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Moral Defense
Moral Defense
Moral Defense
Audiobook12 hours

Moral Defense

Written by Marcia Clark

Narrated by Angela Dawe

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

“[Moral Defense] has it all: a hard-charging lawyer heroine, tough-as-nails cops…as well as fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants pacing and page-turning twists.” —The Associated Press

For defense attorney Samantha Brinkman, it’s not about guilt or innocence—it’s about making sure her clients walk.

In the follow-up to bestselling Blood Defense, Samantha is hired as the legal advocate for Cassie Sonnenberg after a brutal stabbing left the teenager’s father and brother dead, and her mother barely clinging to life. It’s a tabloid-ready case that has the nation in an uproar—and Sam facing her biggest challenge yet. Why did Cassie survive? Is she hiding something?

As Sam digs in to find the answers, she’s surprised to find herself identifying with Cassie, becoming more and more personally entangled in the case. But when Sam finally discovers the reason for that kinship, she faces a choice she never imagined she’d have to make.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 8, 2016
ISBN9781522656661
Moral Defense
Author

Marcia Clark

California native Marcia Clark is the author of Guilt by Association, Guilt by Degrees, Killer Ambition, and The Competition, all part of the Rachel Knight series. A practicing criminal lawyer since 1979, she joined the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office in 1981, where she served as prosecutor for the trials of Robert Bardo, convicted of killing actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and, most notably, O. J. Simpson. The bestselling Without a Doubt, which she cowrote, chronicles her work on the Simpson trial. Clark has been a frequent commentator on a variety of shows and networks, including Today, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, and MSNBC, as well as a legal correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

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Reviews for Moral Defense

Rating: 4.107594888607595 out of 5 stars
4/5

79 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really like the content of the book, however, the narrator has a strong lisp and it's very distracting. (I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed). If there was a different narrator then I would definitely enjoy the book more.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Here’s the thing. It’s a different narrator than first book. That is not necessarily a bad thing except this lady has an obvious lisp. I thought it was because of Spoiler Alert all the vomiting and murder in the prologue, but then it continued into first chapter with Samantha speaking. It was so distracting I couldn’t get past 1st chapter. I loved first book, so I’ll definitely check out copy of the actual book.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I want Marcia Clark’s books to be better than they are. I feel that if she had a mentor or strong editor, her books could easily be 4 stars for me, maybe even 5. Clark creates characters that I find easy to like, even Samantha who I think of as a “Dexter style” attorney. She has her own strong beliefs about right, wrong, and justice, and although they may not be in line with the law or society’s morals she really does not care. What I find difficult about all of Clark’s books is that they lack a steady pace, a confident sense of timing, and some of the writing is immature. Rather than giving her characters distinct traits that would make them feel real, their tastes are I imagine much like those of Clark herself - both Samantha and Rachel knight love guns, Steely dan (and other bands that put their age older than that of the characters), red meat, and drink a little too much. There are times when too much detail is given and times I long for more. I would definitely never take the time to sit down and read any of Clark’s books but they are fun to listen to while driving.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book held my interest all the way thru. It was a carry over from the previous book I had just listen to Blood Defense. So it was even more interesting.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Look forward to hearing the rest of the series. Everything is always clean and left to your own imagination. No embellishing sexual situations or criminal acts.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Title: Moral DefenseAuthor: Marcia ClarkPublisher: Thomas & MercerSeries: Samantha Brinkman Book 2Reviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: FiveReview:"Moral Defense" by Marcia ClarkMy Speculation:"Moral Defense" was one 'riveting mystery, thriller, and suspenseful' read that will keep you interested, turning the pages to see what was coming next for Samantha Brinkman as she is solving one psychosomatic case. The story had several plots with many twists and turns that will keep the reader wondering what was going on. I believe that a lot of what was going on in this story had a personal effect on what was happening in Sam's own life. Look for a tale of lots of lying and cheating as it seems to be all over the place in this long well-told read. Well, all is left to say is you must pick up the good read to see how this author will bring out this exciting story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Attorney Samantha Brinkman does things that certainly cross the line professionally and ethically – like getting her despicable clients killed. While she justifies her actions based on their horrific behaviors, she is definitely not an upstanding member of the bar. However, I do enjoy the twists and turns her basic cases involve, so I did enjoy this book despite the questionable ethical missteps by Brinkman.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Paula and Stephen planned to celebrate their anniversary with a fancy dinner and spend the night at a top-rated hotel. Instead, Paula got food poisoning and they rushed home. When they got there, Paula went straight to the toilet and Stephen went to check on their two children. He found his seventeen-year-old son Abel lying in a pool of blood in a disheveled room with a broken window. Before he could turn on the light switch, he was stabbed and killed. Paula, wondering what was taking Stephen so long, staggered out, stumbled on Stephen’s body, screamed, and was also stabbed. Fifteen-year-old Cassie, the daughter they adopted ten years previously, came to the room, looked at the scene, and wailed. The massacre was the lead media story for awhile. Paula had survived but was on life support in the intensive care unit. The prognosis was that she wouldn’t make it.Defense Lawyer Samantha Brinkman was called by a long-time friend, Tiegan Donner. Donner said she was told that since Cassie had no family, she would probably need a lawyer. Donner was one of Cassie’s teachers as well as her school councilor. Samantha agreed to add the case to her current load.Brinkman and the police try to determine who the real target was. Paula was a city councilwoman. Stephen was a storage systems administrator at IBM who recently fired an employee, allegedly to give the job to a young, good looking, inexperienced woman. Their son, Abel, a high school senior, was your average suburban white boy: no criminal background or gang ties. While conducting the usual investigation–speaking to neighbors, friends, associates, etc.– they come up dry at first. The police are not doing much better. Eventually, some evidence comes forward showing any of the victims could have been the target. MORAL DEFENSE follows the various possibilities as the case gets more and more complex.The book also follows Brinkman’s other cases: A client just released from jail who had $150,000 worth of heroin before his incarceration. He turned them over to Brinkman. The person who supplied the drugs wants either the drugs or the money and she no longer has the merchandise nor legal access to that much cash. A second case involves a person being sought for deportation whose sister disappeared while being deported a few years previously. And a third one is two men whose relative was sent to prison, placed in a unit with rival gang members, and murdered soon after he got there. They want to know who was responsible for the placement.This is the second book in a series. While it is not necessary to read the first one before this one–Marcia Clark provides a lot of information about it–you may feel you know too much about the first one to read it afterwards.Early on, Brinkman says, “The whole think reeked of backdoor string pulling and dirty politics.” She was once very anti-cop and then served as a public defender. Later on she admits she sometimes administered a“personal form of justice.”She didn’t meet her father until a year before this case and her mother didn’t want much to do with mothering. Brinkman was the victim of sexual abuse as a child and that subject as well as the feelings of adopted children is discussed. “Well, I think adopted kids have mixed feelings about their parents. They love them, they’re grateful to them, but at the same time, they resent having to feel grateful.” “So they detach before someone else can abandon them. Again.”Clark is a well-known criminal lawyer. She served as prosecutor for the O. J. Simpson case. She provides tips for attorneys and defendants, such as, don’t answer questions, don’t volunteer information, prepare a case thoroughly to avoid any surprises, Her writing flows. Her descriptions of both people and surroundings are vivid. “A thin white layer of clouds covered the sky like a gauze bandage. The sun shown through them and bathed the sky in a pale, silvery light. I would’ve appreciated something dark and ominous to go with my mood–or a bright blue day, for contrast.” It also has humor and her characters seem real, though some, including Brinkman, are flawed. There is at least one discrepancy. The story of how the killer got into the house (a brick through Abel’s window) is changed later on. One of my pet peeves in modern books is the way publishers and/or authors believe reader’s have an attention span of five minutes, tops. This book has sixty chapters plus a prologue and epilogue. While most of the chapters move to a new area, a few of them are direct continuations of the previous ones. For example, one ends with someone moving to another room to meet someone. The next one has them meeting. I usually take off one star for this but it didn’t happen most of the time. I received an advance ebook from NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.