This is book three of the Joe Dillard series. We start out this book with a flashback to when Joe’s friend Ray basically saved Joe’s son Jack’s life. Jack had gotten hit in the head at a baseball game, and Ray had strongly suggested that they rush him straight to the hospital, when everyone else was basically like “walk it off”.
We flash forward to Ray getting slammed by a judge in court for being a little late to a hearing that he wasn’t even supposed to be at yet. Ray lost his job because he didn’t take kindly to the judge being a dillhole. Shortly after, Ray’s in court defending himself on this charge, and he shoots at the judge, then kills himself.
The day after Ray’s funeral, the judge is found burned and hanging from a tree. Lots of action in a short amount of time! Ray’s son, who is also Jack’s BFF, and basically Joe’s adopted son is charged with the murder, because he had all sorts of reasons to get murdery on the judge.
There’s also a side story where a DA victim support officer goes missing. We learn some of her backstory, and in the end it’s all tied together. There’s also conspiracy and insubordination, which I love! I really liked this one. I like the Dillard family, and 3/4 of them were heavily involved in this tale. If you read any of the other Joe Dillard books and liked them, keep going!
Now, here’s book four! This one was a little bit different to me. There’s a central murder investigation, but it’s a little bit scarier because Joe’s family gets dragged into the danger.
After the events of book three, Joe is the attorney general (or something like that) of the district he lives in in Tennessee. His first case is the overdose / strangling / drowning death of three women. Right away they figure out that the boat is owned by a really rich and really powerful guy. He’s got friends in high places.
If you’ve read any of the Joe Dillard books though, you know that Joe doesn’t care about who you know if you’ve committed a murder. He starts to go after this rich and powerful guy and gets a loooooot of resistance. He’s not too keen on resistance, so he keeps pushing and prodding. Then his family starts getting threatened.
Eventually two witnesses are murdered and left IN HIS DRIVEWAY. Joe gets pissed and a little bit scared. He ships his kids, wife, sister, niece, and dogs off to an old friend far away for safety. Then he decides how to proceed. It’s a slippery slope from defending yourself to murder, but Joe knows he needs to tread on it, or his whole family will be killed. I liked this book too! I finished it on a plane, and it was a very satisfying ending.
