TIES THAT BIND
Phillip Margolin
HarperTorch
Suspense
ISBN: 0060083255

TIES THAT BIND is a vehicle for Phillip Margolin's reintroduction of Amanda Jaffe, last seen in WILD JUSTICE. Jaffe is still adversely affected by the events that befell her in that novel and is making efforts to deal with them. Daniel Ames from THE ASSOCIATE also makes a cameo appearance, but this is primarily Jaffe's book. Jaffe is an interesting character, but in TIES THAT BIND, she tends to get lost among the more interesting people and events around her.

There aren't a lot of sympathetic characters in TIES THAT BIND. The bad guys are really bad and as is often the case, they're more interesting than the white hats. Jon Dupre, a violent pimp accused of murdering Senator Harold Travis, is a world-class scumbag. It's difficult to let your sense of justice rise to the occasion and see him acquitted of a crime for which he might be wrongfully accused. However, the evidence against him looks strong and, while in police custody, he kills his court-appointed attorney. To paraphrase Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly, he wouldn't miss a lick if he rode the lightning, even if it was for the wrong crime.

There accordingly isn't a lot of tension for any sort of race against time to find the real killer. On top of that, Travis is an extortionist and a murderer in his own right, so his death is not going to elicit any particular sympathy, one way or the other. When Jaffe is requested by the court to take over his defense, it looks like an uphill battle for her. When she begins to investigate Dupre's alibi and claims of innocence, however, she is pressured --- violently --- to drop her investigation and let justice take its course. What is interesting here is what the investigation ultimately uncovers, which is a conspiracy that has existed for decades and that links Travis to a mysterious group of public officials and drug lords. As Jaffe nears the surprising truth, she brings danger closer to herself and those she loves, even as the truth that she and her client is seeking comes from a totally unexpected source.

Margolin's plot doesn't always hang together perfectly. The method by which the surprise ending is effected, in particular, is somewhat of a stretch and requires some suspension of disbelief, though it is ultimately quite satisfying. Overall, Margolin remains an exciting writer of great economy with the ability to keep readers turning pages as fast as they are capable of reading. TIES THAT BIND ultimately continues Margolin's unbroken string of riveting, spellbinding novels that are almost impossible to put down without finishing.

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