The Local

A Legal Thriller

By: Joey Hartstone

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

A freewheeling, small-town attorney takes on a national murder trial when an out-of-town client is accused of killing a federal judge in Texas.

“A spectacular courtroom thriller that kept me turning pages like the best of Grisham or Turow." —Michelle King, co-creator of The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and Evil

The town of Marshall, Texas, is the epicenter of intellectual property law in the US—renowned for its speedy trials and massive payouts. One of its best lawyers is James Euchre. His newest client, Amir Zawar, is a CEO forced to defend his life’s work against a patent infringement claim. But when a beloved hometown hero is murdered, all signs point to Zawar, an outsider with no alibi. With the help of a former federal prosecutor and a local PI, Euchre hopes to uncover the truth. In his first criminal case, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Euchre fears either an innocent man will be sent to death row, or he’ll help set a murderer free. The Local is a small-town thriller crackling with courtroom tension right up to the final verdict.

©2022 Joey Hartstone (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Terrific . . . [Hartstone] writes with verve and affection . . . the characters are vivid and worth rooting for, and the plot is just complicated enough to be interesting without being overwhelming." --The New York Times Book Review

"The finest legal thriller debut since Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent in 1987. . . Do not miss it." --The Daily Mail (U.K.)

"A sizzling, fast-paced read that drew me in and kept me turning pages right to the end. Joey Hartstone paints a vivid picture of a small-town Texas court where old feuds and allegiances mean anything can happen." —William Landay, author of the New York Times bestselling Defending Jacob

As good as Grisham

Great legal mystery/thriller. Don’t pass this up! From beginning to end a great listen. I hope Joey writes another.

5 star!!

This was my first time ‘reading’ this author and I’m glad I did! This is a great book with plenty of twists and turns! Enjoy

Great debut; reminded me of good Grisham.

I really enjoyed this. At the beginning it reminded me of old Grisham (Rain Maker…) and was well thought out and had me binge listening.
I wish the follow-ups were available in my region on Audible 😖

Don’t read if you’re a lawyer

The author plays too fast and loose with legal concepts. Certain incidents depicted would never have realistically occurred.

Entertaining even if it jumped the shark

As long as you don't care that most of what it describes with respect to both patent and criminal law is erroneous and immpossible you'll enjoy this tale.

Great listen

Superb narration!! Interesting story with enough twists. The references to East Texas patent court- very much on point

Too much emphasis put on cigarettes and alcohol

Maybe they do things different in Texas, but I wasn’t all that interested in yet another lawyer drowning themselves in drink. It’s a bit of a cliche at this point and this book is quite repetitive in describing its nightly benders.

I also found the courtroom scenes to be lacking. The actual trial part of this book is pretty short and plays its reveals very early on. I really liked the book but it just didn’t quite reach the highs I was expecting.

Slow start

When I started this book it seemed really stiff and more like a class in patent law. As it progressed however the story evolved and was very good.

Enjoyable

I was interested to start with because Marshall Texas is my hometown. It was super visualizing the town I’ve been away from for many years. The courthouse is central to the towns setting. But I also enjoyed the book and characters. Very good read.

Great book

It was so much like reading Grisham or Patterson. Well developed characters and interesting twists and turns. I would enjoy reading more of his books.