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The Best Friend

Review

The Best Friend

Clint Broden and Nick Zamora have been best friends since childhood. By the mid-1980s, Clint is a struggling attorney in New York, and Nick is working on becoming a famous author. Nick was always the one the girls flocked around, tall and handsome with the good looks women find irresistible. While not quite in Nick’s league when it came to romance, Clint did okay.

Both men got married. But only two months after Nick’s wedding, his wife died. The cops weren’t buying the theory that it was an accident. Twenty-seven-year-old women don’t drown in their bathtubs. Nick swears that’s what happened, and Clint believes him, or thinks he does. Anyway, he immediately jumps in to defend him, yet begins to wonder if he can --- or should --- represent him, since he’s his best friend. It may not be the wisest move. Despite Clint’s protests, though, Nick won’t take no for an answer.

"Adam Mitzner has an excellent grasp on the legal world. Being a Manhattan attorney, he knows his stuff. Once he takes his readers inside the courtroom, he leads them through the trial like he’s working with a live jury, only leaving out the dull parts."

By the time the trial is finally over, the dynamics between the two have changed. Perhaps it was inevitable. During the course of the case, Clint found out things he really didn’t want to know. Facts emerged, and doubts settled in. So the distance grew wider and wider, and then Clint didn’t see Nick for decades. In reality, he figured his old friend might never be in his life again. But that turns out to be wrong. Very wrong.

In the intervening years, Nick made it to the bestseller list, while Clint became a celebrated criminal defense lawyer. Now, their hard-won fame brings them together in a most spectacular way. It almost seems like old times again, the best friends enjoying each other like before, but those simmering secrets have a way of making themselves back to the surface. They never were completely forgotten. It’s hard to keep secrets buried. And now it’s hard to keep them from eating at the friendship. The love between Clint and Nick may have taken a turn. But how will that affect their latest problem?

Adam Mitzner has an excellent grasp on the legal world. Being a Manhattan attorney, he knows his stuff. Once he takes his readers inside the courtroom, he leads them through the trial like he’s working with a live jury, only leaving out the dull parts. And believe me, there’s nothing dull about THE BEST FRIEND, not even the hours in front of the judge. Maybe least of all the hours in front of the judge, because Clint is, after all, an exceptional trial attorney, and he has some stunning Perry Mason moments.

But this legal thriller isn’t simply about solving the mystery; it’s about friendship and conscience, and the complications that arise when the two collide. What would you do if you doubted your best friend’s innocence? Attorneys don’t have to believe that their client didn’t commit the crime; they just have to defend them in a court of law. Friends aren’t afforded that same luxury. Clint might end up sorry he agreed to take the case. Then again, what he learns may surprise him in a way he wasn’t expecting.

Reviewed by Kate Ayers on April 17, 2020

The Best Friend
by Adam Mitzner

  • Publication Date: April 14, 2020
  • Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
  • Paperback: 319 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
  • ISBN-10: 1542005752
  • ISBN-13: 9781542005753