WINNER OF FIVE AWARDS
2020 INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD
NEW YORK CITY BIG BOOK AWARD 2019
2019 AMERICAN FICTION AWARD
NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCY AWARD - Best
Legal Thriller of 2019
SILVER MEDAL WINNER 2019 READERS' FAVORITES
AWARDS
Chosen by Wiki.ezvid.com among their list
of 10 Gripping and Intelligent Legal Thrillers
The courtroom scenes are wonderfully
written...the characters are well described and the author paints a picture of
each in the mind of the reader...Strong plot, strong characters and a strong
writing style that I really enjoyed. This one is a definite
"thumbs-up." Strongly recommend! I look forward to reading additional
works by N. Lombardi, Jr.
Kim M
Aalaie, Author's Den
One of my favorite suspense novels of the
year. It will make you question the legal system.
The Eclectic
Review
The courtroom action is excellent, trimmed
to the most gripping parts of the trial, with plenty of emotional impact...a
fairly realistic portrayal of the way small-town US society works...a
fast-moving story with plenty of dramatic moments, and a big twist in the final
pages.
Crime
Review
An act of police brutality hurls a small town into a turmoil of rage and
fear, igniting a relentless witch hunt and ending in the trial of the decade.
"When a
homeless war veteran is beaten to death by the police, stormy protests ensue,
engulfing a small New Jersey town. Soon after, three cops are gunned down.
A multi-state manhunt is underway for a cop
killer on the loose. And Dr. Tessa Thorpe, a veteran's counselor, is caught up
in the chase.
Donald
Darfield, an African-American Iraqi war vet, war-time buddy of the beaten man,
and one of Tessa's patients, is holed up in a mountain cabin. Tessa, acting on
instinct, sets off to find him, but the swarm of law enforcement officers gets
there first, leading to Darfield's dramatic capture.
Now, the only
people separating him from the lethal needle of state justice are Tessa and
ageing blind lawyer, Nathaniel Bodine. Can they untangle the web tightening
around Darfield in time, when the press and the justice system are baying for
revenge?”
MY REVIEW...
Sometimes when you begin a book, you just know it’s going to
be something you want to read. I’m not exactly sure how to describe that
feeling. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an exciting scene that starts in the
first paragraph. I think it is the flow of the writing, the kind that keeps
your interest. This book had that flow, at least it did until it blasted me in
the face with action. Wow, what a start for a novel. I was appreciative of his
writing; mad at the story and the injustice. I was a little of everything and
that is because the author and his words made me that way. That means having
the talent to write mere words on paper and create a huge amount of emotion in
your readers.
Injustice, unfairness, unwarranted violence, our cops and
our military, are easy subjects to write about and evoke emotions as I said in
the previous paragraph. They are also subjects to create interesting characters
around. That happened here and some really enjoyable characters came out of
this book. characters you hope to read more about.
This book has been categorized as being a part of the
legal/thriller genre. I’m not sure that’s quite where I’d put it. Actually,
it’s rather difficult to describe. It definitely is a thriller and it has a lot
of legal activity in it, but it’s almost crime fiction or a mystery too. So, I
guess if you like to read any of these genres, you’d enjoy it. There are a lot
of points here for discussion and some thought-provoking ideas. An enjoyable
read and yet a somewhat deep book.
Lombardi Jr. has at least 2 other books published that I can
see ratings on, and all seem to be well rated.
5 Stars of my very few 5-star reviews of the year.
Note: I have communicated with Nicolas Lombardi and I have to tell you, not only is he an excellent author but he's a good, kind man.
Like his Facebook page. Read his book and leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. He deserves it.
about Nicolas Lombardi Jr...
N. Lombardi Jr, the N for Nicholas, has spent over half his life in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, working as a groundwater geologist. Nick can speak five languages: Swahili, Thai, Lao, Chinese, and Khmer (Cambodian).
In 1997, while visiting Lao People's Democratic Republic, he witnessed the remnants of a secret war that had been waged for nine years, among which were children wounded from leftover cluster bombs. Driven by what he saw, he worked on The Plain of Jars for the next eight years.
Nick maintains a website with content that spans most aspects of the novel: The Secret War, Laotian culture, Buddhism etc. http://plainofjars.net
His second novel, Journey Towards a Falling Sun, is set in the wild frontier of northern Kenya.
His latest novel, Justice Gone was inspired by the fatal beating of a homeless man by police.
Nick now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Visit his goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6982373.N_Lombardi_Jr_
The Widow by John Grisham
