Supreme Justice

Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for [...] One of the most chilling novels of 2008 was Phillip Margolin's "Executive Privilege" featuring dedicated lawyer Brad Miller and Private Detective Dana Cutler. The said novel presented an ominous situation- of the President of the United States being accused of murder. If the upper echelons of the Second Estate where the villains of "Executive Privilege"...the Third Estate, that is the Judiciary, gets the bashing from the hands of lawyer author Margolin. The book is "Supreme Justice," and I guarantee, it's going to be a supreme bestseller. Sara Woodruff is on the death row on charges of murdering her boyfriend John Finley. The circumstances surrounding the murder are murky. However, she has appealed to the Supreme Court. When the appeal is pending consideration, one of the justices of the court suddenly resigns leaving a vacancy. Yet another justice is mysteriously attacked. Is there any link between the Woodruff case and the attacks on the judges? Is someone trying to infiltrate into the court system? Enter Dana Cutler of "Executive Privilege" fame. Her investigations reveal that the present day course of action are interlinked with a mysterious attack that happened in freighter many years back leaving all dead.....but one. That lone survivor was John Finley. Together with the help of Brad Miller, the hero of "Executive Privilege," Dana Cutler launches an investigation; an investigation that just might cut at the very roots of the Supreme Court and the justice dispensation system as we know it. Though, "Supreme Justice" reads like a natural continuation to "Executive Privilege;" the plot setting is more intricate and complicated than the earlier. Suspense wise, I would have to rate the earlier work a trifle above this one. But all in all, "Supreme Justice" proves to be an interesting read. Margolin has now targeted the Executive and the Judiciary with "Executive Privilege" and "Supreme Justice" respectively. And would I be wrong to guess that the Parliament (American Congress) is going to be the victim of Margolin's next novel? Watch this space.

Supreme Justice is an edge of your seat, stay up all night thriller, that is just creepy with all the vacancies that have come up on the Supreme Court in the last few years. When Brad Miller, the reluctant and accidental hero from Executive Privilege, goes to work as a clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Felicia Moss, he couldn't be happier. His fiance, Ginny, moved to Wash DC with Brad after landing a plum job for a prestigious law firm in the capital. Within a short time, one justice surprisingly resigns, and another is attacked in the private, supposedly secure parking garage. At the beginning of this book, there is an incident that is seemingly unrelated to everything that is happening to the Supremes and Brad Miller, but it is tied up neatly by the end of the story, with a surprise ending that I didn't even see coming. I truly enjoyed getting an "insider's" look at the court and how cases are handled and decided, as well as the descriptions of the architecture of the building itself. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Margolin's stories in the future.

Great Book - it opens with a ship moored off the coast of Oregon, a load of hashish, a shootout and a fleeing man. There is an older female African American Supreme Court Justice, a clerk and it just gets better and better. The beginning is a little slow because the author is setting up the story and all the characters. So many twists and turns keeps it very interesting through to the end.

Supreme Suspense Phillip Margolin's "Supreme Justice" Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspensebegins with shipboard murders in 2006 and then fast forwards to a case submitted for certiorari in 2012. One of the justices is involved in a cover-up directly involved in the case of a policewoman on death row for the murder of a man suspected of being a CIA operative. The former head of the CIA, his "business," and cronies seem to be involved in preventing the case from being heard by the nation's highest court. The characters are intelligent and one never gets the sense that they are one step behind the reader. The US Supreme Court is being manipulated and infiltrated. The story is suspenseful, intelligent and eminently readable.

Phillip Magolin is one of my favorite authors and this new book certainly did not disappoint! A legal thriller at the highest level - The Supreme Court - combined with political corruption and multiple murders - keeps the reader glued to the pages - twisting and turning throughout the whole story. I read this in one sitting and I must admit that the ending was not what I was expecting but was, at the same time, very satisfying. I also liked that there were continuing characters from a previous novel - because the reader was already familiar with them which helped move the story along. I highly recommend reading his new book - as well as all his other books - Margolin is certainly a force to reckon with in this genre.