Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Legal Thriller
Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words
Availability
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Author:
A native of
rural, northern Illinois, Kirk Ross is a graduate of Chicago’s Northwest
University Law School and has worked in a large, big city law firm as well as
smaller firms, specializing in estate planning and trust administration. He’s not
too different from his protagonist, Jack Mitchell. This is Ross’ first book.
Description:
“The
future…and the very survival…of one unborn child hang on the skill and courage
of one young attorney in search of his own redemption…
The
McKenzies are dead. All of them. And thus the fate of one of America’s largest
fortunes is in limbo. Then the bank which controls the vast fortune suddenly
produces a man it claims is the only surviving member of the family. Although
no one had ever heard of this cousin before, his inheritance seems secure…
…until a
McKenzie widow discovers she is pregnant with her dead husband’s child. Should
the McKenzie fortune belong to the child…or is it already too late? Attorney
Jack Mitchell will do whatever it takes to make sure his unborn client receives
justice…even if it costs him everything.
In Kirk
Ross’ just-completed legal thriller, the law is a battlefield, but it’s the war
outside of the courtroom that will keep Jack and the last McKenzie just one step
ahead of a dangerously final verdict.”
Appraisal:
I’ve been a big
fan of the legal thriller for what seems like forever, both those from the big
names of the genre like John Grisham or those less well known: Rebecca Forster,
for example. As with many genres, the legal thriller has some genre conventions
or formulas. Although not as strict as the romance, it shares a few of that
genre’s conventions. You can anticipate a happy ending. You know there will be
some tense moments and bumps along the way. The key to the story is not being
able to see how the story will get from point A to point B. To use a cliché,
the journey is the reward. If the journey is too predictable, it isn’t a trip
worth taking.
My biggest issue
with The Last McKenzie was that it
failed in taking the reader on an unpredictable journey. The foundation of a
good story was established early, with a mystery (three siblings who had all
died suspiciously within a few weeks of each other) and a legal conflict to be
resolved (obtaining the rights to a trust fund for a baby conceived just before
the death of the last sibling). However, just after hitting the 20% mark of the
book, I knew the answer to the mystery, who committed or arranged for the three
deaths, and why. I knew there was going to be at least one more murder
attempted, who the intended victim would be, and why. While the details were
fuzzy, the big picture couldn’t have been more clear.
The
characters also seemed like clichés. The lawyer, looking to redeem himself for
a past mistake by acting as a white knight for the attractive heroine. The
amoral (bordering on crazy) villain, willing to do anything to win. The
opposing lawyer, who has no scruples and the power and resources of a big law
firm backing him. I could quibble with some of the plot details, some of which
are also clichéd (a small twist on the tired plot point that twins have the
same DNA for one), or point to some clunky writing, but instead will end by
saying, I think this book is a pass.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos and proofreading issues.
Rating: ** Two stars
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