Reasonable Fear by Scott Pratt

Joe Dillard has never been satisfied in his career as a lawyer.  First, he was a successful defense attorney but despised representing dangerous drug dealers and murderers who paid him with dirty money.  He then moved to the other side and became Assistant District Attorney over a four county area in east Tennessee but found those in power to be just as shady and unethical as his former clients.  He then was appointed District Attorney by the governor but soon found he didn’t enjoy the administrative functions of his job or the politics.

Then the bodies of three young women are found in a nearby lake.  They are identified as strippers who had worked at a local bar owned by a former client of Joe’s.  Information obtained from witnesses incriminates wealthy Nashville businessman, John Lipscomb, his brother Nelson and his lawyer.  The governor personally calls Dillard and tells him to stop investigating Lipscomb, one of the governor’s most generous supporters.  When all law enforcement including the FBI refuse to help, Sheriff Leon Bates continues the investigation.  Joe calls a grand jury and presents the evidence against Lipscomb and his cohorts and issues warrants for their arrests.    He learns during the investigation that Lipscomb and his lawyer have long term ties to the Columbian drug trade that uses violence to manipulate every situation. The following morning the bodies of Dillard’s two prime witnesses are dumped in his driveway.  They have been tortured and brutally murdered.

Joe suddenly realizes the lives of everyone he loves are in danger and no one in law enforcement will help him.  He puts his family in a rented van and drives them to a reclusive farm in Michigan owned by an old army buddy.  On the long drive back to Tennessee, Joe realizes his only way out might be to murder Lipscomb.  Could he put his respect for the law and strong code of ethics aside to save his family?  Could he rekindle his military training to kill or be killed?  Did he have the courage and skill to face known assassins?

Reasonable Fear is another winner from Scott Pratt.  The protagonist, Joe Dillard is an ordinary Joe placed in extraordinary circumstances… imperfect and likable with a strong code.  The plot is dynamic, plausible and suspenseful… good stuff!  Now on to the next installment.