol? drugs?) and she's in danger of not graduating.  Jason never expected to act as a parent, but since the death of his sister (the circumstances surrounding the previous case). And to top it off, the woman he was dating , whom he had proposed to and whom Nola had bonded with, left him after he proposed.

Now, Tyson Cade, the region's biggest drug dealer wants Jason to represent Trey Cowan, a local, talented athlete who fell short of making it to the big time and who is now accused of killing a cop. Working for Cade is the last thing Jason wants to do, but the dealer has enough of a hold on Rich and his family and friends, and Cade has proven that he's not afraid to take a life when following through on a threat.  But the drug dealer is slippery and most of what happens can never be tied back to him.

Jason has no choice but to be the attorney for Trey but he gets no help from the accused and a lot of pressure from Cade. Even Jason has to admit that evidence against his client is overwhelming. 

But there's one interesting piece to the case ... the lead detective in the case, a woman that Jason has great respect for, hasn't been seen and doesn't show up for the preliminary hearing. This doesn't make sense for an open-and-shut case. With no other leads, Jason decides to look into it.

Every time I write a review of a Robert Bailey legal thriller I tend start with my surprise that I like these books so much.  I've never read a legal thriller before Bailey, and I'm not from the South, which is more than a landscape for these books - it's a way of living - but these books are SO exciting. In fact, at one point in this book, I was feeling highly anxious at the events going on. Enough so that I put the book down for a bit and thought that maybe this would be my last Robert Bailey book. My issue was mostly with the drug dealer having the power over people the way that he did.

The anxiety was only momentary and my glee at the appearance of a character from another of Bailey's series', Bo Haynes, was enough to counter my earlier anxiety.  I wouldn't have minded more of Bo, but his appearance does come with very important help.

A lot of changes will take place during the course of the book.  I don't want to give away too much but suffice it to say that things will be different in the next book (assuming there is one) and, just as between books #1 and #2 here, not all those changes will be positive.

The category for a book like this is "legal thriller" and Bailey, a lawyer himself, knows the legal part quite well and the 'thriller' portion is high octane excitement.

Looking for a good book? Rich Waters is the second book in the Jason Rich series by Robert Bailey. Bailey may not have invented the legal thriller category, but he rules it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

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Rich Waters

author: Robert Bailey

series: Jason Rich #2

publisher: Thomas & Mercer

ISBN: 9781542037297

paperback, 509 pages