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This is the fourth installment in a series of novels about Dana Hargrove. Each is a stand-alone story, and in this one, she is now the District Attorney in White Plains, New York. The story begins with the chilling suicide of a young high school girl. It feels achingly painful, perhaps doubly so because the girl was apparently bullied into taking her own life by classmates that berated her, not just in school but also on social media. Tension mounts as Dana has to determine whether to charge her tormentors with a crime and, if so, exactly which statute to use. As the plot is unfolding, readers are simultaneously introduced to other cases Dana and her spouse are involved in and then thrust headlong into potential criminal catastrophes that involve her own teenage children. Before you know it, multiple cases are being juggled that involve underage drinking and driving, potential drug use, and assault.
Kemanis fills her narrative with multiple characters who intertwine via legal ties, family ties, or sometimes both. She vividly portrays the difficulties of balancing the intricacies of the practice of law with the intimacies of the practice of parenthood. Her principal players seem particularly real whether they’re adults overburdened with conflicting responsibilities or teens awash in interpersonal issues. This is a confident author as at home with courtrooms, legal briefs, and summary judgments as she is with bedrooms, term papers, and adolescent anxiety. If you like fiction that feels true, characters you can relate to, and individuals trying their best to be their best, then chances are you’ll warm up to this book.