A wealthy family with DARK secrets. A SHOCKING reveal that you guaranteed won't see coming...Avery Collins is an attorney with the tender heart of a warrior for the wrongfully accused, for one simple reason. She was once wrongfully accused, and spent 7 years in prison for a murder she didn't commit.
Now sworn to protect the indigent accused, she's persuaded to represent Esme Guitierrez, an El Salvadoran refugee who is accused of killing 21-year-old Aria Whitmore. Aria was the daughter of the prominent billionaire hotelier Jacob Whitmore, and was also an aspiring concert pianist and music composer.
As Avery digs further into the case, she realizes that there were some sick games taking place behind the closed doors of the Whitmore mansion, and Avery ends up with more questions than answers.
What happened to Aria's birth mother?
How did Julian Rodriguez, a young schizophrenic man, come to befriend Aria?
And who is sending threatening emails that are filled with facts that are not widely known to the public?
When Avery finds out the answers to these questions, she's shocked. But she also realizes that the big reveal opens up more questions than answers, and the case takes an unexpected turn.
As time runs out to find the true culprit, Avery faces the trial of her life. Amidst an intense media glare, death threats, protestors and stalkers breaking into her home, Avery nonetheless gives this case her all.
Because if she doesn't, her client will end up on death row.
With the lightning speed, twists and turns you've come to expect from a Rachel Sinclair novel, Presumption of Guilt is a legal thriller that is not to be missed! Come and meet your newest favorite badass attorney, Avery Collins, today!
The Sexy Nerd's Review. . .
Oook! So, I decided I wanted to take a break from my memoirs, fantasies and murder mysteries and delve into some legalese. I haven’t read a good legal thriller in a long while. I just so happened to be perusing through Kindle Unlimited and up pops this novel, Presumed Guilty. I loved the premise of the story and couldn’t wait to jump right on in.
Unfortunately, I knew early on I was ready to jump out of this story and read the countless others I must read for various publishers. But as my readers know, once I commit to a story, regardless as to how bad it is, I always give every author the respect of their time and this story wasn’t any different.
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Avery Collins is a criminal defense attorney looking for her next case. She so happens to stumble across a real beast of a case with the Esme Guitierrez. Ms. Guitierrez is an immigrant from El Salvador seeking a better life in America, only to wind up working for the wealthy Whitmores as their maid. Aria Whitmore, the young 21-year-old musician and the daughter of the billionaire is murdered and the Whitmores, quite naturally, blame Esme because she’s the one who found the young woman. Esme did what any person should do when you find a body is to report it to the police. Apparently, all that ended up doing was causing more suspicion (which made no sense to me) and the obvious person who murdered this young woman had to be Esme, right?
Avery was looking for a case to take on because she enjoyed working cases pro bono. The reason she could afford to do this is because she won a huge settlement with the state for being falsely accused of murdering her best friend, Becky, many years ago and she served seven years in prison due to it. Avery knew all too well how horrible it felt to be accused of something you didn’t commit. She was all too eager to get started with Esme’s defense.
Sounds good so far, right? Here’s where the story went left. What I just relayed to you is about fifty percent of the book. Avery was so hell bent on finding out who falsely accused her of murder that she didn’t put that same energy into helping her so-called client. I understand she was incarcerated for seven years, and I can only imagine how horrible that must have been, but the rest of the story seemed to lean toward finding out who did that and not much with Esme Guitierrez’s case. I wanted so badly to get to the legal part of the story and that never came.
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The author continued to berate the reader with stupid mundane things that had absolutely nothing to do with legal proceedings. She glossed over key evidence and great courtroom drama. This is why I love legal thrillers when the author takes the reader through the process. It’s all a part of the lore for me. Do you think the popular show, Law & Order, would still be on the air if Dick Wolf didn’t put the courtroom drama in it? How can you call a book a “legal thriller” when there isn’t any “legal” aspects to the story? This story had so much potential, and I was rooting for the author, Avery and Esme Guitierrez, but unfortunately, I didn’t get much of anything. And, I shouldn’t have been surprised that the ending cliffed the reader, so you must go to book two to find out more about Avery’s false imprisonment. Now the question becomes is it worth my time to go and read it…suffice it to say, most likely not. I’m done with this story.
The Sexy Nerd gives Presumed Guilty two stars. I should have given this story one star, but I give the author credit for having written it, no matter how poorly written (story line wise) it was. Luckily, this was a very short read and put me out of my misery quickly. This was not for me and I will not waste any more of my time trying to understand these characters. With that, until next time, Nerds, you know how we do!
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