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.

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 😖

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

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.

The ending lets it down

The story is fine. The writing is fine. The characters? Fine. Nothing mind blowing, but entertaining nonetheless.
Now… spoilers, so stop reading: what really bugs me is not the reveal of the ending (though the hiding of the gun was nonexistent, thus a bit cheap) but what got me is that an intelligent human being would not tell anyone who the murderer is, but go out to the middle of nowhere to confront them. That’s just a stupid and lazy trick to have a bit of unnecessary action at the end. It made the whole story rather mediocre.

Great story - Great narration

I pick out audio books for my dad who practiced law for over 50 years. He's always looking for a good legal thriller. He said this has been the BEST book I've found him so far. He also really enjoys the narration. I almost didn't select this title because someone else said not to read it if you were an attorney - which made me worry about my dad's (sometimes harsh) critique. But I had a feeling with the writer's strong resume of work, along with they type of work he's traditionally written, that it would very likely be well done. Really glad this book was chosen; we can't wait for more releases by the author.

A good read

An awesome little book that doesn’t overly fluff but delivers a great legal thriller. A nice break from major authors and their characters, The Local delivers the same quality of gut punching twists as the Lincoln Lawyer and similar series.

An excellent read

I actually enjoyed it very much. After reading some of the negative reviews I was hesitant, but decided to go ahead and purchase the book. I am so glad I did?l! A few chapters in and I was hooked. You won’t regret it.