A New Legal Thriller

No Truth Left To Tell by Michael McAuliffe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I first accepted this title from NetGalley and the publisher because the author and my mother went to the same college. The author for law school, my mother for her undergraduate studies. The college is not very big, and it is always fun to see what other alums are up to.

This book was captivating from the beginning. It was ugly sometimes, but isn’t that the way of the world? Through a courtroom drama, we are shown racism, bigotry, small-mindedness and hate. But we are also shown kindness and loving and grace. I think Mr. McAuliffe did a very nice job on his debut novel of balancing character development with story telling and, of course, revealing some truths many of us would rather ignore.

Set in a small town in Louisiana, the Federal Government has been brought in on a KKK cross burning crime. We get to see some of the thoughts and actions of people on both sides of the law and spend quite a bit of time hearing from the victims and how their lives change.

There were some interesting legal challenges brought up to help keep the suspense taut and the story fresh.

At about the 75% mark, I found this quote: “Prosecutors are empowered to seek justice, and nearly every prosecutor starts off believing in that purity of purpose. But it all flounders when justice isn’t obvious, when it’s not sitting on open ground waiting to be claimed.” There were more great quotes throughout the book, but this one hit me as most appropriate for the biggest conflict in the story: good guy versus himself.

I look forward to reading more by this author and will be recommending this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for my digital ARC of this book.



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