Finished book #50 in 2025 – A WRITER'S GOTTA WRITE

Book #50	Book: Reckoning Hour		Author: Peter O’Mahoney
	Source: Free First Reads download Format: Kindle	Pages: 315	Duration: 06/25/25 – 06/27/25 (3 days)
	Rating: ★★★★★	Genres: fiction, legal thriller, mystery crime
📕10-word summary: Chicago lawyer returns to hometown — takes on two interconnected cases. 🖌6-word review: Good tension. Good pace. Satisfying resolution.
💭Favorite quote: “Crimes of the disadvantaged were punished much more harshly than crimes of the advantaged.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: pluff mud, bowrider, tomahawk steak
Description:^* Big-city defense lawyer Dean Lincoln left his picturesque hometown of Beaufort years ago. But now, the lure of small-town life and a family matter have drawn him back. Amidst the sultry heat and the Spanish moss, and beneath the facade of Southern small-town charm, Lincoln begins work again and is immediately thrown into two cases: a rich kid charged with murder and a poor kid accused of arson. Both swear they are innocent. Both feel the system is trying to crush them. And in this corner of the South, guilt is rarely decided in the courtroom… Lincoln’s return has stirred a long-standing grudge, and it could cost him everything — his career, his clients, even his life. As the clock runs out on the truth, trouble is closing in fast.^{*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.}
Thoughts: I was surprised at, and pleased with, how much I enjoyed this book, especially since it was the first in a series (Dean Lincoln Legal Thriller #1) and a free download, which as a combination in my experience doesn’t often bode well. As of right now, there’s only one other book in the series, and if I can find it free somewhere, I just might read it. I thought the setting, — Beaufort, SC — was described and integrated into the story to the extent of itself becoming one of the “characters.” Also, the small-town legal corruption felt believable, if not on the verge of stereotypical, and at more than one point, I thought of the lyrics, “A big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said, ‘Why’d you do it?’ The judge said ‘guilty’ in a make-believe trial, and slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile…” I liked this book enough to possibly make it a Mostly Social Book Club choice of mine some day. And last, but certainly not least, I’m thrilled to have reached book #50 by the end of June. I’d love for this to be a 100⁺-book year, which I haven’t had since 2022, when I read 102 books.