David Ellis

Synopsis

A finalist for the LA Times Book Prize.

A novel introducing new series character Jason Kolarich, nominated for the L.A. TimesBook Prize and the Barry Award …

A little girl, snatched from her bed in the dead of night.

They knew who killed her. They couldn’t prove it. 26 years later, her brother Sammy doesn’t care about proof. He only cares about justice.

Now, only his childhood best friend, attorney Jason Kolarich, can save Sammy from a life sentence for killing a killer.

To defend Sammy, Jason must do what authorities could not, decades ago—prove the guilt of the pedophile who killed Sammy’s sister. But a mysterious benefactor, “Mr. Smith,” suddenly appears, offering money, resources, even alibis for Sammy’s defense. And he will stop at nothing—threatening the lives of Jason and his family—to control the outcome of the case. As the trial draws near, Jason races against time to save his family from Mr. Smith’s team and his friend Sammy from life in prison, while two crimes, decades apart, converge in a stunning verdict.

The Hidden Man introduces Jason Kolarich, a mid-30s attorney whose career took off after he won a headliner case—a high-profile political corruption trial—when his life suddenly turned upside-down following a personal tragedy. Tough, smart, and wise-cracking, and now recovering from his personal loss, Jason is a lawyer who puts justice before the law.

Synopsis

Edgar winner David Ellis was the House Prosecutor who convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in the sensational Impeachment Trial before the Illinois Senate in January, 2009. In Breach of Trust, Ellis relies on his experience and expertise to deliver a gritty tale of political corruption and murder at the highest levels of government.

In this second installment of the Jason Kolarich series, Jason investigates the murder of a key witness in a criminal case that Jason tried. Jason had forced the witness to testify and believes that this led to his murder. When the evidence leads to an obscure agency in state government, guilt-stricken Jason goes to work for the agency to dig deeper. Before he knows it, Jason finds himself square in the middle of a high-level conspiracy of fraud and corruption—as well as a covert federal investigation into these crimes. He is confronted by agents of the FBI, who force Jason to work undercover to root out the criminal activity. Jason finds himself with two roles, solving the murder of the witness and helping put away top state officials—all the way to the Governor’s door. But are the two things related? And how far must Jason go to solve the murder and take down a corrupt governor?

Breach of Trust blends a riveting murder-mystery with a story of power and corruption at the highest levels, written by the man who removed a corrupt governor from office.

Synopsis

When Jason Kolarich accepts the case of a homeless Iraq war veteran accused of murdering a young paralegal, his course seems clear: to mount an insanity defense for a man suffering so badly from post-traumatic stress disorder that he has no real memory of the crime. But as Kolarich digs deeper, he realizes that, unlikely as it seems, his client is probably innocent—and the murder was no random crime, but a targeted hit. As Jason Kolarich races to find the truth in time to save his client, he’ll find himself embroiled in a mystery involving the mob, a mysterious assassin, and a conspiracy of wealthy, international terrorists with explosive plans for his city.

Synopsis

Defense attorney Jason Kolarich is back in another edge-of-your-seat thriller . . . and this time he may find himself in over his head, in more ways than one.

James Drinker is a bit of an oddball. A funny-looking, geeky loner, he walks into Jason Kolarich’s office one day with a preemptive concern: two women have recently been murdered, seemingly by the same killer, and Drinker thinks he will be the police’s main suspect. One woman was his ex-girlfriend, he says, and the other was a friend. He’s the only link between the victims and he has no alibi for the night of either murder—surely the police will realize it soon. Believing he’s the target of a frame-up, Drinker hires Kolarich for his defense.

Something about James Drinker seems off from the start, but Kolarich doesn’t give it too much thought. Until another murder occurs. And then another. And as he begins to probe his client’s life and story more closely, it quickly becomes clear that nothing about James Drinker is what it seems . . . and that the target of the frame-up isn’t Drinker, but Kolarich.

Unable to stop a serial killer—and prove his own innocence—without breaking his sworn attorney-client privilege, Jason Kolarich must hunt for the truth about James Drinker, the series of brutal murders, and why he’s been set up to take the fall. The answers will be beyond anything he could have imagined.