Review: Killer Ambition (Rachel Knight #3) by Marcia Clark

Print Length: 452 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 18, 2013)

From Goodreads.com: When the daughter of a billionaire Hollywood director is found murdered after what appears to be a kidnapping gone wrong, Los Angeles Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight and Detective Bailey Keller find themselves at the epicenter of a combustible and high-profile court case. Then a prime suspect is revealed to be one of Hollywood's most popular and powerful talent managers--and best friend to the victim's father. With the director vouching for the manager's innocence, the Hollywood media machine commences an all-out war designed to discredit both Rachel and her case. 

KILLER AMBITION is at once a thrilling ride through the darker side of Tinseltown and a stunning courtroom drama with the brilliant insider's perspective that Marcia Clark is uniquely qualified to give.

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My Rating: 4 stars out of 5

My Review: After reading the first two novels in her Rachel Knight series Guilt by Association & Guilt by Degrees, I was reluctant to continue reading anymore novels in this series. In the past, I have found there was too much attention paid to what the characters were drinking (and wearing), and not enough detail paid to the real "meat" of the story. However, I committed myself to reading four of the novels by this author, and I will finish them. 

That being said, Killer Ambition was (thankfully) completely different from the previous two novels in this series. Yes, the main characters still drank and occasionally spoke about what they were wearing, but it wasn't this constant run down of every little detail of their lives that had been consistent with the other two novels.  

Although part of a series of novels, this could be read as a stand alone without revealing any spoilers from the previous two books. There was less emphasis on the relationships of the characters (which after the first two novels I found refreshing), and more emphasis on the actual crime, the trial, and the good, bad and ugly that comes with taking a case to trial. There were also new characters introduced on the courtroom side of things, which not only kept the story-line interesting, also made for a handy "villain". Not in the actual sense of they did something wrong, but more in the sense of they said and/or did something that made them easy to dislike. 

Speaking of the characters, as in the two previous novels, they are well developed, and different in their own ways. I love the diversity in the main characters, and her "outside" characters (ie. the victims, the witnesses, etc) are also more developed than I would expect from an author who is only going to be using them to tell one particular story (although I sincerely hope this is not the last we see of Declan, as I loved him)! 

This is one of those novels that will appeal to many readers. Whether you like thrillers, or crime dramas, or even a good courtroom drama, this novel has something for everyone! 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own. 

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Killer Ambition (Rachel Knight #3) is available from Amazon.com