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A young girl is discovered raped and murdered just outside of Magnolia Bluff, Texas. State Conservation Police Officer, Madison Jackson is stunned to her core. The sight of that battered and bruised child on a stainless-steel slab in the morgue sends Madison on a perilous trip south of the border into the heart of the deadly Mexican cartel country. Madison is kidnapped. Will she make it out alive?
316 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 30, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 5, 2023
Justice is the first book I've read by Kelly Marshall, and certainly won't be my last. Conservation Officer Madison Jackson is a strong female lead. She's strong-willed, resilient, and a force to reckon with. Her characters are fully developed and relatable. What I like most about Marshall's writing is that she doesn't hold back. She goes right to the heart of the story and brings it to life.
When Madison views a young girl murdered on the outskirts of Magnolia Bluff, she cannot shake the rage she feels. Against all odds, she is determined to go in search of the girl's parents to inform them of her death. The problem is that the family lives in Mexico, and the murderer is part of a human trafficking cartel.
It's when Madison crosses over the border that the cartel discovers her and must endure the brutal nightmare of being raped and beaten.
Marshall's story is like a gut punch. She goes right to the core of the insidious reality of flesh trade and leaves nothing to the imagination. Despite the sickening details, I applaud Marshall for boldly putting this issue in the spotlight. Throughout the book, I found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering how Madison would escape the horrors of being held captive by these unconscionable people. No spoilers.
Justice is a brilliantly written, five-star page-turner that I highly recommend. My hat off to Marshall for leaping right into the center of this horrifying reality.
When Madison views a young girl murdered on the outskirts of Magnolia Bluff, she cannot shake the rage she feels. Against all odds, she is determined to go in search of the girl's parents to inform them of her death. The problem is that the family lives in Mexico, and the murderer is part of a human trafficking cartel.
It's when Madison crosses over the border that the cartel discovers her and must endure the brutal nightmare of being raped and beaten.
Marshall's story is like a gut punch. She goes right to the core of the insidious reality of flesh trade and leaves nothing to the imagination. Despite the sickening details, I applaud Marshall for boldly putting this issue in the spotlight. Throughout the book, I found myself on the edge of my seat, wondering how Madison would escape the horrors of being held captive by these unconscionable people. No spoilers.
Justice is a brilliantly written, five-star page-turner that I highly recommend. My hat off to Marshall for leaping right into the center of this horrifying reality.
December 1, 2022
Small town living. Small town turmoil. Small town people who share in each other’s lives. Small towns are a beautiful place to kick back and relax… sometimes. Because this small town in the Texas Hill Country seems to have an obsession with murder. Welcome to Magnolia Bluff, Texas.
The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a unique crime fiction series that is told through the eyes of several different writers who are all members of a group called the Underground Authors. JUSTICE by author Kelly Marshall is the eighth book in the series and she has given us a gritty, suspenseful, thriller that stretches from that little town in Texas all the way down into the cruelest parts of Mexico. When a young girl is found raped, murdered, and left naked in the woods, Officer Madison Jackson makes it her mission to try and bring closure to the girl’s family. But the girl was not a resident of Magnolia Bluff and was likely an illegal from across the border. Against the better judgement of everyone around her, she makes the trip down into Mexico to locate the girl’s parents. The problem with this plan? The girl died by the hands of a Mexican Cartel that traffics young woman for sex to the highest bidder and Officer Jackson is headed right into the belly of the beast.
This novel has everything needed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Marshall tells the story through the eyes of Madison Jackson, giving the reader a ride-along view into the unimaginable world of sex trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, and murder. The author is adept at creating tension throughout the story along with knowing when to pepper in a few lighter moments to allow readers to catch their breath. The writing is tight with good characterization and moves along at an easy-to-follow pace. Although Officer Madison Jackson has appeared in other books in the series, in this story, we get to see a much deeper version of who she is as an officer of the law as well as who she is as a woman. And of course, we also get to check in on some of the other residence of Magnolia Bluff, which is the thread that ties each of these vastly different stories in the series together.
This is a superb story told by a talented, seasoned writer. Kelly Marshall is also the author of the highly acclaimed Winston and Strom mystery series, so she knows her way around a crime scene. Whether you have been following the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles from book one or this is your first Magnolia Bluff reading experience, JUSTICE can be read as a stand-alone or as a great addition to a stellar, mystery crime series.
The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is a unique crime fiction series that is told through the eyes of several different writers who are all members of a group called the Underground Authors. JUSTICE by author Kelly Marshall is the eighth book in the series and she has given us a gritty, suspenseful, thriller that stretches from that little town in Texas all the way down into the cruelest parts of Mexico. When a young girl is found raped, murdered, and left naked in the woods, Officer Madison Jackson makes it her mission to try and bring closure to the girl’s family. But the girl was not a resident of Magnolia Bluff and was likely an illegal from across the border. Against the better judgement of everyone around her, she makes the trip down into Mexico to locate the girl’s parents. The problem with this plan? The girl died by the hands of a Mexican Cartel that traffics young woman for sex to the highest bidder and Officer Jackson is headed right into the belly of the beast.
This novel has everything needed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Marshall tells the story through the eyes of Madison Jackson, giving the reader a ride-along view into the unimaginable world of sex trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, and murder. The author is adept at creating tension throughout the story along with knowing when to pepper in a few lighter moments to allow readers to catch their breath. The writing is tight with good characterization and moves along at an easy-to-follow pace. Although Officer Madison Jackson has appeared in other books in the series, in this story, we get to see a much deeper version of who she is as an officer of the law as well as who she is as a woman. And of course, we also get to check in on some of the other residence of Magnolia Bluff, which is the thread that ties each of these vastly different stories in the series together.
This is a superb story told by a talented, seasoned writer. Kelly Marshall is also the author of the highly acclaimed Winston and Strom mystery series, so she knows her way around a crime scene. Whether you have been following the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles from book one or this is your first Magnolia Bluff reading experience, JUSTICE can be read as a stand-alone or as a great addition to a stellar, mystery crime series.
November 30, 2022
She’s just a child. Lost? Abandoned? Stolen? No one knows. But she’s found in the wooded terrain around Burnet Reservoir. It’s not a pretty sight. She’s been raped. She’s been murdered. She was thrown away.
Kelly Marshall is no stranger to the hard, callused, details of a homicide. She is a top-notch mystery writer who never shies away from the grit and grime surrounding a crime scene. She takes you, the reader, and drags you into the scene whether you want to be there or not. In Justice, Book 8 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, Kelly lets you walk side by side with Conservation Officer Madison Jackson who can’t belief that such a heinous crime as human trafficking has darkened the roads around her little town.
As Kelly writes: “What was once an eerily quiet death scene bustled like a beehive with the white-robed forensic team combing the grounds for clues and placing yellow evidence markers on the ground. They had already bagged the victim’s hands. The girl was laying on her stomach, long black hair draping down her back. I noticed bruises and scrapes along her arms and broken fingernails, indicating she aggressively fought her attacker.What a desperate, sad way for a young life to end—her last moments on earth filled with frantic fear and pain and knowing she was marked for death.”
It is a case, a nightmare, that Madison can’t simply cast aside for someone else to solve. She is determined to find justice and exact a measure of revenge for a young girl whose life has ended in such a cruel manner. The thirst for vengeance is an obsession that carries her into the defiant world of Mexico’s drug cartels, which only has two rules. Kill or be killed. These kinds of things just don’t happen in quiet towns like Magnolia Bluff. But now they have, and Madison forces herself to follow the most dangerous trail she has ever walked.
Kelly Marshall is a master at creating suspense, and she has written a frightening and captivating story about the bad side of a bad road where graves hold the remains of those without names, and one may have already been dug for Madison.
Kelly Marshall is no stranger to the hard, callused, details of a homicide. She is a top-notch mystery writer who never shies away from the grit and grime surrounding a crime scene. She takes you, the reader, and drags you into the scene whether you want to be there or not. In Justice, Book 8 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, Kelly lets you walk side by side with Conservation Officer Madison Jackson who can’t belief that such a heinous crime as human trafficking has darkened the roads around her little town.
As Kelly writes: “What was once an eerily quiet death scene bustled like a beehive with the white-robed forensic team combing the grounds for clues and placing yellow evidence markers on the ground. They had already bagged the victim’s hands. The girl was laying on her stomach, long black hair draping down her back. I noticed bruises and scrapes along her arms and broken fingernails, indicating she aggressively fought her attacker.What a desperate, sad way for a young life to end—her last moments on earth filled with frantic fear and pain and knowing she was marked for death.”
It is a case, a nightmare, that Madison can’t simply cast aside for someone else to solve. She is determined to find justice and exact a measure of revenge for a young girl whose life has ended in such a cruel manner. The thirst for vengeance is an obsession that carries her into the defiant world of Mexico’s drug cartels, which only has two rules. Kill or be killed. These kinds of things just don’t happen in quiet towns like Magnolia Bluff. But now they have, and Madison forces herself to follow the most dangerous trail she has ever walked.
Kelly Marshall is a master at creating suspense, and she has written a frightening and captivating story about the bad side of a bad road where graves hold the remains of those without names, and one may have already been dug for Madison.
February 20, 2023
Kelly Marshall has authored many gritty mystery novels. She tells it as she sees it in Book 8 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, Justice. Conservation Officer Madison Jackson works as a warden verifying licenses for the Fish and Wildlife department. During a routine license check around Burnet Reservoir, a young Hispanic teen runs into the woods to escape being cited. He returns moments later to tell Madison he found a girl’s body. They both return to the scene of the crime.
The horrific state of the naked girl, beaten and abused, burned into Madison’s brain. She knew it was a savage cartel act by the blue wristband and underwear in the tree—human trafficking at its worst conducted by savage, heartless cartel members. Life has no value outside of money.
Ms. Marshall writes vivid descriptions to pull readers into this mystery and make them feel every sensation possible: pain, terror, abuse, and more. The sights and sounds are so intense that readers will hold their breath, waiting for hope. The nightmare continues in unimaginable ways. The characters are well-developed, especially Madison, her dad, and their close relationship.
When the dead girl is named, Madison becomes haunted by the need to find Anna’s parents and tell them the fate of their child. Her search takes Madison on a trip to hell and back. One day she was hunting the parents of a dead girl; the next, she vanished. Madison suffers unbelievable torture at the hands of the cartel, including the vicious leader of the group who bought and paid for his sex slave. Her father and his friends locate her and bring her back to Magnolia Bluff. A woman with the grit and tenacity of Madison survives her ordeal but will never be the same. She will be stronger.
I highly recommend this story to readers of mystery and crime. Page, one begins with suspense and nonstop action that continues chapter after chapter until the last page. Then you can release the breath you’ve been holding.
The horrific state of the naked girl, beaten and abused, burned into Madison’s brain. She knew it was a savage cartel act by the blue wristband and underwear in the tree—human trafficking at its worst conducted by savage, heartless cartel members. Life has no value outside of money.
Ms. Marshall writes vivid descriptions to pull readers into this mystery and make them feel every sensation possible: pain, terror, abuse, and more. The sights and sounds are so intense that readers will hold their breath, waiting for hope. The nightmare continues in unimaginable ways. The characters are well-developed, especially Madison, her dad, and their close relationship.
When the dead girl is named, Madison becomes haunted by the need to find Anna’s parents and tell them the fate of their child. Her search takes Madison on a trip to hell and back. One day she was hunting the parents of a dead girl; the next, she vanished. Madison suffers unbelievable torture at the hands of the cartel, including the vicious leader of the group who bought and paid for his sex slave. Her father and his friends locate her and bring her back to Magnolia Bluff. A woman with the grit and tenacity of Madison survives her ordeal but will never be the same. She will be stronger.
I highly recommend this story to readers of mystery and crime. Page, one begins with suspense and nonstop action that continues chapter after chapter until the last page. Then you can release the breath you’ve been holding.
November 24, 2022
The fictional community of Magnolia Bluff, Texas, can accommodate many stories and many murders ranging from cozy mystery, to shattering drama; the latter epitomized by Justice. Kelly Marshall, one of the best indies writing today, already produces the excellent Winston and Strom crime novels set in Seattle. But this book will shake you and hold you in its thrall until you have turned the last page. Madison Jackson, Fish and Wildlife officer, and daughter of a retired cop discovers the horrifying remains of a raped, murdered and trafficked child. Driven by a need to inform the child’s parents of the loss, she embarks on a nightmarish journey into Mexico. What follows is a trip through hell, and eventual redemption, aided by her father and others who care. This is the powerful story of a woman who survives unspeakable cruelty, written in clean prose by a skilled author. Highly recommended.
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