GUILT BY ASSOCIATION - Marcia Clark

#1 in the Rachel Knight mystery

GREAT CHARACTERS - 3 stars

Plot - 3 stars - Upon the sudden and suspicious death of her colleague, Rachel is assigned one of his cases--trying to find the identity of a rapist in an affluent suburb. But Rachel is also taking the time to investigate the death of her friend, and this leads her to some of the same places.

Writing - 3 stars - Clark created a cast of excellent characters who were all very believable, with a murder mystery that moved forward very quickly. However, I sometimes found the plot lines to be a little disjointed and confusing.

Characters - 4 stars - This is where the story shone for me. Rachel Knight is a very appealing character. She's a hard-working lawyer in the District Attorney's office, but she's got flaws which makes her much more approachable. She's got a problem with commitment in romantic relationships. She is very close to a couple of female friends at work, but she kept her male colleague as a work friend, not sharing personal details of their lives. She carries a gun but doesn't have a license to carry. She takes chances and isn't afraid to bend the rules (which was a bit of a problem for me). But I like that she's smart and resourceful and that she is determined to succeed for her clients. Bailey is a police investigator who helps Rachel with her cases. She's relentless, intelligent, and tough. I liked the fact that she cares about Rachel and works hard to support her and keep her safe. Graden Hales is a player, but he's interested in Rachel. He's a focused investigator, but he's also willing to support her crazy ideas from time to time.

Title - 3.5 stars - Because Jake was found in a compromising situation, he appears on the surface to be guilty.

Cover - 2 stars - The cropped picture is unattractive and draws the eye in a negative way.

Overall - 3 stars - The characters are enjoyable, but I occasionally found the plot to be somewhat confusing. There are two cases happening at once, which shouldn't be a problem, but more than once I found myself reading about one case, then realizing that it was part of the other one. But this is a new-to-me author and not my usual genre, so I'm hoping that as this series develops further, I'll find it easier to keep track. Rachel tended to take more risks than I thought made sense, but she's still a very appealing character, along with Bailey and Toni.

Engrossing…a great start to a series.
Many thanks to Mulholland and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was provided a galley in exchange for an honest review.

What attracted me to this title was the author. I remember Marcia Clark from her notoriety that arose from the OJ Simpson trial. I was eager to see what kind of crime story she could spin. Turns out a fairly good one. This is the first book in her Rachel Knight district attorney series. Clark writes what she knows which means Los Angeles setting and police procedures. She nails these with ease. She also crafts two crimes and weaves the investigations deftly. Looking forward to reading the follow-ups. .

I do not usually read legal thrillers, but I thought this one was pretty good. The legal jargon wasn't heavy and I could follow along without having to Google exactly what some things were, which I liked. Rachel was a likeable main character. The plot was okay, I wish it had more of a twisty twist.

This was my first book by Marcia Clark and I enjoyed the story line. The mystery itself was very well written with enough twists and turns to keep me entertained.

Only giving this 3 stars because it was HARD for me to finish this book. While it is interesting for some of it, it just didn't hold me to it. I like mystery with flare, and I just didn't sense any of the flare for me. Their was too much focusing on the food, and clothing and alcohol. While I know some law enforcement do drink, it is not a daily thing, and it's not high expensive things either. So this was a little aggravating to see and how the main character talks down about the defense and others.

The main character is trying to figure out who killed her coworker, rather than what the FBI think is a simple blackmail situation. Again it sounds like it would be a solid and interesting case but there's just too much focusing on food and clothing and alcohol to even make the plot stand out. Even though it's a decent plot, it's also some what predictable. We do get to see what involvement the DA has in cases which is sort of interesting.

Book source ~ NetGalley

L.A. Deputy District Attorney Rachel Knight walks up to a fire at a sleazy hotel near her office and discovers her co-worker, Jake, has been found dead at the scene with a male teenager. The police think it’s a cut and dried murder/suicide, but Rachel just can’t believe it. So, even though she’s been warned off the case, she enlists a friend in the police department to help her uncover what really happened. And that’s where things get interesting.

Rachel is tenacious and kinda bull-headed, but it makes her good at what she does. And finding out what happened to Jake is priority one when everyone is saying he murdered a teenage male prostitute and then killed himself. Even though she knows very little about Jake’s personal life, they worked 100s of hours together and she’s sure she’s not wrong about the kind of person he was. The more she digs the worse it looks for Jake, but Rachel needs to see this thing through until the end.

Fast-paced and intriguing, who knew I’d really enjoy a story about a lawyer? I guess because this is less about lawyer-y stuff and more about investigating a crime. It’s twisty and turny and the characters are great. I’d read more stories involving Rachel Knight.

I am reading everything I can find by this author now. The book was well paced and I enjoyed the protagonist very much. Will be looking forward to more in this series.

Going to be honest, not a fan of this book. I had a really hard time getting through it. Not what I was expecting.

I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I started this book awhile ago, and put it down part of the way through, partly because I couldn’t get into it, partly because another book came out I was dying to read. While I did go back and finish this book, I didn’t really enjoy it. The plot was okay but it didn’t jump out at me, and I found the characters were not real nor did I care what happened to them. It’s too bad because I thought with Marcia Clark’s experience she would have had some truly wonderful ideas to put in her novels.

It was a fair read. I felt the author took to many liberties with her real life experience. I received several other books in this series and will only read them because I promised I would read/review.

I was more curious about this series because of the author than the description, and after reading it decided my interest in Clark won out. She's not a bad writer and the story is good ... just a little predictable and slow.

Great read. A page turner that will keep me coming back for more.

What a surprise! I didn’t know what to expect from Marcia Clark’s (yes, “that” Marcia Clark) first novel. But I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. There’s a good mystery. There are likable characters. There’s fun, snarky, and self-deprecating humor. There’s very little actual courtroom drama, everything happens outside the courtroom in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and when I finished it, I moved right on to the next one, which is a rarity for me. I combined reading with listening to the audiobook, which is narrated extremely well by January Lavoy. I highly recommend this one for anyone who enjoys legal thrillers.

Copy provided by Netgalley and Mulholland Books in exchange for an unbiased review.

I AM SO EMBARRASSED ... JUST NOW FINDING THIS ONE ON MY KINDLE/AMAZON. WAS NEVER READ SO NO REVIEW COMING AT THIS LATE DATE. MY SINCERE APOLOGIES.

Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.

A prominent high profile attorney and a male prostitute. Both found dead in the same seedy hotel room.

A 15 yr old from a powerful family is raped, and the sole suspect is the Latino boy she was tutoring.

Rachel Knight, a deputy district attorney with high profile cases, is up and coming. She is winning her cases, and her superiors are taking notice. Rachel world is rocked when her closest work friend, Jake, is found dead in a seedy hotel room with what looks like his male prostitute lover. Determined to find out what happened to her friend, Rachel begins a quest for the truth, whatever that may be. In the meantime, Rachael has just been assigned Jake’s biggest case: the rape of the 15 yr old daughter of a prominent family. Through it all Rachel as her closest friends, Toni (another DA in her office) and Bailey, a detective on the police force. More the Rachel starts to investigate, the more she is discovering she may not have known Jake, and her superiors want her to leave the case alone. The rape case which is supposed to be a “slam dunk” turns out there is more that meets the eye. Rachel soon discovers that these two cases might not have been separate after all.

From the beginning, I liked Rachel. She is determined and headstrong and enjoys a good martini. Marcia Clark’s story kept you on the edge of your seat. I felt that some of the dialogue could have been less choppy. However, her characters were well developed. Like Rachel, I too wanted to know what was going on and what happened to Jake. I enjoyed this book but felt that it could have moved a little quicker. There were periods that I felt it didn't move the story along. This book is the first of a four-part series, and I am looking forward to getting the others.

I was not sure what to expect when I started reading Guilt By Association. My memories of Marcia Clark extended solely as the prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing, the vibrant characters and the intriguing story. I liked Rachel and Bailey immediately. Their friendship and working partnership is intermixed with snark, sarcasm and humor as they work to solve the mysterious death of their friend and colleague, Jake.

Ms. Clark does a brilliant job of weaving an intricate plot that held my interest while making the events relevant to the plot and not overly obvious so the end still held an element of surprise. The characters are easy to relate to and brought to life so realistically, the reader gets a sense of being around them and interacting with them.

My Final Verdict: Guilt By Association is my first Marcia Clark novel but it won’t be my last. I am looking forward to reading more by this talented author and getting to know Rachel and her friends better. I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys thrillers and mysteries without taking the drama too seriously while enjoying some humor mixed in.