Customer Reviews

Seeds of Doubt: A Crime Novel

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Thirty years ago in Vivian, Colorado, four years old Freddie Gant disappeared; his body was ultimately found by a grain elevator. The police deduce that someone shoved him off the top of it. Attention focuses on twelve years old Rachel Boyd, who eventually was arrested and found guilty by a jury. She recently was paroled and lives with her brother Chris, a wealthy banker.

When the six years old son of Chris' gardener vanishes, everyone looks towards Rachel. When his corpse is found near Denver, attention again focuses on Rachel. Besides her history, she was seen with Benjamin the day he disappeared. Chris hires dyslexic lawyer Jackie Flowers to defend his sister. Jackie goes the extra mile when she agrees to allow Rachel to stay in her home as part of the bail stipulation. Jackie, who has spent her life hiding her learning disability from even loved ones, struggles with the defense because Rachel refuses to cooperate by defending herself. Jackie knows the prosecution has circumstantial evidence, but the prosecution's strength lies with the fact that the same MO used in both child murders.

Stephanie Kane is part of the Supreme Court of legal thriller writers who readers know always provides dramatic courtroom scenes that bring electrifying realism to her tales. Her current novel, SEEDS OF DOUBT, is complex with multilayers as readers wonder if Rachel is guilty or, if not, what is she hiding and why rather than help make a viable defense. With powerful action and strong characters, the verdict beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Ms. Kane has provided another superb read.

Harriet Klausner

From the first page you have to know what happens. A 30-year-old crime - the victim so very innocent.

Rachel Boyd has just been paroled after serving 30 years for a crime with a virtually identical MO. She was just a child when the first crime occurred; they called her a bad seed. Her brother, and staunchest supporter, welcomes her home and tries to help her adapt.

Then the unthinkable happens. Another crime. Another innocent.

Jackie Flowers takes on her most enigmatic client yet. Rachel will not speak of the either crime; will not assist in her own defense. Jackie must investigate the old crime to help build Rachel's defense.

The story will sweep you away - the action is tight and keeps the adrenaline pumping. This is Kane's best work yet!

The storyline is sure to keep readers guessing and on the edge of their seats. The narrative is peppered with diary entries, police reports, and new articles, which gives a wonderful extra perspective. Kane manages a wonderful balance of suspense, realistic dialogue, humour, and well-paced revelations.

A real strength of the novel is the three strong female characters: Jackie, her investigator Pilar who herself has an interesting past, and Rachel. Jackie's dyslexia is well written and adds an interesting element to both the character and the story.

I'd certainly recommend this book. I've already ordered the other books in this series.

Jackie Flowers, the dyslexic Denver criminal law attorney who is the protagonist of Stephanie Kane's fourth novel, Seeds of Doubt, likes challenges. In taking the case of Rachel Boyd, a women in her thirties who's been in prison since the age of fifteen for murdering a six-year-old child, she bites off a big one. Just weeks after Rachel's release from prison, another child, one left in her care, turns up dead. The similarities between the first child's death and this case are strong. Rachel is accused of murder and her brother, Christopher Boyd, hires Jackie Flowers to defend her. What ensues is a first class who-done-it.

Stephanie Kane is a master of what writers call voice: each character in Seeds of Doubt is expertly and carefully written to be so distinct that the reader recognizes them from their speech patterns, gestures, or other quirks. And a fascinating band of characters they are: Along with Jackie, Rachel, and Chris we meet Pilar Perez, Jackie's tough-as-nails investigator whom Jackie sprang on a murder charge years before; Lily, Jackie's fifteen-year-old neighbor who is a budding juvenile delinquent with whom Jackie shares a special bond; and Chris Boyd's attorney, Dennis Ross, Jackie's former lover with whom she reconnects during the course of the novel. We even meet a quirky, funny, and brilliant forensic botanist named Flavia Hart who supplies some of the funniest and most instructive aspects of the novel. Each one of these complex and surprising characters could merit a novel of their own.

The most striking feature of Seeds of Doubt, however, is how many such seeds Stephanie Kane plants in the reader's mind. At first we suspect Rachel: The similarities between the crime for which she served fifteen years in a Colorado prison and the murder of the ten-year-old son of her brother's gardener are strong. Then we suspect her extremely successful and controlling brother Chris. Enter a sleazy reporter, Lee Simms, who made a name for himself with the first murder of which Rachel was accused, and who might have committed the second one to revitalize his waning career. Then there is Trina, Rachel's childhood friend, who has grown into an extremely troubled, crafty, money grubbing looser, and who mysteriously reappears before the second child's murder. Almost every character in the novel comes under suspicion, but we are kept guessing until the final pages where we encounter a carefully crafted and well-earned ending.

Reading Seeds of Doubt makes you want to read all of Stephanie Kane's novels.

Jackie Flowers, the lawyer with dyslexia is back again! She is defending someone she remembers hearing about in the news when she was in grade school. Rachael Boyd was paroled from prison after 30 years. She was convicted of the thrill murder of a young playmate.

A six-year-old boy is missing from a mansion near the Denver Country Club, and Boyd is under suspicion. The boy is the son of a prominent banker who happens to be Boyd's brother. Not only does Jackie Flowers take her case, she also brings Boyd into her home as a condition of her client's release on bail.

If that isn't enough to get someone excited about reading this book that doesn't read much, like myself, there's something else Kane offers her readers that drew me into the story. For those of us who can remember the agony of grade school when asked to spell a word, there is a scene that triggers the emotions of that memory. Flowers recalls when she was a child in school and everyone was looking at her to spell a word correctly so their team could win the box of chocolate covered cherries. The teacher tells her it's an easy word and that doesn't help when she starts to spell the word "seed" with a "c" instead of an "s" and the class erupts in laughter.

Kane has the ability to relate to someone with a learning disability and yet brings out the strengths more than their weaknesses. She is a true advocate for those who struggle with literacy. All her books inspired me to read more.

I love mystery series. I'm intrigued by a writier's ability to create depth in the main character without boring readers of previous books. Stephanie Kane is a master...I've read all three of her books and her main character, Jackie Flowers, is being peeled like the proverbial onion. She's fascinating. Seeds of Doubt reveals several additional layers of this quirky female criminal defense attorney, and I still want more! Wrapped in a psychologically complex tale that keeps you guessing until the end, Kane has created a highly original character who, by virtue of her unique perceptions, makes you wish you had her abilities. The plot is complex, the writing excellent and I hate that I'll have to wait for the next book.

That is what Jackie Flowers must find out and fast. While defening Rachel Boyd, convicted 30 years earlier of the murder of a playmate, Jackie must face her own fears to save those she loves. Kane does it again with an inspiring tale of family dysfunction at its worst. Kane does a great job exploring Jackie's character in this book and looking at the decisions she makes. I am anxiously awaiting more Kane novels.

Stephanie Kane has done it again with a new Jackie Flowers book. This is by far her best yet, with complexity and many twists and turns that keep one guessing until the last page. Kane writes with intelligence and an insider's grasp of the legal system.

"Seeds of Doubt" is another fine book in the Jackie Flowers series by Stephanie Kane. Flowers is a criminal defense attorney whose dyslexia gives her difficulty with the written word. Kane has no such problem. Her writing is descriptive yet spare, her characters complete and her plots deft and deep.

Flowers - as would any good fictional lead character of the genre - always takes cases that simply cannot be won. In this book, her client is a woman convicted three decades earlier of killing a playmate. Recently released from prison, she's accused of a similar crime. And the evidence against her is compelling.

My favorite part of Kane's series, of course, is Jackie Flowers. Hollywood should wake up to Flowers' potential as a quirky character for a TV crime series. (OK, like "Monk," though not exactly. But when did the entertainment industry shy away from appropriating a good idea?)

"Seeds of Doubt" kept me guessing, even after I thought I'd figured out whodunnit.