Law of Attraction

New York: Simon & Schuster [A Touchstone Book], 2010. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. [8], 279, [1] pages. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads: To JoAnn & Bruce, Thanks for your support! I'm so glad my dad sent you to my signing, Allison Leotta. Allison Leotta is an American novelist, former prosecutor and blogger, best known for her popular legal crime thrillers. Her books have won various awards and have been placed on multiple best-seller lists. She has been dubbed the "female John Grisham" but has stated that she instead wishes John Grisham to be dubbed "the male Allison Leotta". Leotta graduated from Michigan State University and Harvard Law School and worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington D.C. where she specialized in sex crimes, domestic violence and crimes against children. In 2011, she left the Justice Department to become an author full time, writing acclaimed novels such as Law of Attraction, Discretion, Speak of the Devil, A Good Killing, and The Last Good Girl. She currently has TV reviews being carried by the Huffington Post as well running a legal blog known as the Prime-Time Crime Review which the American Bar Association hailed as "one of the best legal blogs in America". Her first novel, Law of Attraction, was published in 2010, and is part of the critically acclaimed series about the fictional sex-crimes prosecutor, Anna Curtis and her dealings with domestic violence cases. This has become a series of five books involving Anna Curtis. Leotta has stated in interviews that she has drawn inspiration from her previous legal experiences to write her novels and attributes their success to her first-hand experience as a prosecutor. From former federal sex-crimes prosecutor Allison Leotta comes the first book in the Anna Curtis series?a ?riveting debut legal thriller?[with] a vulnerable, tenacious heroine, surprising twists and turns, and equal parts romance and danger? (Library Journal, starred review).
As a newly minted Assistant US Attorney in Washington, DC, Anna Curtis has already developed a thick skin to help her deal with the unsettling brutality she encounters daily in her overflowing stack of domestic violence cases. Yet when Laprea Johnson?battered to death by her boyfriend on the morning after Valentine?s Day?crosses Anna?s desk, there?s something about this particular case that Anna can?t quite shake, something that reminds the prosecutor of her own troubled past. It?s also the biggest case of Anna?s career?and the most personal. If she wins it, she could lose everything. The victim she tried to protect is dead. Her lover?no, her ex-lover?is defending the accused killer. Caught between seeking justice for Laprea and saving her personal life, Anna makes a series of choices that jeopardize her career, her relationships, and her very life as she uncovers the shocking truth behind the murder. Weaving expert knowledge with deft storytelling, Law of Attraction provides a fascinating glimpse into the most emotional cases of DC?s criminal justice system. Derived from a Kirkus review: First-time novelist Leotta follows a rookie federal prosecutor on the case of a lifetime in this thriller set against the backdrop of the Washington, D.C., court system. The author, a federal sex-crimes prosecutor who hails from Michigan and has a Harvard law degree, pits her heroine, plucky Anna Curtis, a sex-crimes prosecutor against rich public defender Nick Wagner. Wagner, a handsome rake whose job defending poor clients is a type of penance for his father?s sins, sweeps Anna off her feet. The two share an Ivy League background, but they also have a case in common, and that case eventually leads them to go their separate ways. Nick?s client, D?marco Davis, has a bad habit of beating up his girlfriend, Laprea Johnson, but Nick?s slick defense always gets D?marco off. After lying on the stand to free D?marco one last time, Laprea turns up in a trash bag, dead after a beating witnessed by an elderly man. But while D?marco admits to the beating, he denies killing Laprea. Now he?s trying to get Anna to listen to him. Meanwhile, Anna is on board with D?marco?s prosecution, headed by the prosecutor?s homicide chief, a smooth African-American named Jack Bailey. Jack is the widowed father of a little girl and a lawyer with a reputation for chewing up the newbies assigned to him and spitting them out whole. Anna isn?t sure what Jack represents to her, but she knows she?s confused and that confusion turns to a whole different set of emotions following a harrowing series of events that puts Anna square in the center of a bull?s eye. The story is well paced and plotted. A respectable debut from someone who clearly knows her business.