Cara Putman brings another intense and amazing legal thriller with “Imperfect Justice,” which picks up shortly after the Hidden Justice series’ first installment “Beyond Justice.”
This novel tackles the story of Emilie Wesley, the roommate of the first story’s heroine and fellow lawyer, Hayden. Emilie is a lawyer working with domestic violence victims, as well as a freelance investigative journalist. Her sole desire is to help woman escape abusive relationships — much like a situation she found herself in during college.
When her client, Kaylene Adams, who was days away from escaping her abusive and manipulative husband, is killed while also being accused of shooting her two daughters, Emilie knows there’s more to the story than originally thought. As she works to clear Kaylene’s name, she teams up with Kaylene’s brother Reid to also protect his surviving niece from her father.
And as Emilie secretly works to determine who her own potential stalker may be, she falls deeper and deeper into the search for answers — and possibly into a relationship with a man she’s trying to figure out if she can trust.
Putman does a great job of moving the plot right along, keeping you guessing as to how Kaylene’s shooting really went (with a huge shocker at the end), and who Emilie’s stalker might be. She develops some really great characters, bringing in many people from “Beyond Justice” and introducing us to several more.
The author does a great job in creating an intense legal thriller (with just the right amount of romance) that will keep you thinking about the storyline even when you have to put it down for a bit. However, she also builds in several great lessons and themes that rise above just being a legal thriller. This novel opens our eyes to the plight of those who need help, and how they may be secretly and quietly fighting their battles, and reminds us how difficult it can be to flee a dangerous situation, no matter how desperate one is to get away. And it shows us the need to love those who are in need of help.
Putman also reminds us the importance and necessity of asking God to intervene; “tragedies happened in a world broken with sin”; we all need to find our place in life; perfect love casts out fear; and to rely on God and His plan for us. As Emilie’s friend Ciara tells her, “You have to trust God’s story for you.”
This book will not only intrigue and entertain you, it will make you think. I hope there are more in the series. And even though it is part of a series, it definitely can be read as a standalone.
Five stars out of five.
Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.
“Imperfect Justice” (Hidden Justice series, #2) by Cara Putma