Injustice for All by Scott Pratt

Attorney Joe Dillard spent much of his career as a defense lawyer representing drug dealers and murderers who were dangerous and almost always guilty.  Miserable in that profession he has now the made the move to the prosecutor’s office in Johnson City, Tennessee only to be disappointed by the corruption that takes place on that side of the law.  His boss, D.A. Lee Mooney is a womanizer and alcoholic and allows politics to enter into too many decisions to suit Joe.  Judge Green’s abuse of power has ruined the career of Joe’s lawyer friend, Ray Miller.  Ray becomes so disgruntled by the judge’s ridiculously unfair charges that the lawyer commits suicide in the courtroom after Judge Green rules against him.  Later that night, Judge Green is brutally murdered at his home and his body is set afire.  Joe prays that Ray’s college age son and friend of Joe’s son is not responsible.  Joe soon learns that Ray’s son was on a drinking binge that night and ended up at Joe’s house to sleep it off.  Joe’s wife warns the boy’s mother to tell her son to disappear for a while.  To top it off, Joe’s wife is recovering from breast cancer and the physical and psychological effects of a mastectomy.

So here’s Joe with a load of personal problems on his shoulders and his boss, Mooney tells him to check on a young woman employee of the D.A.’s office, Katie Dean who had not showed up for work.  Joe goes to Katie’s home, finds her door left unlocked with her car in the driveway and she is nowhere to be found.  Turns out Katie is in the witness protection program for ratting out a Mexican drug lord.  Her Aunt Mary and Mary’s M.S. stricken son were murdered and burned in their home for the tip to the DEA.  Joe calls in the sheriff and he finds Katie’s body.  An autopsy reveals that Katie was pregnant… Katie pregnant after less than a month earlier telling friends that she was a virgin.  With so much marijuana being grown in the mountains of east Tennessee which attracts so many dangerous characters loaded with money, Joe begins to wonder if the murders could all be connected and if people in law enforcement could be involved.  But who can he trust and what will it mean for him and his family to find out?

This is another winner from self-published author Scott Pratt.  Multiple plots juggled expertly and linked together in the end, the suspense moves from one story line to the next.  The characters are believable and likable but not perfect… the right combination for an effective protagonist.  You can’t help but compare Pratt to a young Grisham or Turow… good stuff.