April 17, 2023
Gigl’s gripping third thriller featuring 37-year-old Cranford, N.J., lawyer Erin McCabe (after 2022’s Survivor’s Guilt) finds Erin caught between two cases that threaten to put her behind bars. Shortly after Erin’s first meeting with a new client, the man is found murdered at his beachside home. Within hours, Erin is being interrogated by the police, who accuse her of killing the man after attempting to blackmail him with pictures of him dressed in women’s clothing. Before long, several of the man’s associates turn up dead as well. With circumstantial evidence piling up against her, Erin and fellow attorney Duane Swisher, a former FBI agent, begin their own investigation. Meanwhile, Erin takes on the case of a woman accused of abducting her child during a scorched-earth custody battle. To protect her client and the child, she refuses to reveal their whereabouts, thus risking imprisonment. Gigl—who, like her protagonist, is a lawyer and transgender woman—brings authenticity and depth to her characters, gracefully presenting LGBTQ issues to a mainstream audience via a satisfying mystery plot. This series deserves a long life. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Laura Dail Literary.
April 21, 2023
After a slow start, Gigl's third Erin McCabe legal thriller (following Survivor's Guilt) hits its stride around the midway mark. When a prospective client with conservative political connections turns up dead, criminal-defense attorney Erin McCabe--the last person to see the victim alive--becomes suspect number one. As a transgender woman, she disturbingly becomes the target of a biased police investigation, facing intolerance, harassment, and public scrutiny too. While juggling her own legal issues, Erin takes on the case of a mother fleeing a court order granting custody of her transgender daughter to the girl's father, a proponent of conversion-therapy. Just as Erin escapes testimony before a grand jury regarding her client's whereabouts, she is arrested on charges of murder and placed in a women's jail, where she endures shocking abuse and learns that her powerful enemies will stop at nothing to keep her quiet. Though the novel is set in 2009, the issues and attitudes of the villains feel unfortunately relevant to the present-day. However, the book's never-ending barrage of murder can strain credulity and the resolution of the subplot feels a bit too tidy. VERDICT Regardless of its shortcomings, Gigl's legal thriller is an enjoyable read with a likable protagonist, and one who represents an important and underrepresented perspective.--Vicki Briner
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