Plea of Insanity

I must give this book five stars due to the fabulous characters, intense subject matter and the focus it puts on mental illness. This is the third book I have read by this author and I have officially added her to my list of "must buys." Rather than writing the typical thriller with little background information on characters and the usual suspects, this one goes into much greater depth. It has murder, romance (although not the main focus), the hot button issue of mental illness as a legal defense, etc. etc. All of the police characters seem real, with fabulous dialogue, great courtroom scenes and a surprise ending. It left open the vague possibility of a series, much like Retribution did (the author's first novel, which was excellent). Here's hoping for more from this author along similar themes and genres.

Plea of Insanity has been a long time coming since Ms. Hoffman's two hits, Last Witness & Retribution, but believe me it was worth the wait. With this riveting tale of horrendous crimes, tense court room drama, deception, greed and pure evil, you will be reading until the wee hours of the night. Julia is sort of tragic, but she has backbone and she is a decent human being who wants and needs to do the right thing, and this very core of decency brings her to the brink of her own destruction. Will she win out over the deception and manipulation that's going on in the biggest courtroom drama since, maybe, OJ's trial? You will not want to miss a minute of this story as it unfolds, and you will be astounded by the ending. With this third book, Ms. Hoffman has proven she has what it takes and she's right up there with some of the big names in legal, psychological thrillers. Personally, I can wait another couple of years for another of her books. She is now an auto-buy for me.

In Miami twenty-eight year old Miami assistant state attorney Julia Vacanti leads the prosecution team in the highly visible homicide case of surgeon David Marquette. The doctor stands trial in the stabbing deaths of his wife and their two older children, and in the smothering thing of their baby. The defense team admits he killed his family, but plea insanity due to schizophrenia. While the prosecution tries to prove Marquette knew right from wrong and is just faking a mental illness to elude the death penalty, Julia thinks of her sibling Andrew Citro, who when she was a preadolescent and he a teen was convicted of killing their parents. He remains locked away in an asylum for the criminally insane in New York. Feeling the cases are similar although the prosecutor also ponders if Marquette is a clever serial killer who committed homicides long before his mass murder of his family, Julia contacts Andrew for the first time since he killed their parents. This excellent legal thriller focuses on the title subject, but does so with a fabulous creative twist as the heroine wonders if schizophrenia is genetic. The gripping courtroom scenes are top rate, but it is the communication between the siblings for the first time in over a decade and a half that grabs the audience. The former brings legal tension and insight into the trial process; but the latter brings greater tension and insight into the fears of Julia. Jilliane Hoffman provides an excellent character driven tale with a profound look at a PLEA OF INSANITY. Harriet Klausner

I have never written a review, but this book needs one. It was GREAT and I don't understand why it hasn't been published in the US. I think I spent $34 + for it and it was worth much more. I've read her others and this is the best.

Jilliane Hoffman is the best selling author of Retribution and was an Assistant State Attorney between 1992 and 1996. Until 2001 she was the regional advisor for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement advising special agents on complex investigations including narcotics, homicide and organised crime. She lives in Florida. This novel is about a successful Miami attorney, David Marquette a devoted family man with a wife and three small children, that is until one night he snapped and killed them all. The defendant pleads Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. The normally perfect family man and husband seemingly just snapped one evening without reason. Marquette's experienced defence team put forward the case that it was paranoid delusions and hallucinations caused by schizophrenia that drove him to kill his entire family. However the state suspects that the insanity defence is being used as a cover to disguise murders that were actually cold blooded and calculated . . .