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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Heroine For Our Times, April 16, 2002
This review is from: The Bayou Privilege (Paperback)
Micki Lane is intelligent, sexy, complicated and smart, a heroine we only wish we identified with. While maintaining a demanding legal career, Micki also juggles motherhood and being a wife. She is tempted by an old love and yet knows she has made a wise choice in her mate. My favorite passages are the quieter scenes when Micki is entertaining her child; making love to her husband on a brief vacation away from the tense, dark case she and her friends in law enforcement get involved with to keep from becoming victims themselves; and Micki's workaday routine in her busy law practice. Her no-nonsense advice to recalcitrant clients comprises some of the novel's funniest scenes. And I like Micki's loyalty to her women friends. She may be drop-dead gorgeous, but she doesn't view other women as competitors, and seems perfectly happy to go off with a girlfriend for the weekend to shop for antiques. Dallari Landry is knowledgeable about forensics and the nitty-gritty of running a law practice. The legal community is a small world, and Landry gives us the full flavor of the back-scratching and back-stabbing that goes on in that world. By the time this story winds down, you will understand the irony behind Landry's title, that bayou privilege. Secondary characters are equally complex and interesting, especially the women: Anna, who slaves away in the crime lab and remains loyal in spite of evidence implicating her boss. Joan, the comically frightened psychologist. Sherry, the legal secretary who could probably run the office just fine without her boss. And then there's LeRoy, the old flame, who looks too damn good to a woman whose husband has been out of town for a while. Like most lawyers, Micki knows how to use the language. Her profanity is casual, inventive, and evokes the bayou country where she was raised. The best heroines are not the ones who are strong all the time, but the ones who proceed in spite of their fears. Micki is bedeviled as much by phantoms in her own head as those that come out of the bizarre case she helps to solve. Let lesser heroines lay their heads on their pillows and enjoy dreamless sleep. Micki does not sleep that well. The case that draws Micki, Roy, and Anna back together is an old one they worked a dozen years earlier. Rather than fading away, this murder case has festered. There is greed, official misconduct, and even suspicion among the friends. At the heart of the case is a crumbling antebellum mansion in the bayou, where the forensics experts have a field day gathering evidence. This is Landry's first novel, and sometimes the material threatens to slide out of her control, but ultimately she will win you over with the energy of her writing, her compassion for her characters, and your suspicion that Michelle "Micki" Lane owes a lot to her creator. It is no coincidence that Landry possesses the same forensic and legal skills she gives her character. If you love legal thrillers, realistic forensic details, and you're sick and tired of having it dished up from a male perspective, give THE BAYOU PRIVILEGE a try. I can hardly wait for the next installment of the complicated Micki Lane.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent book!!!!, December 14, 2011
From the moment I picked up this book I have not been able to stop reading it. This book is a great thriller, it is crime blended with drama to make a beautiful concoction. I would recommend this book to anyone. I am definitely looking forward to reading more endeavors about Micki.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Hard Charging Legal Thriller with Heart, June 12, 2002
This review is from: The Bayou Privilege (Paperback)
In Dallari Landry's fast paced, dialogue driven debut novel, forensic chemist turned criminal defense lawyer Micki Lane is drawn into a web of intrigue, suspense and betrayal relating to a case she worked on in the crime lab years before. But the danger is palpable and very much real-time, as, one by one, the other principals who worked on the case disappear or are found murdered. Micki herself is being stalked and, ostensibly, targeted. But Micki Lane is not the victim type. She acknowledges that the peril exists, but refuses to succumb to it. She is able, and willing, to do whatever it takes to see the mystery through and get to the bottom of these strange murders.As a chemist, she participates in the gathering of forensic evidence. Incidentally, these passages offer a fascinating, and unique, touch, to this legal thriller. As a lawyer, she understands the legal implications to those involved and is perfectly capable of protecting her own legal interests and those of her friends and colleagues. She can also just pull a pistol out of her purse and use it when necessary. Still, returning to a life left behind long ago holds other dangers for Micki, whose husband and young son are away for the summer. Not to her safety, but to her sense of personal security. Old flame Roy, an undercover cop working on the case, re-enters her life and intrudes on her comfort zone. Her re-emerging feelings for him confound her, disturb her and affect her judgment. Sexual tension runs high, and continues to build, pretty much commensurate with the level of suspense surrounding the question of who exactly is behind these murders. And, is Micki next? Micki is a fascinating, complex character. Strong, brilliant and profane, you'd feel safe if she were your lawyer. Genuine, loyal and unpretentious, you'd also love for her to be your friend. She is sometimes afraid, although the fear never conquers or debilitates her. But, like all of us, Micki is flawed, and she may surprise you at times. The really smart, and the really talented, are always like that. You probably won't figure out the denouement very early into this novel. And that's the beauty of it. You probably won't want to put it down until you finally get there, either.
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