This was a very captivating legal thriller that was especially interesting due to events taking place today. The story was very well written and has a great cast of characters I was lost in the pages until finished, and that makes for a great book.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Between Black and White is the second book in the bestselling McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series by Robert Bailey. When Bocephus Haynes was five years old, he witnessed his father being murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, and from then on worked to get justice for his father. A very prominent billionaire in town, Andy Walton, was the Grand Wizard of the Klan at that time, and since Bo grew up on Walton’s land and heard his voice every day, recognized it and knew who had ordered the killing of his father. Bo tried to get the local law enforcement involved to bring the man to justice, but it was all for naught, since Andy Walton was too powerful and Bo was just a little kid. After his father’s murder, Bo’s mother ran off and left him, knowing the same would happen to her. Bo was a talented athlete, got a scholarship, went to law school, graduating at the top of his class, and moved back to his home town of Pulaski, Tennessee to practice law. 45 years after his father’s murder, Bo was drinking in a bar and ran into Andy Walton, his wife Maggie, who threatened Bo and informed him that Andy was dying of cancer and to leave him alone. That night Bo got so drunk, he didn’t remember what had happened, but Andy Walton was shot and killed. There was enough evidence to convict BO, even though he was innocent, and Bo called his mentor and best friend, Tom McMurtrie to defend him.

Good legal thrillers are hard to come by, but Bailey is a talented storyteller, and grabs the interest of readers in the first chapter. The suspense builds through the novel, and it is difficult to put the book down due to the scenarios that are both surprising and unexpected. One of Bailey’s strong points is his ability to develop his characters. Everyone of the characters, from Bo, to McMurtrie, to Rick Drake and several others is believable and seems real. The setting is very typical of what most of us think of as the deep south, and the bad guys are what is expected. However, readers won’t always recognize just who the bad guys are, and that keeps the suspense up, as well.

Bailey has done an excellent job of writing this fascinating novel. Most readers will want to pick up the remaining books in the series, and will want to read everything Bailey writes. Excellent legal thriller.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I'm so tired of racial/policital crap. This book was a decent story and was interesting with a lot of tension. Although this is the second book in the series, I had no trouble. Something about the book rubbed me the wrong way though.