Time of Justice

Mara Brent Legal Thriller #1

by Robin James

This trial should be a slam-dunk. A faceless powerbroker has other ideas…

Small-town prosecutor Mara Brent must be tough as nails to succeed in her male-dominated profession. But she harbors a soft spot for the victims who rely on her courtroom skill, especially the wheelchair-bound rape survivor she’s known for twenty years. So when her friend’s unsolved case reopens with a DNA match and an arrest, she’s determined to finally bring a monster to justice.

Though the fiend is accused of dozens of similar assaults, only Mara’s case has the iron-clad evidence to put him away. But unexpected bombshells at trial threaten to muddy her black-and-white conviction into frightening shades of gray. She suspects there’s a sinister conspiracy out to torpedo the verdict… and her career.

Can the hard-nosed attorney uncover the truth before a serial rapist walks free to strike again?

Time of Justice is the first book in the pulse-pounding Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series. If you like strong heroines, page-turning twists, and dark suspense, then you’ll love Robin James’s edge-of-your-seat novel.

Buy Time of Justice to bring the gavel down on a depraved offender today!

Genres: Legal Thriller, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Suspense

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2020

About the author

Robin James is an attorney and former law professor. She's worked on a wide range of civil, criminal and family law cases in her twenty-year legal career. She also spent over a decade as supervising attorney for a Michigan legal clinic assisting thousands of people who could not otherwise afford access to justice.

Robin now lives on a lake in southern Michigan with her husband, two children, and one lazy dog. Her favorite, pure Michigan writing spot is stretched out on the back of a pontoon watching the faster boats go by.

Join Robin James's Legal Thriller Newsletter to get updates on her latest releases and author news. http://robinjamesbooks.com/newsletter

Reviews

[➦Paulette & Her Sexy Alphas · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITitle: ➳ Time of Justice
Series➳ Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series 1#
Author: ➳ Robin James
Published January 28, 2020
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ღ I've been dying read Mara story ever since I meet her in Cass book (Blood Evidence)


Mara Brent might be a small-town prosecutor was tough as nails, but that don’t mean that she is immured to life Lil bumps in the road

Mara was a New Hampshire transplant; she came from a long line of public servants. Plus, Phil (Mara boss) had hired her one year out of law school when she had no track record to speak of. But now she is assistant prosecutor & the one best in her dept.

This is one of the reasons Mara was give one of the town most difficult cold cases in her office. She had DNA on her side & she thought that she had slam dunk for conviction! Mara will learn how wrong she was!

➦📚 *Hope you enjoy this read & also always keep in mind this is just my opinion+ Also I wouldn’t never discourage anyone from reading this book.

Note:
Another gripping story from Robin James.
the story of this amazing women will sucks you in from the beginning.
Keeping you in its grips to the very end.
It will repulse you & intrigue you
At the same time. The author wondering where she was going take on this crazy journey next! I have suspicion that the next book in this series is going to be even better than this one & that’s putting it mildly

Highly recommend!


➦*I received an ecopy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review of it. 💕
💕 . .**This has not influenced my review.* **

Happy Reading & Enjoy --------Paulette Alphas Review

[Dora Koutsoukou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 🤔🤔🤔⭐️s

Well, it was very predictable and any originality was mediocre. I expected more twists and turns and to be more gripped by this story.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page turner that had me going till the wee hours…

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

3/9/24 Update: Forgot to mention there's a link to the prologue to The Cass Leary series at the end of this book. It's worth the read if you're interested in reading the Cass books (they are SOOO good). Her series gives you enough info during the series to fill you in over time to what happened to take her to Delphi, but I still enjoyed getting the straight scoop.


4.0-4.5 stars. Mara Brent is author Robin James 1st legal thriller series. I already love her Cass Leary series and wanted to try this one. Here, Mara Brent is prosecuting Neil Shumway for a vicious attempted murder and rape. If you've read the Cass Leary's books, you'll be familiar with Neil Shumway. He was a character in one of her later books. This was a really good read, and while it didn't make it to 5 stars for me, I'm hoping there will be as I read more into the series.

My issues here were some frustrations and annoyances. There was not enough detail with certain characters or situations at first, and the author just jumps right into the story without providing background. I kept feeling like I was missing something. For instance, Mara has a son, and it took 68 pages before the author finally reveals the boys' age. (Odd). He also has an issue with, I still don't know if it's% autism, asbergers, etc? It's never mentioned. Reading along, I had no idea if he was grown or a small boy with a high intellect. Frustrating. Her relationship with her husband is strained. The author makes you work for every little detail about that. I felt like I missed a prequel (there's not one). And these are just a few issues. But it's like that with several characters. I just kept reading, hoping to figure it out as the story moves along. Still, it was a good story. There are plenty of plot twists and surprises to keep the pages turning.

There's enough of a hook here to make you want to continue reading further into the series. Like the Cass Leary series, these books have to be read in order. Moving along now to book 2.

[Jackie Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this author for the most part. Her stories aren’t really complicated, exciting, or novel, but they are interesting enough. I think this was was less successful than her last series, but it was a continuation of a story in the last series and I did enjoy that (I love novel series).

Some of the dialogue in this one was way too hokey. The husband cheating and trying to come back has been done a billion and one times, even the autistic child is becoming pretty overdone.

Overall, I liked it okay. I will read the next in the series. I hope future stories with this character become a little more genuine.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time of Justice

I was only going to read a chapter or 2. Then it was a few. Then I was at 52% and then i was just too far in to give any thought to going to bed. I stayed up to late to read this but it was worth it! I was a little concerned that this would be too much like the other series with Cass but it was completely different! I typically don’t start a new series while reading a series but I tried to follow publication dates so I didn’t ruin the outcome of this trial if it’s mentioned in Cass’ series. A great book and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in this series!

[kelly dejongh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

A fun and easy read that kept me engaged the entire book. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Victoria Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cool book!💖

[Malina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thriller

Suspenseful and full of real twists and turns. Excellent read. The characters were realist and relatable. Highly recommended and enjoy.

[Shelley C · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s Time ⏰

I was thrilled to find this book in my email this morning....I promised myself I’d finish reading other books I’d started and then get stuck into this one. Then I thought nah I’ll just read one chapter...well I’m now finished....see how that worked out?

Mara Brent is introduced to us in the last Cass Leary book when Cass is looking into a client’s adoption as she’s trying to find out who her parents are, but this takes a nasty and undoubtedly a devastating turn😭 Time of Justice is the spin off from this series and sets off after these events....it can be read as a standalone but I would honestly recommend reading Cass Leary series first before venturing to Mara’s as it will give you a better background of events❣️The way Robin has written this story is fast paced but super intriguing with everything that is taking place and the trial process itself for me is riveting😍

I’m so happy I took a chance when I got asked to read for Robin’s ARC team as these books she has produced both with Mara and Cass are simply stunning and I can honestly say my mind is working overtime with trying to figure out “things”😁 Thank you to Robin for my advanced copy for which I voluntarily leave my honest review❤️

[Gary Gallucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is basically a spinoff of the very successful Cass Leary series by the same author. While Cass was a defense lawyer, Mara Brent works for the attorney general's office...in a separate district. Their paths do cross occasionally, but this series pretty much stands on its own. The target for Mara in the opener is serial rapist/murderer Neil Shumway, so she needs to pull out all stops to ensure conviction even while external pressure mount all around her private life. A good start to this series.

[Daniel Gyamfi]

Wow... What a legal thriller ride I have had. Pure justice was served. It had me on the edge of my seat in the last 50 pages. My heartbeat was literally racing, trying to get to the bottom of the story! Nice work Robin!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. I am enjoying Robin James's legal thrillers immensely and cannot wait to read another. This novel, without giving anything away, is a very timely read. If you like controversial courtroom cases, Time of Justice is a must.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started out feeling like a standard legal case, but the results are extremely important for the prosecution. Consequently the actual trial is important and there are all kinds of errors and unbelievable inconsistencies throughout! The rest of the book tries to address some of what's going on, but it goes to the next book or more in the series to totally iron it all out. Now I need to get the next book in the series.
My curiosity is totally piqued! I'm curious about the underlying relationships amongst the individual prosecutors and the sleaze-bag of the defending lawyer and his team.

[Sunny Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars (rounded up)

[book_luv_r · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great start to a new series. Will definitely pick up the next one. Good courtroom drama.

[Karen Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good second in series

Another book that draws on the controversy in the courtroom between defense and prosecutor. I this one, twenty long years have passed since a young girl was beat, tortured, and sexually assaulted with no perpetrator. DNA ties a pharmaceutical rep to this as well as many other attacks on women. Will Mara & her team be able to convict him???

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Robin James and will read anything she writes! This book did not disappoint. Looking forward to the next book in the series!

[Deliah Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good legal thriller and I found it in this novel by Robin James. This is my first time reading anything by her and I must say I was taken by her details of the legal and police procedures. If you are a fan of Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) or any other courtroom drama you will enjoy reading this novel.

Meet Mara Brent, a Maumee County (Ohio) prosecutor who has blown the lid off a brutal rape case from twenty years ago. She had inherited this cold case when she joined the office eight years ago. Denise Silvers, the victim was the captain of the cheerleading team and the homecoming queen who now uses a wheelchair to get around because of the brutal attack by Neil Shumway. Although a rape kit and samples (blood, hair, semen) were collected from Denise, her attacker stayed under the radar for many years because his DNA was not in the system. It wasn’t until Mara submitted Shumway’s DNA to a genealogy site that he was identified, arrested and charged because he fathered a daughter, he didn’t know he had who was in search of her birth parents.

With lots of eyes on the case, Mara has to keep focused on winning especially with Matt Orville, Shumway’s attorney who would stop at nothing to get his client off even bringing Mara’s personal life to the forefront. Yes, Mara’s personal life was messy. She was trying to figure out what to about her husband’s (Jason – Ohio’s Assistant Attorney General) infidelity and the possibility he may have used campaign funds to pay off his mistress. This distraction and trying to shield their autistic 9- year-old-son from all of this was a lot to balance.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this storyline ripped from the headlines. The author did a great job describing the legal courtroom scenes with such details that kept you on the edge of your seat waiting on the judge to rule in the case. The characters, their motivations, and dialogue were very realistic. I loved the twists and turns once Mara started digging more into the witness statements. This added an extra layer of complication to the case that Mara had no idea existed. I also loved that she fought so hard to bring about justice for Denise. It was a great read and one I would highly recommend!

Some of my favorite lines:

“So, this isn’t about my skill in the courtroom at all. You think my personal life will interfere with me doing my job? Phil. You know me. You know what I can do. And you know I’m the only one who can make sure Neil Shumway goes down for this.”
“And it’s not all the way up to me,” he said. “Mara, Matt Orville is a predator. A shark.”
“So am I,” I said, my voice dropping low.
“I know. But he’s going to go after you. He’ll air your dirty laundry. And if that happens, it’s not just bad for the case.”

[Patches Deese · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first read by this author and I am so pleased to discover her. What a great story and so well written. The legal side was done so well in a style where any lay person could understand. I was gripped from the beginning.
I want to also add that it was written involving story with plot twists and turns to keep you reading to the end where the biggest one of all gets you. The villain of the piece is sure he is going to get off but Mara uncovers more evidence to seal his fate and that of her boss Phil. Good list of characters you can relate to and sympathize with or otherwise hate, Marcy and Matt almost as much as Neil (Newt) the defendant.
I loved the twist towards the end of the story.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stretched Believability in Spots, but Delivered some Clever Turnd

Mara Brent is a committed County prosecutor with marital issues. I would have enjoyed the story more without the broken marriage story line, maybe just highlight more of her relationship with her 9 year old son, Will. James does a good job getting the reader to feel complete empathy with the victims of the story and showing that as heroine, Mara has a heart that moves her to action and to not throw in the towel when all looks lost.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time of Justice was an entertaining read enough but nothing out of your typical legal thriller box.
The first half of the book was quite annoying in my opinion. It was slow and the case seem to be building on a weak ground just for the fun of future new finding. Anyway the book was better than my usual 3 stars so my verdict is 3.7 stars. This means I will probably pick up this series sometime in the future when I’m bore.

[Donna Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping suspense inside and outside the courtroom setting. I was thoroughly immersed in reading this fast-paced thriller that features D.A. Mara Brent. Well written with interesting characters. Have added author, Robin James’ novels to my list of authors to consider for future reads.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine first entry indeed for Mara Brent, which is essentially required reading for Robin James and/or Cass Leary fans! And a great full-on intro to Mara Brent after being introduced to her in the 5th book of the Cass Leary series, Blood Evidence. Now that I've effectively devoured all of the Cass Leary books, I am dabbling into Mara Brent to somewhat tide me over until Cass's next book is released. Fortunately, though, Mara is just as much a great character to read as Cass, and I have a feeling I'll enjoy her series just the same. But given that her series is shorter in totality since it's newer, it won't tide me over for long. :(

Anyway, as I said, this was a solid debut for Mara. And I liked that its plot was a continuation from what was introduced in Blood Evidence. In that story, Cass was a key factor in apprehending a serial killer who was being sought for the previous 5 years by Mara. After that book's resolution, we now continue the story in Mara's world. The serial killer is now being charged for the attempted rape and attempted murder of a woman 20 years earlier, who had barely survived and now lived life in a wheelchair. And he's likely the culprit responsible for the rapes of a couple dozen other women. Mara's got the DNA. She's got the witness statements. She's got her proofs. She's got everything she claims is necessary to put the monster away for good. Or does she? Hah, well this is a Robin James legal thriller after all. Which basically means things may not go as smoothly as expected. In fact, it's essentially a guarantee. It wouldn't be tense or thrilling if it were easy, so enter the stress.

As I've come to expect from Robin James, thanks to her Cass Leary series, this book has much the same rhythm. Compelling story told at a great pace. Great writing, dialogue, and new characters that I'm sure I'll get to know in time, given that Robin has a knack for carrying her characters into each new story (which I hope will continue in Mara's series). I loved the cool little cameo from Cass and honestly wasn't expecting it, strangely. Though they have the same passion and tenacity in the court, I do appreciate how different Mara feels from Cass in other ways. Family life, temperaments, personalities. Mara doesn't feel like a clone of Cass and that's important for me to embrace her as someone different. Already I'm wondering what will become of certain characters in her immediate life. I can even sense a little somethin' somethin' complicated there, though I dare not say what. But it does make me go hmmmmmmmmm!

Anyway, this was quite the great read indeed and I'm already eager for the next one.

[Zenizole Gqada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mara is no Cass Leary but she had me at the edge of my sit. I struggled getting into the book for a couple of seconds but once I got my groove, there was no stopping till I reached the last page.

Meet Mara (I forget her surname now), prosecutor and wife whose about to try the biggest case of her career. One might even say of her life. For 8 years Mara has been helping Denise, a victim of a tragic incident, build a case against her attacker. Denise was kidnapped on a Friday afternoon, at the parking lot of her work place. Raped, beaten and left for dead near a river back, tied to cement rocks meant to drown her if not for a fisherman who happened to be at the right place and time.


The police have been working Denise’s case for 2 decades and Mara for 8 years. Building evidence despite the fact that there wasn’t even a suspect until one day… a DNA match sends an alert to the police that causes a domino effect until a suspect is arrested. This is definitely the guy. We know he did it. There’s DNA and a video with time stamps that put him at the scene of the crime but is it enough for him to get convicted?

A series of unexpected events that threaten to rock Mars’s entire existence take place. Can she get a guilty verdict? Or will this monster get away as he has managed for 2 decades?

This novel was raw and gripping. I stopped myself from crying a few times. What happened to Denise was gruesome but I loved how Robin made her a strong character. She used the experience to inspire and shape other peoples lives. I drew strength from that.

I also want to touch on Mars’s love for her son, Will who seems to struggle showing emotions or affection. A lot of the time people tend to get impatient with children who struggle showing affection or children with disabilities in general, but Robin James comes in says “This is how you love your child, disabilities and all. This is how you support them.” I haven’t read a lot of books that address these issues so kudos to her.

I love how Robin always introduces strong, female characters in her books. We don’t get many of those. Especially characters that are relatable.

Rating the book 3 stars. Excellent writing and proofreading. No errors or typos detected. I just kept losing myself sometimes and not really following the story. And well… Robin went HARD when she wrote the Cass Leary series, I guess I was expecting the same intensity. I will give Mara other shot— keeping in mind that she’s not Cass. The comparison is not fair and yet I can’t resist. Haha.

[Moonlight 🌸 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars 🌟

I enjoyed reading this. I enjoyed it more for the personal drama in Mara’s life than the court case. Since Victor Methos’s books were what introduced me to legal thrillers, it set an expectation for me. This book didn’t hold up to that expectation in multiple ways.

The case was super super intriguing. A page turner for sure! But Mara often felt like an untrained lawyer. She had cold hard facts that nothing could shake, and yet she kept dropping the ball and leaving things messy. My rants on my reading update will show the areas more specifically. There were times when her own statements open doubts on her own arguments and I just arghhhhh…

I also got frustrated with how much telling the author did when introducing characters. “He could be lazy but he was keen, intelligent, and sharp.” Almost every character had personality described to us in a way that quickly got repetitive and vexing. I understand you can’t entirely ‘show not tell’, especially for characters that’ll have brief stints; but it was poorly done here.

Repetition was another issue. If I heard Mara say she would ‘nail Shumer to the wall’ or that she was going to get him one more time, I’d have lost it lol. There were too many things repeated in the first half, but it got better in the second!

All that aside, I find I really enjoy the cheating trope and seeing the man grovel - something I never imagined I’d say!! We got that here and I think that’s what really invested me in Mara’s story. Toward the end though I didn’t like that it was ‘circumstances’ that started to bring her and Jason back together. She was almost killed so he slid back in and started to take care of her. Something felt manipulative about it all—even though I know it’s not the author’s intention. It would’ve been better if in a clearer state of mind, she began to CHOOSE to let him in, and forgive him. Right now it looks like he saw an opening when she was vulnerable and inserted himself

I also liked seeing her as a mom, but I think Will’s health issue should’ve been clarified. His behaviors seemed inconsistent since he supposedly never allowed contact, but was hugging and touching his family for most of the book. I’d also have liked more personality from him than simply talking about titanic all the time.

I liked the twist with Phil. I didn’t see it coming, even though it was very well foreshadowed.

I might continue with the series, but I really hope the court aspect gets so much better!

[Perm Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.

5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.

4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.

3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.

2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.

1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.

[Nan Christine Borton-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

To think I almost deleted the book after the 3rd chapter. So glad I didn’t, it turned into an awesome read.

Honestly the first few chapters drove me nuts over the use of the word LEGO to describe LEGOs-these chapters felt like a grammar lesson was being pushed down my throat.

I know it seems silly and I have just started my freelance beginning copywriter, researcher, fact checker, proof and beta reader and almost deleted the book within the first few chapters because of the way LEGO was used. Once I researched the topic, I was able to let it go. If you find it irritating, slog through it because the remainder of the book was awesome.

This is a legal thriller with plenty of suspense and politics in the plot. Mara Brent was able to combine these elements masterfully. The main character Mara Brent, is the county prosecutor tasked with trying a 20 year old ice cold case. During the trial crucial evidence somehow disappears, leaving a hole in her case that may let defendant walk free. Worse, Mara knows it had to be someone close in her office or law enforcement making her distrustful of the team around her.

The author created characters with depth in a setting the reader can visualize. With the exception of the first few chapters it it definitely in my top 3 legal/suspense books this year. I can’t wait for the next one.

FYI- LEGOs is the preferred description of a box of LEGOs.

[Judi Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like courtroom drama, you will love this one! If you read any of the Cass Leary series, you won't want to miss this one. In fact, we have met Mara Brent before when she went to talk to Cass Leary about one of her clients!!

Prosecutor Mara Brent has been following the cold case in her town of Denise, a woman who was brutally raped and left for dead, but she survived. For twenty years Denise has been trying to find the man responsible and Mara is just the person to find him. Mara is also married and has a young son, but her life is spending out of control, as she found out her husband, had an affair.

Trying to get her life back in order, take care of her son, and trying the case of the man she linked to the the rape of Denise, she is preparing to prosecute and hopefully win a guilty verdict in this case.

You will love this one. If you love a lot of courtroom action, pick up this book!!

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time of Justice (Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series Book 1), my first read from author Robin James. An 8-hour 10-minute/252-page thrilling introduction to the Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series. Vivienne Leheny's narration was simply excellent! “I received an Audible copy of this book, discovering that I already owned a Kindle copy when writing this review, and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I own 2 of this author's works in this series and look forward to reading more, I've already added Price of Justice (Mara Brent Legal Thriller Series Book 2) to my TBR list. If you like Teresa Burrell's Advocate Series you'll probably like this read. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).