empire fell apart. It started when the company’s science officer threatened to blow the whistle on Jenna’s investment fraud. He wound up murdered, and Jenna was tried and acquitted of the murder.

Fast forward five years, and Jenna is in trouble again. This time, it’s Sirus Kohl, the company’s COO, who is the murder victim. He was a savvy, veteran investment executive who was having an affair with the much younger Jenna. His death occurred hours before he was supposed to cut a deal with the Feds and inform on Jenna. Sirus was shot with the same gun as the whistleblower, and Jenna was again arrested. At her first trial, Jenna was successfully defended by Patsy Duggan, Keera’s father. Unfortunately, in the five years since Jenna’s first trial, Patsy fell off the wagon one time too many, and Keera has now inherited her father’s practice.

Although Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a courtroom thriller, the trial doesn’t begin until just past the book’s halfway point. However, the book’s first half is more interesting than the actual trial. Jenna isn’t just a well-to-do client whose case can boost Keera’s career. Instead, the two women have known each other since childhood, and the relationship hasn’t been happy. Keera knows Jenna’s personality: sadistic, manipulative, and possibly sociopathic. The book’s first half contains several lengthy anecdotes from the two women’s personal histories with each other. The material is disturbing but compelling, the same way the best true-crime shows are. When Keera takes the case, she still doesn’t know whether Jenna is guilty. Keera also figures out quite early in the book that Jenna manipulated Patsy during the first murder trial to put on a defense that allowed Jenna to manipulate the jury.

Keera’s relationship with her father also plays a significant part in Beyond Reasonable Doubt. His newfound sobriety is sorely tested when Keera agrees to defend Jenna at the second trial. I thought the author’s portrayal of Patsy as an alcoholic was quite realistic. The impact his situation has on his family, especially Keera, is one of the stronger parts of the book. Patsy is portrayed as decent but flawed, with a loving but, at times, exasperated family.

As Keera investigates Sirus’s murder, the police continue their investigation as well. Much of the book’s first half is told in alternating chapters, switching from Keera’s point of view to Frank Rossi, the Seattle police detective in charge of the investigation. Readers who enjoy police procedurals like most Law and Order episodes will enjoy seeing how the cops continue to gather evidence to strengthen their investigation. I haven’t read the first book in the Keera Duggan series, in which Frank also appears, but the author hints at a possible romantic relationship between the two that will probably be explored further in later series entries.

The author’s coverage of Jenna’s trial is decent, but not quite at the level of what you find in the best courtroom thrillers. He discusses legal concepts like the titular “reasonable doubt” in slightly simplistic terms, and the book has less trial minutiae than in other similar books. I enjoyed the author’s discussion of Keera’s decision-making process regarding cross-examining the state’s various technical witnesses. One of the most challenging decisions real-life attorneys must make is what points to try to establish in cross-examination and what topics to let alone.

As the trial progresses, readers will wonder whether Jenna is guilty (of both murders) and, if not, who killed Sirus and the earlier victim. The author provides satisfactory answers to both questions. Unfortunately, the explanation goes on much longer than it should. The book could have been condensed by several of its final chapters and would have been stronger. I wasn’t disappointed in the book’s ending but in how the author decided to end it.

Despite a few flaws, Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a solid courtroom thriller. The coverage of the trial and its aftermath are decent, but the author excels at the pre-trial setup. Jenna Bernstein is one of the most fascinating fictional defendants I’ve encountered in a legal thriller. Keera butts heads with Jenna more than with the prosecuting attorney in the case. The result is a trial in which readers aren’t sure whether the defendant is guilty, but they are convinced she’s a very unlikable person. Beyond Reasonable Doubt is an excellent character study and an enjoyable courtroom thriller. Of that, I have no doubt.  

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.