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“The Innocence Project did save lives. The debate was whether all of those lives deserved to be saved.”

What happens when Hannah Rokeby, a third-year law student, manipulates her way onto the A-Team – a crackerjack trio of snappy young legal up-and-comers assisting Robert M Parekh – Professor UVA Law, and Director, Innocence Project Clinic – in his endeavors to free a (wrongfully?) convicted murderer and rapist.

Hannah is a girl with secrets, whose motives may not align with those of her more transparent colleagues. A “doer” and a risk-taker, it seems Hannah will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve her goals. The challenge is, it’s not exactly clear just what her motives are, and where they could possible come from.

As Hannah’s story unfolds, we meet Laura, Hannah’s mother, an alcoholic with a traumatic past, whose overwhelming co-dependency on her daughter, and the impact it has had on her young life, appears to the reader mysterious,suffocating and tragic.

The tension mounts as Laura’s teenage diary, introduced as a second and alternating narrative voice, begins to slowly unravel a dark and dangerous past, that may just be the finally-dawning explanation needed to make sense of Hannah, her behavior and her motivations.

An entertaining and engaging read, the author has fun with several tricky plot twists amidst a barrel-load of suspense, a tantalizingly-paced journey, questions layered upon questions, and an explosive final reveal.

Populated with characters ranging the full gamut from cynics to saviors (and everything in between) , this book is a breeding ground for interesting themes, including:

How far is too far to right an “injustice”?

And whose version of “truth” defines one?

A great read for a lazy afternoon, – as the reader sorts through the layers of secrets and lies, the villains and the vindicated, it’s pretty clear how little in this story is actually clear at all.

A great big thank you to @Harpercollinca for an ARC of this wonderful read. All thoughts presented are my own.

@BooksofHCC