“Clark, who served as a prosecutor for the trial of O. Handling of her characters through a multilevel maze of conflicts delivers an

Page-turner featuring a ballsy protagonist with a secret past.” - Booklist “ has the start of another successful series in this With this top-notch whodunit.Clark sprinkles jaw-dropping surprises throughoutĪnd impressively pulls off a shocker that lesser writers can only envy.” - Publishers prosecutor Clark kicks off a promising new series And luckily for readers, she also knows a thing or two about writing legal thrillers. Talk about street cred-this prominent former LA County prosecutor knows a thing or two about high-profile cases. When I first read Blood Defense, I immediately asked, “Is this novel by the Marcia Clark?” Indeed, this is the Marcia Clark. Sam surprised me, doing much of her most impressive lawyering outside the courtroom in the pursuit of justice, and I loved her for it. To discover a book that can do so in a fresh and unexpected way is a good, good thing. And when so much about life seems disorderly and unfair, I find it reassuring to get lost in a story that demands truth and justice. I love both legal thrillers and courtroom dramas, whether reading or watching them, because-despite my seven eye-opening weeks of law school-I believe in truth and justice. And it’s this ambition that lands her a high-profile case. This feisty attorney combines her professional ambition and unusual sense of justice to handle both her clients and her barely-making-it law practice. And in Blood Defense, there are plenty of characters doing bad, bad things. Samantha Brinkman is scrappy, smart, and strategic-exactly the kind of defense lawyer I’d want if I did a bad, bad thing. But when a shocking secret at the core of the case shatters her personal world, Sam realizes that not only has her client been playing her, he might be one of the most dangerous sociopaths she’s ever encountered. Notorious for living by her own rules-and fearlessly breaking everyone else’s-Samantha pulls out all the stops in her quest to uncover evidence that will clear the detective. Though Sam has doubts about his innocence, she and her two associates (her closest childhood friend and a brilliant ex-con) take the case. It promises to be exactly the kind of media sensation that would establish her as a heavy hitter in the world of criminal law. Sam lands a high-profile double-murder case in which one of the victims is a beloved TV star-and the defendant is a decorated veteran LAPD detective.

Samantha Brinkman, an ambitious, hard-charging Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, is struggling to make a name for herself and to drag her fledgling practice into the big leagues. First in a new series from bestselling author and famed prosecutor Marcia Clark, a “terrific writer and storyteller” (James Patterson).

Blood Defense by Marcia Clark