A top-notch short from an author I never read before. This is a legal thriller told not from the point of view of a lawyer or a law clerk, but from the point of view of the defendant as he sits through trial. The
story feels authentic and it appears that the author has some familiarity with criminal law and procedure. I recommend this work for those interested in legal thrillers or crime fiction.
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For Travis Runnels every single day is a knife fight. Being in jail is just an occupational hazard for him. It is a public defender like Alex Stone who Travis is going to have to rely on to get him out of a death penalty murder case. The fact that she is a Jew and lesbian doesn't impress him any more than the fact he is an African-American impresses her.

It is an election year and Diego Hernandez is dead. That means the local district attorney, Kevin Watts, is running a tough on crime reelection campaign and isn't going to deal. Especially considering Travis’ prison record and the mountain of evidence against him. He is going to trial and all his attorney can do is sling some mud and hope to put a shadow or two of doubt in the minds of the jury. Travis and Alex are stuck together for the duration in more ways than one in Knife Fight: An Alex Stone Short Story by Joel Goldman.

This short story is a good one featuring plenty of courtroom action as well as quite a lot of action outside the courtroom. A number of characters and conflicting motivations are at work in a story that also offers up quite a few surprises along the way. The read is a good one.

Knife Fight: An Alex Stone Short Story
Joel Goldman
http://www.joelgoldman.com
Self-Published
ASIN: B00A1D1I0M
E-Book
22 Pages
$0.99

Author provided a PDF of this short story a very long time ago for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014 ( )