Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Relevant Law

SERIES:  The Fearless Heart

AUTHOR:  Janice Jarrell

NARRATOR:  Walker Williams

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  10 hours and 8 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  March 13, 2022

BLURB:

They’d been through it all and emerged victorious. Now they stood on the very brink of a whole new life bursting with possibilities and renewed hope for the future. Colin will take the bar exam and begin his promising career as an assistant commonwealth attorney for the city of Charlottesville. Joshua receives his second PhD and adds forensic psychologist to his list of achievements. What could possibly go wrong?

And then:

Three students are abducted from the University of Virginia campus. All three are recovered alive but have been sexually assaulted and brutally beaten. From his new position as assistant commonwealth attorney, Colin partners with both campus and city police in a combined task force determined to solve these horrific crimes and put the perpetrator behind bars. But can they succeed before the “campus abductor” strikes again?

The abusive and volatile husband of one of Joshua’s patients threatens his life. Suddenly Joshua is under siege as he is stalked both at work and at home by an unstable assailant.

Entangled in both these life-threatening situations, Colin struggles to protect both the university he loves and the man he adores. But…

“Oh God, Josh, my sweet love, if anything’s happened to you….” His voice trailed off, unable to voice the unthinkable.

“NO!” Joshua’s mind shrieked. “I can’t give up! I won’t give up! Colin will come! He’ll come!”

Warning: This novel discusses sensitive material that may be distressing to some listeners. Relevant Law explores themes of abduction, physical violence, and non-graphic sexual assault.

REVIEW:

Colin is past law school and at the beginning of this story, he’s getting ready to take the bar.  He passes with flying colors of course and begins his job as a new Commonwealth Assistant Attorney.  It’s definitely a lot different than his job as a police officer.  He’d forgotten about office politics while he’s been a law student 🙂  But he’s happily settling into his job as a lawyer.  He’s prepared and he’s ready to take things to the next level.  He’s got some co-workers that he’s not too sure about, but he’s pretty sure he can handle them.

Joshua is back to his practice.  He’s dealing with a patient who is in an abusive relationship.  She keeps reaching out to Josh, but she won’t take his advice or help in getting out of the relationship and away from her husband.  She shows up with marks, but she won’t press charges.  She calls him off hours and wants him to intercede but that’s not going to help the situation and would put Josh in potential danger.  He hates to leave her on her own, but she’s not willing to take the necessary steps.

While all this is going on, there has been a series of abductions at the university. There have been three so far and there is no lead since the victims haven’t seen the face of the perpetrator.  The violence has escalated with each victim and the whole campus is on edge.  Colin is brought in to the task force with the Police but they don’t have any physical evidence and are no closer to finding the guy.

Things escalate with the husband of Joshua’s patient.  He’s not happy with Josh and seems to think that his wife and Josh are having an affair.  Eventually Colin get his way and they get a restraining order against the guy after he confronts Josh at his office.  The guy isn’t happy to put it mildly but he’s smart enough not to push Colin and the police.

Josh is being extremely careful.  He’s checking his surroundings, etc. before he leaves his office.  But despite these measures, he is attacked and he can’t fight off his attacker.  He’s badly injured, but he realizes his only hope is to try to leverage his training and try to talk this guy off the ledge.  Or at least keep him engaged long enough so that he can be rescued.  It’s harrowing and Colin nearly loses his mind thinking about losing Josh and what that would mean.  But he keeps it together enough to be useful to the police in helping to search for Josh.  Things get pretty intense and it’s a very close call.

In the aftermath of the abduction, Josh and Colin have to work through Josh’s recovery.  There is also the matter of indicting and prosecuting the perpetrator.   Josh is going to have to be very strong in reliving what happened to him.  Colin is overprotective and Josh is having a hard time not pushing too hard.  His injuries are serious and it’s going to take some time before he can get back to his previously scheduled life.  Thankfully they have friends, family and colleagues that recognize that things will take a while to get back to normal 🙂

I actually enjoyed this one a lot more than the previous book.  The law school stuff got a bit tedious for me in the last one and Colin’s new job with the Commonwealth is definitely new and different.  Of course he’s the low man on the totem pole, so he does have to do a lot of the scut work.  He’s got a solid reputation because of his police work.  He tries to keep things professional and does a good job for the most part 😉  Josh is under tremendous stress with this patient’s husband threatening him and the patient not being willing/able to make any changes or help herself.  After the abduction though, Josh has to focus on himself.  He’s not good at ramping down and he’s making it hard on Colin when he doesn’t follow Dr.’s orders.  This leads to a bit of conflict between Josh and Colin as they are trying to get their lives back after the trauma of the abduction.  I loved how they realize they are falling into patterns and that they need to break them.  This relationship is solid and it’s good to see them get back on track after everything that happens.  Colin is a rock, but Josh proves here that he is just as strong as Colin is and he didn’t let his past dictate how he was willing to fight for his life.  Colin also realizes that he can’t control Josh and if Josh decides to do things that will be detrimental to his recover, well Colin is going to have to figure out how to live with it.  Ultimately though, these are two guys who are very much in love and want things to work out, so they each are able to admit where they are falling down on the job and work toward a solution that will make everyone happy.

Mr. Williams did a really fine job narrating this story.  He has a lot more to work with here than the last story, given the action and suspense.  His voice of the characters is spot on with continuity.  He menacing bad guys were so good.  The many offices and lawyers were also distinct and well done.  I really enjoyed his performance here so much more than the previous book.  There are some light hearted moments as well to break up all the serious stuff that was a welcome relief.  This is a really solid story of two guys who frankly have been through a lot but always find a way to work together to make their relationship stronger in the end.  Recommended.

RATING: 

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