This was my third Jeffery Deaver book (though I still have to read [b:The Bone Collector|2373|The Bone Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #1)|Jeffery Deaver|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437538512s/2373.jpg|2589896]!), and I have to say I was expecting a little bit more than I got with this one. Mistress of Justice wasn't a bad read by any means, but it just didn't quite meet my expectations.

First off, let me say that I LOVE legal thrillers. I don't mind long courtroom scenes, or the descriptions of endless hours of research and detailed explanations of finer legal points. But here, there is a lot of telling rather than showing. And for me it just ended up making the story move really slowly. I was expecting a lot more excitement and nail-biting suspence than I got. But even so, I still found it interesting enough to read, and I was curious about where it would end up. Because I was so sure that there would be a big twist at the end that I wouldn't see coming. I mean, I was starting to think it would end one way, but the big reveal would prove wrong. Right? Wrong! Turns out the unpredictable ending was actually really pretty predictable. And that is just plain disappointing.

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I did really like Taylor, though! She's smart and driven, she knows what she wants and fights to get it. I loved the depth her character had, and how hard she struggled to keep fighting for her dreams. The rest of the cast I wasn't as impressed with. Where Taylor is developed very well, all the other characters seem very one-dimensional and experience very little (if any) growth throughout the book. A few of them were so dull and unremarkable that I kept mixing them up even well into the book!

Overall, this was an entertaining book, but hardly one that I will re-read anytime soon.
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Not one of Deaver's best. Too many twists and turns had to be made by the villain leading to several plot holes and an overly contrived storyline. ( )

This book did not disappoint me in terms of what I have come to expect from Deaver's writing. According to the author's note at the beginning, he rewrote it extensively 13 years after it was first published. He says "In rereading the first version of this book, which I wrote thirteen years ago, I realized that, while it was a perfectly acceptable dramatic, character-driven study of life on Wall Street, it didn't make my--and presumably my readers'--palms sweat." Well, I don't know that my palms sweated but I did find it quite suspenseful. And I find that I am impressed that Deaver admits his writing needed improving and then went ahead to act on that.

The story takes place in a large Wall Street law firm. Taylor Lockwood is a paralegal in the firm, planning on going to law school soon, but also following her love for playing jazz piano at night. One morning she is abruptly pulled off the case she is working on and told to report to Mitchell Reece. Reece has a case that he is going to lose because the promissory note on which the case is based has been stolen from his office. He wants Taylor to investigate and find the note before court reconvenes in less than a week. Reece thinks that someone in the law firm has stolen the note because there is a proposed merger which the senior partners are vehemently opposing. If Reece's case is lost the senior partners will have lost a valuable client and the merger is almost certain to proceed. Taylor finds the most likely suspects by accessing billing data, after hours access card use, taxi and limo vouchers and other records which incidentally allows the reader to understand the inner workings of a large law firm. One by one she eliminates the suspects until, on the night before the trial is to start, she believes she knows who has the note. Her cliffhangar entrance into the courtroom is straight out of Perry Mason (oops I guess that dates me). And the excitement is not over then. There are almost another 100 pages to go.

I thought Taylor was a very interesting character but the others seemed fairly stereotypical. Although Deaver says in his notes "...the many hardworking lawyers who wished for nothing more than to help their clients and to make a living at their chosen profession", overwhelmly the lawyers are shown as money-grasping and unethical. A reader with a negative view of the legal profession is not going to be convinced to change that view by this book. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to other readers for the strength of the story. ( )

Mistress of Justice: A who-done-it within a legal firm. Well written, very involved with just too many miracles for my taste. ( )

Well plotted crime novel with some surprising twists, but not his best by any means. ( )