This part is exceptionally well written as are the courtroom scenes which are riveting. You feel the fact that she is utterly spooked, at times she is terrified as her fears grow in intensity to panic, paranoia and claustrophobia and you sense the growing dread. You witness her carefully constructed world imploding as she’s unravelling and is a mess. Gosh, this is one powerful novel from the talented Debbie Babbitt as you witness the immense pressure on Alice both at home and in the courtroom with her emotional turmoil being palpable. It’s told from three points of view, by Alice, her daughter Alexis and Alice childhood friend Connie which works and flows very well.
This is a novel about secrets and the choices we make, it’s about guilt, revenge and atonement as Alice’s past and present collide in the most horrifying of ways.
The charge is 1st degree murder of a pregnant woman with the honourable Alice D McKerrity presiding who runs a tight court. Narrated from the perspectives of three women―Alice, her daughter, and Alice’s girlhood friend― First Victim is a suspenseful tale of guilt, justice, and long-awaited retribution. and tests her limits as a woman, a judge, and a mother. Confronted with the unspeakable, she must face a decades-buried truth as she fights for her survival against a cunning adversary that forces her to question everything she ever believed about herself. Then she makes a shocking discovery that sends her on a collision course with her past and a terror-filled night in the woods in Upstate New York. Is she being paranoid? Or are the specters real? Almost at the breaking point, she begins to doubt her own sanity. Nightmares she suffered as a girl return with a vengeance. As the trial progresses, Alice’s life starts to unravel. And now, unbeknownst to Alice, her daughter has begun a search for her biological father.
She’s also harboring a secret that if exposed could have far-reaching ramifications both personally and professionally. Her chaotic, stressful home life only adds to her mounting feelings of panic and fear. But there’s something about this trial―a defendant charged with the murder of a pregnant woman―that affects her as no other case ever has. From the bench at Manhattan Supreme, she has seen the most hardened killers pass through her courtroom. The line between justice and revenge blurs when a judge takes the law into her own hands.
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