THE BEST FRIEND

THE BEST FRIEND

BY ADAM MITZNER

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The Best Friend by Adam Mitzner is one of the best courtroom dramas I’ve read in some time. I should be sorry that I wasn’t familiar with Mitzner’s writing before now but I’m not, because now there are all of his other books to look forward to!

The story is broken down into four parts and is narrated by three different characters, attorney Clint Broden, his wife Anne, and his best friend Nick Zamora.

Part 1 begins in 1986, when Nick is accused of a serious crime. Clint defends his friend in court, and the story progresses from there, as does Clint’s career. I was caught up in the story line immediately, as the book was well-written and although I thought I knew where it was going, I was interested in how it would play out. Ah, was I in for a surprise.

Part 2, beginning in 2003, takes everything to a new level, as Anne begins to narrate, and layers are peeled back to reveal details that deepened my interest level and made me realize I didn’t have a clue where this story was going. I was hooked.

Part 3, set in 2020, is narrated by Nick, and it yanked the hook tighter as a new era in his life is presented. An older and maybe (or maybe not) wiser Nick becomes embroiled in another drama, and Clint reappears after 34 years to help his friend once again.

Part 4 brings us back around to Clint. I was still guessing in this section how everything would play out, and I wasn’t disappointed in the surprise factor. Clint is indeed there for Nick, but things have changed, and somehow everything old is new again.

The Best Friend is a story so intriguing and so well-written, that I could sense the depth of feeling from each character toward the others. I may not have truly cared for all the characters, and I might have disagreed with some of their choices – or even all of their choices – but I never, at any point, failed to understand why they did what they did, and I never questioned their emotions.

With much gratitude to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer, and especially Adam Mitzner for an ARC in exchange for my review.

5+ stars