Title:  A Good Mother
Author:  Lara Bazelon
Genre:  Thriller
Rating:  DNF

When young decorated combat veteran Travis Hollis is found stabbed through the heart at a U.S. Army base in Germany, there is no doubt that his wife, Luz, is to blame. But was it an act of self defense? A frenzied attempt to save her infant daughter from domestic abuse? Or the cold blood murder of an innocent man?

As the case heads to trial in Los Angeles, hard-charging attorney Abby Rosenberg is eager to return from maternity leave—and her quickly fracturing home life—to take the case and defend Luz. Abby, a new mother herself, is committed to ensuring Luz avoids prison and retains custody of her daughter. But as the evidence stacks up against Luz, Abby realizes the task proves far more difficult than she suspected – especially when she has to battle for control over the case with her co-counsel, whose dark absorption with Luz only complicates matters further.

As the trial careens toward an outcome no one expects, readers will find themselves in the seat of the jurors, forced to answer the question – what does it mean to be a good mother? A good lawyer? And who is the real monster?

I made it a little way through this book, but I wasn’t in the mindset for a courtroom drama. I found Abby—and her opposing counsel—to be not my type of people, and I just wasn’t interested in reading more about them, despite solid writing and believable characters.

Lara Bazelon is an attorney and journalist. A Good Mother is her new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Hanover Square Press in exchange for an honest review.)

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