1. Under Fire by Margaret McLean
Reviewed by Cy Hilterman
The author makes you actually feel as though you are in the
story whether it is as a cop, a fireman, a defense or prosecuting
attorney, a person on trial, the witnesses of the alleged crime, or
just in the presence of all of the afore mentioned. “Under Fire” is
written so you can’t get lost, as some stories seem to do
intentionally! You will find you are placing yourself in the capacity of a small
storeowner as you discover your store is on fire and you think your son is
trapped upstairs in his bedroom. What to do? The you hear amidst the smoke
some crashing of something followed by lights from what turned out to be a
fireman’s belt flashlight as two of them attempt to get you out while searching
the rest of the building for any others that might be trapped. Are you in this
story yet? You will be if not!
You figure more firemen arrive when you hear some sirens. You make it out of
the building, as does your son who does have injuries from the smoke and fire.
You watch feeling helpless as your own store burns. Then, as fast as your
concern was on your store and your son, you are arrested for burning down
your own store. It’s a nightmare you want to be awakened from never to return.
But a fireman has been shot during the attempt to fight the fire and he was
killed.
Sarah Lynch had formerly been a prosecutor. Her uncle, Buddy Clancy, was a
defense attorney that used many different types of moods and words in his
defense. When Buddy was asked to defend Amina Diallo, the owner of the
ruined store, he contacted Sarah and talked her into helping in the defense
despite the fact that Sarah had been a prosecutor. Amina’s son, Malick, had
been injured in the fire but he also was one of the suspects because of his
proximity during the fire. Sarah had mixed emotions since some time ago she
had lost one of her best friends who was a fireman in a fire. Now she was to
2. defend a woman charged with killing another fireman. Sarah also knew other
firemen and policemen very well, which also made her job more difficult.
Many things came into play between a mortgage company and its
owners/managers and the killing. Could they have been a part of a plan to kill
Amina because of a dispute between the shady dealings with the mortgage
company? The trial went on with a real good mixture of characters in the jury
box that were from all sorts of different classes, political thinking, various
outlooks on life as well as thoughts of each other. Sarah’s friendliness with
some of the firemen and members of law enforcement usually helped her get
information that she otherwise wouldn’t receive. She knew her law and knew
how to draw information form many sources.
You should have a great idea by now how tremendous this book is. The author
has researched far and wide to become knowledgeable regarding the many
facets of this book. “Under Fire” is a fantastic story written extremely well. Add
to all the above the fact that Sarah loved skating and had been a hockey player
that had played in the Olympics. I hope Margaret McLean continues to write
because she has certainly made a big fan from me.
