Ultimate Justice [Mass Market Paperback]

Mimi Latt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 28, 2000

When gifted New York prosecutor Alexandra Locke puts her rising career on hold to be near her dying mother, she hesitiatingly accepts a position in the office of her father, Thomas Kendall, the politically ambitious Los Angeles District Attorney. But their already strained father-daughter relationship grows far worse when Alexandra hears a shocking deathbed confession that implicates him in a brutal murder and cover-up.

Flying in the face of her father's re-election bid, Alexandra vows to investigate. Yet, after drugs are planted in her apartment and the police are ripped off, she realizes that more than her career is in jeodardy. Alexandra joins forces with her handsome former lover, and together they pry open a case that was once nailed shut. But the deeper they dig, the more questions arise, and the more Alexandra is drawn into a sordid web of dark family secrts that leave her wondering how much her father really knew. Torn between duty and loyalty, Alexandra races to discover the truth -- a truth that might destroy everything and everyone she holds dear.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There's justice, and then there's justice in Latt's third legal thriller (Powers of Attorney and Pursuit of Justice). While visiting her dying mother in L.A., deputy district attorney Alexandra Locke hears a death-bed confession from Erica Collins, a fellow hospital patient her mother has befriended. Erica tells Locke that 20 years ago her husband, Dr. George Collins, murdered his best friend, Jeffrey McGrath, and bribed a young DAALocke's father, Thomas KendallAto cover it up. Kendall is now an aggressive four-term district attorney in a stiff reelection race. If Locke doesn't investigate, Erica will send her evidence to the press. Reluctantly, Locke begins a probe and discovers that her father found McGrath's death "accidental" for lack of other evidence; McGrath's widow, Lorna, married George Collins; and the autopsy and ballistics reports are missing from the original Collins-McGrath case files. When Locke confronts her father privately, he orders her to drop the investigation. She doesn't, and inexorably, she's drawn into a web of McGrath and Collins family secrets. Then police find a stash of drugs in her apartment, and when Locke is arrested, she calls the one defense attorney in town she trusts, Patrick Ross, the college sweetheart she left years ago. Now she must prove she was framed, but if she does, she may bring down her own father. The dark family secrets Locke uncovers (including bribery, incest, rape, suicide and murder) are the foundation on which Latt constructs her competent plot, but one-dimensional characters, and the awkward, unnecessary repetition of facts that the reader already knows, diminish the appeal of a potentially promising thriller that seems, regrettably, to have been written by the numbers. Agent, Anne Sibbald. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) An engrossing tale...Keep[s] the pages turning. -- Review

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (November 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671014617
• ISBN-13: 978-0671014612
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,795,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EDGE-OF-THE-CHAIR LEGAL THRILLER!, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: ULTIMATE JUSTICE: A Novel (Hardcover)

Pick up ULTIMATE JUSTICE if you're looking for a page-turner! Prosecutor Alexandra Locke is a fascinating main character who must investigate a crime that might implicate her D.A. father and destroy her mother--who is already on her deathbed. The story weaves an impressive amount of detail and interesting characters into a complex series of events which was riveting from start to finish--no doubt a tribute to author Mimi Latt, a former attorney herself. This legal thriller, set in Los Angeles, is filled with so many surprising twists and turns, you never really know what to expect next. ULTIMATE JUSTICE is a great read. Put it in your shopping cart!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous legal thriller, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: ULTIMATE JUSTICE: A Novel (Hardcover)

Alexandra Locke, a star in the Attorney General's Office of New York, gladly left the fame that she actually enjoyed to return home. Spending time just being with her ailing mother who was battling cancer was more important to Alexandra. The talented attorney quickly lands a job as a Los Angeles deputy DA even though cries of nepotism occur as her father is the Los Angeles Attorney General.

While visiting her mother at the hospital, another dying patient Erica Collins asks Alexandra to listen to what she has to say. She desperately needs to get a past crime off her conscience. Two decades ago, her now ex-husband allegedly paid off a deputy district attorney to dismiss a murder charge. Alexandra's father, who happens to be re-running for his state office, is the accused. The fear that it might be true rips up her insides. However, the ethical Alexandra begins to see if the accusation might actually be true. She knows the mess she will cause to her own family and to the Collins brood. By doing an inquiry, she also provides fodder to her father's political opponent. Finally, Alexandra does not yet realize the depth someone will go to stop her.

Mimi Latt shows the talent to merge the story telling abilities of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg with the characterizations of Thomas Harris to create a truly entertaining and powerful novel. ULTIMATE JUSTICE is a thrilling legal procedural where political expediency supersedes justice. The lead character is similar to Ms. Lott's powerful female protagonists in her two previous books (see POWERS OF ATTORNEY and PURSUIT OF JUSTICE). These strong women know what they can do, must do, and just do it as justice is more than just a seven-letter word even when its' at an extremely high personal cost.

Harriet Klausner

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most exciting book I've ever read!!, March 1, 2001

By 

Loni Brower (Belford, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ULTIMATE JUSTICE: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book grabs you from cover to cover. Ms. Latt's brillant writing style and her use of such interesting characters make this book the most exciting well written book I've ever read. Move over Mr. Grisham! This was one book I just couldn't put down! A must read for all you legal suspense lovers!