Afterimage

This is my first Jay Brandon novel, and after reading this well-crafted thriller, I am going to try and catch up on his other works.Brandon's plot is as thick as thieves, and he masterfully winds the reader through the involved story. Young District Attorney Chris Sinclair finds himself drawn into his past as a young girls body found in a shallow grave turns out to be the daughter of his college sweetheart. Further problems ensue when he finds out that the girl has an older sister, Clarissa, who just might be his daughter.Sinclair digs deep to find the child's killer and rescue his supposedly kidnapped daughter. The killer is apprehended, but it's up to Sinclair with very little evidence to bring the man to justice.There are several unexpected twists and turns and a tight, tense denouement.There's lots of good legal writers out there, and I add Jay Brandon to the list!

I couldn't put this one down! Stayed up late to finish it...a chiller. Not easy to read because youngsters are in danger and one has already died. Some of the characters are not as they seem, and the D.A. Chris Sinclair has to figure it out before it's too late. Not only a young girl's safety is at stake, but that of Chris and his sweetheart.

As a New Englander now reincarnated as a Texan, I have been reading up on the local authors. San Antonio is fortunate to have Jay Brandon in addition to Rick Riordan as storytellers with a local flavor. "Afterimage" is the second Brandon title to feature Chris Sinclair, a young District Attorney, and his lover, Dr. Anne Greenwald. In this book Chris hooks up, unexpectedly, with an old college girlfriend and discovers her/his involvement in a complicated crime. My only problem with the plot is the somewhat unrealistic portrayal of Jean Fitzgerald, the mother of two "lost" teenage daughters who happens to be the old college lover. Her "wildness" just doesn't ring true to this reviewer. Other than this minor quibble, I enjoyed the twisting plot, local color, and the ever unfolding relationship between Chris and Anne. Please tell us that this series will continue!

San Antonio D.A. Chris Sinclair is having a pretty good day 'til he pays a routine visit to the County Forensic Science Center and runs into a forensic reconstructionist carrying the reconstructed head of a murder victim he's been working on. The sight of the reconstructed face stops Chris cold, because she is the spitting image of his college lover, Jean Fitzgerald. Of course, it can't be Jean, since the expert explains to Chris that the victim was a young girl dead some 3 months and found buried in a shallow grave on the outskirts of town. As Chris starts to investigate, he learns that Jean is indeed living in San Antonio and has a missing 14-year-old daughter, Kristen. Jean tearfully confides to Chris that Raleigh Pentell, a local crime lord, has kidnapped her older daughter, Clarissa, to ensure her silence about Kristen's hitherto unreported disappearance. There are some holes in Jean's story, as well as in her past, but Chris finds, frees, and develops a relationship with Clarissa while building a murder case against Pentell. This novel is so intricately layered and subtly plotted with themes of sin and redemption, love and amorality, and right and wrong and the gray areas in between that it kept me guessing until the end. Did Pentell kill Kristen or did someone much closer to her, someone who's e-mailing Chris pages from Kristen's diary, set him up? I have long been a fan of Jay Brandon and I consider this one of his very best.

I have read all of this author's books, as well as all of the books of John Grisham (both lawyers), and can say that Mr. Brandon's works compare very favorably with Mr. Grisham's; Certainly Afterimage is MUCH BETTER than Mr. Grisham's latest (THE BRETHEN)!. This is also J.B's best in that it will keep the reader involved from the first paragraph to the last. Much sentiment, very mysterious, much love, and many touching remembrances.Congratulations to Mr. Brandon!