Hello
lovelies! It gives me great pleasure
today to host N. Lombardi Jr. and his new book, “Justice Gone”! For other stops on his Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be
sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes
and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back
daily to interact with Nick and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks
for stopping by! Wishing you lots of
luck in this fabulous giveaway!
Justice Gone
by N. Lombardi Jr.
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GENRE: Thriller (Legal)
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BLURB:
When
a homeless war veteran is beaten to death by the police, stormy protests ensue,
engulfing a small New Jersey town. Soon after, three cops are gunned down.
A
multi-state manhunt is underway for a cop killer on the loose. And Dr. Tessa
Thorpe, a veteran's counselor, is caught up in the chase.
Donald
Darfield, an African-American Iraqi war vet, war-time buddy of the beaten man,
and one of Tessa's patients, is holed up in a mountain cabin. Tessa, acting on
instinct, sets off to find him, but the swarm of law enforcement officers gets
there first, leading to Darfield's dramatic capture.
Now,
the only people separating him from the lethal needle of state justice are
Tessa and ageing blind lawyer, Nathaniel Bodine. Can they untangle the web
tightening around Darfield in time, when the press and the justice system are
baying for revenge?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT TWO:
Tessa
had given much thought as to how she should dress for the occasion. Her first
instinct was her Karen Kane pants suit, but dismissed that idea to wear her
copper-brown print kaftan in its stead.
Now,
with its folds caught in the vigorous September breeze, giving the illusion of
a multitude of miniature flags fluttering around her, her thick locks of hair
dancing around her head, she spoke to the crowd, slowly, deliberately taking
her time. “Hello, my fellow citizens.” She stopped to survey the mass of people
standing in front of her. Dramatic pauses replete with eye contact, if not
overdone, were quite effective in getting one’s message across. Not
surprisingly, Tessa knew how to get her message across, a special art in the
realm of behavioral scientists. Public relations firms, advertising companies,
political campaigns, all hired an army of psychologists to sell a product. And
Tessa Thorpe, as someone who had thirty years’ experience as a criminal
psychiatrist, could sell as well as any of them.
“We
are here today for two reasons, two very important reasons that are essential
to our well-being in a modern society. Freedom is one, and justice is the
other.”
Enthusiastic
cheers.
“When
the call for war came, we were told that our enemies hated our freedoms. We
were told that the citizens of Iraq had been held hostage by a ruthless
dictator who denied his own people these freedoms. Our invasion of that country
was sold to us as Operation Iraqi Freedom. And so we sent our young men and
women off to war, the most traumatic experience a human being could ever go
through, with the belief that they were fighting for liberty and freedom. And
yet, one of those whom we had sent…had come back to us only to have his own
freedom denied. His single offence at the time he was approached by law
enforcement officers was that he was exercising his freedom to stand on a
street corner.”
This
elicited a roar from the crowd.
“This
is not merely tragic, it is an act of deplorable fraud, being denied the very
thing he fought for!”
More
heartfelt cheering.
“When
I was young, we were made to pledge allegiance, an oath that ended with the
phrase, ‘with liberty and justice for all.’ Well, Jay Felson was denied
liberty…let us make sure he is NOT DENIED JUSTICE!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY BOOK REVIEW:
This book was such an intriguing, suspenseful, thriller read
that is truly ripped straight from the headlines!
This book is thought-provoking, compelling, well-researched,
with complex characters, elaborate plot points, and touches on multiple topics
including real-world issues.
I found myself thoroughly invested in the storyline and totally
caught up with the character’s outcomes.
This
book hit on one of America’s toughest tragedies that we are still working through
today – the homeless population, especially that of our war vets vs. the police. It’s a very ugly battle and this book spares
no detail on its case featuring this particular dilemma.
I
liked the main characters, Dr. Tessa Thorpe, Donald Darfield, and his brilliant,
witty lawyer, Nathaniel Bodine. It was
not hard not to get wrapped up and invested in these characters, especially
that of Donald and wanting to make sure he is treated fairly, and that the actual
guilty person goes to jail not just the convenient or most obvious person. I enjoyed the feisty lawyer, Mr. Bodine. I was curious to see what he had up his
sleeve next. I couldn’t help but wonder
if him being blind was a play on justice.
I liked Tessa, but I wanted more from her. I felt she could be this strong, fierce
character and I am hoping in her upcoming books she takes on a more powerful
role.
I
really like that this book takes real-life issues head on and allows the reader
to easily connect with the characters and explore their take on the case. This would be a great book for book club as
it would easily spark over many intriguing debate topics!
This book has a great
storyline that flows, terrific writing style with detailed scenes,
well-developed characters, is fast paced, and keeps you completely entertained
through the last page.
I
really liked the in-depth amount of research the author did while constructing
this book. It was clear Mr. Lombardi Jr. was
very familiar and well-versed on criminal procedures, legal procedures, war
veteran disabilities, mental health difficulties, PTSD, police brutality cases,
mass media, etc. The author provided so
much detail and such vivid descriptions it made the scenes easy to picture.
There are some
predictable scenes. However, there are
still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
I
enjoy police procedural books and I have to say this book did seem to fall into
that genre too, while still staying true to its legal thriller category. Since this book spends almost half of its
pages inside the courthouse there is still quite a bit of legal jargon, but
thankfully it’s done in an entertaining, tasteful, and understandable fashion,
and without being overly dumbed down.
Warning! There are
some very intense, graphic detail scenes in this book. I have to admit it was a bit hard to read
some of those passages, as they were quite dark, and I’ll be honest I did skim
past a few of those lines here and there.
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would
absolutely recommend it! I think all legal
thriller, mystery, suspense, police procedural readers will like this book
too! So, add it to your TBR List and get
to reading - you won't be disappointed!
If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1HN1579KU7V3P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
N. Lombardi Jr, the N for Nicholas, has
spent over half his life in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, working as a
groundwater geologist. Nick can speak five languages: Swahili, Thai, Lao,
Chinese, and Khmer (Cambodian).
In
1997, while visiting Lao People's Democratic Republic, he witnessed the
remnants of a secret war that had been waged for nine years, among which were
children wounded from leftover cluster bombs. Driven by what he saw, he worked
on The Plain of Jars for the next eight years.
Nick
maintains a website with content that spans most aspects of the novel: The
Secret War, Laotian culture, Buddhism etc. http://plainofjars.net.
His
second novel, Journey Towards a Falling Sun, is set in the wild frontier of
northern Kenya.
His
latest novel, Justice Gone was inspired by the fatal beating of a homeless man
by police.
Nick
now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH NICK:
Website:
Email:
nick@plainofjars.net
Facebook:
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Amazon UK eBook:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
Kobo eBook:
Apple iBooks eBook:
Google Play eBook:
The Book Depository Paperback:
BAM! Books-A-Million eBook:
BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:
Waterstones Paperback:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
Nick will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Nick ~ Good morning! It is so great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! I really enjoyed reading and reviewing your book, thanks for providing the copy! :)
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply - we had a blackout here and internet went down. I am over the moon with your review, I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Thanks for all your support.
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteMy family and I all appreciate you bringing to our attention the book description of another great book to read. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteHow did you come up for the characters names in your book?
ReplyDeleteHello Bernie. Excellent question. Actually, I don't remember how the character names came about - they just popped into my head at the moment they needed to appear in the story!
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading this one, thanks for sharing your review!
ReplyDeleteFantastic, well detailed review - the book sounds like a winner!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting your review of my book - Nick
ReplyDeleteGreat cover.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the exerpt and author bio!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting read
ReplyDelete