Unexpected Defense

Ashley Montgomery, Book 5

By: Laura Snider

Narrated by: Anne Marie Damman

She swore to uphold justice. But at what cost?

Living in a prime location for wind energy, the locals in the small town of Brine, Iowa, find themselves locked in a vicious battle with a wealthy oil company that is buying struggling farm properties to put up windmills. Half the town is for the windmill projects, the other half will stop at nothing to keep the iron giants out of their skyline. When the conflict turns violent, a murder shakes the town and leaves expert public defender Ashley Montgomery with a trial on her hands that is both criminal and political.

Meanwhile, Ashley is in the process of applying for a judgeship, a political position, while tasked with building a rock-solid defense for her client who is charged with murdering a neighbor that had leased property for the construction of windmills. The more Ashley digs, the more ties she finds between her client, his alleged victim, and the Texas Oil company, forcing her to make a decision between her ethics as an attorney and her dreams of becoming a judge.

Desperate to find a balance between her ambitions and her client's needs, Ashley is faced with a near impossible task with conflicts of interest that run far deeper than she ever imagined.

Can Ashley navigate this turbulent case and come out on top? Or will she need to burn some bridges in the name of justice?

Step into the riveting fifth book in the Ashley Montgomery legal thriller series. With all the thrilling twists and turns of a high-stakes court case, author Laura Snider's gritty themes and expert attention to detail makes Unexpected Defense a book that you won't soon forget.

©2023 Laura Snider (P)2023 Severn River Publishing

Amazing. Fast Paced. Grabs you from the start

I am all in following this series. I didn't start reading until a few weeks before the 5th book came out and even having to wait a month for another book killed me.
This book picks right up where the last book left off, but... you don't even have to read the other 4 to be able to pick this up and enjoy it. I would say that about books 2 3 &4 as well.
I haven't read that many crime/law books up to this point, but this series has me hooked. Learning about the everyday abuse some public defenders have to deal with is mind boggling. Just doing their job and people can look down at them like they are trash and no better than the "criminals" they defend.
The main character has backbone, courage and the tenacity to keep going everyday by following a moral code that she doesn't stray away from- everyone deserves a defense and everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and someone has to be there to speak for the accused.
getting to understand the court process along with the amazing storylines that spin from the court cases just makes for an awesome series.
I anxiously await the next in line.

An action-packed with plenty of twists!

Unexpected Defense the fifth Ashely Montgomery thriller finds an old team rejoined, a new opportunity for an estranges family, a town divided by a single issue and a realtor who refuses to accept no as the final answer, not to mention a brutal murder. Having read the first four books, this installment in the series digs deeper into Ashley’s professional life and her angst at having to keep her moral compass when faced with near overwhelming external influences. Can Ashley give her client the best defense when her attention is split between a judicial opportunity and the murder case? Without a topnotch investigator can she get the information she needs to mount a solid defense? If these questions sound like something you want to know, get a copy of Unexpected Defense, and settle in for a wild ride. I received an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher and chose to provide this review.

Update 5/16/2023

Recently I received a review copy of the audiobook Unexpected Defense from the publisher. My original review covers what I thought from my reading of the book, so this update is focused on Anne Marie Damman’s narration. While Ann Marie is new to this series, I have listened to her narration of several other books. Once again, she brings each of the characters to life and her excellent storytelling techniques made it a pleasure to listen to a book that I had read three months ago. Even though my reading was recent, and my memory of the story was fresh, I noticed I was on edge as I listened to the story throughout due to Ann Marie’s narration.