Thursday, March 1, 2012

Atticus for the Undead by John Abramowitz


Synopsis: 
The next chapter in the struggle for equal rights begins!
Hunter Gamble is an idealistic young attorney in a very special area of the practice: arcane defense. Funded by enigmatic billionaire Charles McClain and aided by shy-but-energetic research attorney Kirsten Harper, he's making the world a better place -- one vampire, zombie, or werewolf client at a time. After all, they deserve their day in court too, right?
When a young zombie walks into Hunter's office accused of murder (by brain-eating), Hunter's idealism is tested as never before as he struggles to secure the man's freedom. To do so, he must square off against a savvy and ambitious district attorney, contend with a judge who is deeply biased against arcanes, and stand up to a human-supremacist group which will stop at nothing -- not even Hunter's own death -- to see his client convicted.

Review:
This is one of those books that I get a request to read and review, and then get totally bummed out that I have to wait to read it until it comes up on my list for review. So I have basically been sitting on this book for months, seeing it on my kindle every time I go to read another book, and trying desperately to resist the urge to take a little sneak peak. There are a lot of things I like about this book, I like that it involves all types of paranormals, but at the same time, it focuses on zombies. I haven't read a lot of books having to do with zombies, I think this is my second one in total. But then it brings my favorite element, it's written about a lawyer who defends the "arcanes" (the political correct name in the book). I love the law, in fact I had such a love affair of the law that I starting teaching Supreme Court law to high school students. 

Needless to say the book didn't disappoint. I am one of those people who wake up like 8 times a night, so while I started reading this book right before bed, I only got a couple of chapters in, next thing I knew I was waking up at 2am and reading a couple more before going back to sleep. I even got up early to finish reading the book, which if you knew me you would know that is a big accomplishment, I hate getting up early. 

The writing is fantastic. It's funny because it doesn't seem like a book that would involve a lot of action like a lot of urban fantasy/paranormal do. There isn't some kind of major life or death battle, the main character Hunter didn't spend his time picking up a battle axe to fight for Arcane rights. But even though Hunters action has a lot to do with his actions as a lawyer it doesn't make the book any less fun to read. In fact the reason I say the writing is so good is because even without the "action" of most of the books in this genre have, this book is still a page turner. 

You can't help but like Hunter. He is an everyday normal guy with the skills to help people who are being persecuted. He fights for civil rights, just on a paranormal level. He cares about his job and he cares about his clients. He is genuinely a good guy. Kristen is such a great character too. She is the research assistant for Hunter, and she is every bit the home body who thrives on research. She also harbors the cutest little crush on Hunter as well. 

You meet other characters along the way, including Sabrina and Sam, both people who Hunter represented in cases brought against them. Although Sam is the case of the zombie eating the brains that the synopsis teases about. Those characters are equally as enjoyable to read. 

Moreover I enjoyed the trial, there were surprises along the way, moments where you thought you knew how the case was going to turn out, and then moments when you had no idea. And then of course that brings me to the ending, which of course I want to talk about but can't because I don't want to give anything away. What I will say is that the ending is anything but what you would expect. And that if this book ends up having a sequel I would be very interested to see where it goes from here. 

Overall, I am going to say this is a great book. I loved reading it. I could easily see how not just people who like all things paranormal could enjoy this book, but also how people who like reading book about crime/law would like it too. Or people who have an interest in civil rights, because you have to admit this is a whole new spin on civil rights. At any rate I recommend this book, and I think you should definitely go out and buy it. 


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