Irreparable Harm (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller Book 1)

Irreparable Harm starts out with a high tension scene and it doesn't let up. Oh, there are times when things slow down a bit, but the tension doesn't ease. This is the first in a series featuring Sasha McCandless, and I've just gotta tell you - Sasha is one tough lawyer, and I don't just mean in the courtroom. As it turns out, she's pretty darn good at taking care of herself. The storyline is a little out there, or at least I hope it's a little out there - if not, I may never get on an airplane. It's also a bit convoluted, and while I would usually knock a book for that, it works here. There are a lot of moving parts in this one, and Melissa Miller brings it all together wonderfully.Suzanne T Fortin gives voice to Sasha, and she does so quite well. The excitement and tension of the book comes through loud and clear, from courtroom drama to physical fights, it's done so well that I could picture it all.In the end, this one doesn't have as much courtroom page time as I expected, but that along with the drama and action blends together so well that I didn't even notice it until I'd finished listening and thought back over the story. It's a great mix of solid storytelling and narration, and I'll be checking out more work by both Miller and Fortin.

The news is dire. A plane has plowed into a mountainside, killing all aboard. What could cause such a tragedy? Mechanical failure? Pilot error? Whatever it is, there will be legal implications for the airline, Hemisphere Air. Sasha McCandless works as a lawyer at the firm representing the airline. The first lawsuits for the survivors are ready to file the day after the crash. The airline requests that Sasha head up the team of lawyers who will defend against the suits. It's a huge career boost for Sasha who is on the cusp of making partner. That is, a huge boost if she is successful and a career killer if she fails.As Sasha starts to look into the case, she begins to doubt that Hemisphere is at fault at all. Instead she believes that the airline has been the victim of terrorists; not terrorists for a cause but terrorists who want to make millions. They have created software that will incapacitate the manual controls and can send a plane to its doom. They can sell this software to the airlines for millions if not billions of dollars. Now those same people have Sasha in their sights.Sasha soon finds that the other side is ready to play rough. People involved in the case are killed and Sasha herself is attacked several times. Luckily, she has help in the form of Leo Connelly, a federal air marshall. She also has her Krav Maga training which makes her a bad person to attack. Can Sasha and Leo find the terrorists before they find and put an end to them?I listened to this novel. The narrator, Suzanne Fortin, read competently but I would not search out another narration by her. Her tone was close to a monotone and didn't appreciably change regardless of the action occurring. In a thriller, the narration should indicate when something major is happening.Melissa Miller is a former attorney herself. That gives her legal thrillers the necessary expertise and knowledge of legal procedures that makes them believeable. She has written more than two dozen legal thrillers and this title is the introductory one in the Sasha McCandless series. This book is recommended for legal thriller readers.

Legal and medical thrillers always top my list of favorites, most often in that order. So when I got an email from eReader Cafe early this month informing me that this one - the first in a series featuring attorney Sasha McCandless - at no cost, I read the description and took the plunge. Worst case, I told myself, it will cost nothing to find out I don't like it; but on the other hand, it could open up the door to a solid series.Now that I've finished it, I'm happy to report the best-case scenario won out, and I've added the rest of the books in the series to my want-to-read list.I must admit, though, that part of the attraction is the Pittsburgh connection. While I'll never be a Steelers fan (go Browns!), we live about 15 minutes west of the Pennsylvania border and have more than a nodding acquaintance with the city and its attractions, many of which are mentioned here. My taste buds kicked into high gear just thinking about one of those all-inclusive Primanti Brothers sandwiches (meat topped with slaw and fries). Now that they're branching out, in fact, we'll be enjoying a new location closer to home in Boardman Township, Ohio, sometime this fall - although to my mind, at least, the satellite locations never will have the cachet of the original that's been going strong in Pittsburgh's Strip District since 1933.This story begins with the crash of an airplane into a mountain, killing everyone on board. Because the airline is a client of her successful ande hoity-toity law firm, Sasha, who is close to making partner, is tapped to be one of the lead attorneys who will defend the lawsuits that no doubt will follow. But early on, she begins to suspect the crash wasn't an accident; rather, some kind of device was installed on the plane that allows remote control from a smart phone.Enter a federal air marshal (a relatively attractive single guy, naturally), who's investigating the disaster from a different standpoint. When they learn that a second plane crash is about to happen, they must dive full-on into finding out who's responsible and prevent another disaster. Meantime, Sasha's supervisor at the law firm - the one who heads up the client's legal team - meets an untimely (and suspicious) end, thus putting Sasha in full charge of the investigation. Things turn ugly when the bad guys realize full-on that Sasha and her air marshal buddy are getting too close; all I'll say about that is that it's a good thing she's well trained in a particularly effective defensive form of martial arts.The book moves along quickly (I read it over the space of two days in spare time), but I'll point out that there's quite a bit of discussion of the ins and outs of legal procedure (which is of considerable interest to me but might be a bit of a drag for other readers) as well as detailed descriptions of Sasha's martial arts moves (interesting to me not so much). Also, it's important to keep in mind that this is a novel. Believing that some of the things described here could happen in the real world - among them installation of a device on an airliner that isn't detected at some point in the inspection process, that a barely 5-foot tall woman could overpower two gigantic thugs in seconds and end up with no serious injuries and that Sasha's air marshal seems to be the only one from the feds who is investigating the airplane crash - is a stretch.Overall, though, this is a solid debut novel in the series, and as I said before, I'm now up for finding out what happens in the next one ("Inadvertent Disclosure"). Stay tuned!

Starting out with a ‘legal thriller’ approach the initial chapters of ‘Irreparable Harm’ set the scene with a horrific air crash, yet emphasis is on insights to the make-up of large American law firms, with introduction of main protagonist Sasha McCandless as an ambitious attorney seeking promotion. However the meat of this gripping and compelling novel is more of the ‘crime thriller’ genre. It is somewhat far-fetched as a story and sometimes the characters lack credibility – but hey – it’s fiction.Sasha is initially involved to protect her firm’s biggest client, being the airline suffering the loss of an aircraft with all on board killed. There are explanations of factors such as safety standards, insurances, indemnities, conflicts of legislation etc. but as Sasha investigates and attempts litigation to assist her client things become sinister as the crash appears to have been caused intentionally. Who is to defend and who should be attacked. Sasha has loyal colleagues but who can be trusted. Never quite knowing how genuine he is, Sasha is assisted by an armed Federal Air Marshall who introduces much action – though as a martial arts expert Sasha introduces her fair share. There are deaths – and Sasha herself is threatened.The plot and the characters may be unrealistic, but ‘Irreparable Harm’ makes an exciting and entertaining read. Publicity blurb describes it as a “A Sasha McCandless Novel” so a series can be expected – I’ll be following Sasha – maybe 5-stars next time.

***AUDIO VERSION***Irreparable Harm is a fast paced, gripping legal thriller about Sasha McCandless who is an attorney and is almost at the goalpost of becoming a partner at her law firm where she works. She has her eye on the prize and is dedicated to achieving this status.When a plane that is operated by one of her clients crashes into a mountain which kills everyone on board, she gets preparations in order to face the civil law suits that are bound to occur.This is when Sasha finds out that the crash was not an accident- it was actually planned! As Sasha and an air marshal (who is investigating the event) race against the clock to prevent another premeditated air disaster from occurring, she has to use all her skills as well as self defence skills in the form of Krav Maga to protect herself and put a stop to this killer before he kills her!This fast paced legal thriller will pull you in from the first chapter and leave your head spinning!

I rarely award five stars but this book did something rare: it held my attention enough to refuse TV and almost all other activity to the same extent as any Lee Child, John Grisham, Michael Connelly or indeed any other favorite author's volume.Very few sentences annoyed me. I am an extreme pedant and any novel edited well enough to not irritate me with spelling or grammar errors has one star gratis. The story is the thing and my demand from a good read is the urge for revelation and this has that in spades.I decided, as I perused the cover, that it might fit between my recently finished Reacher tale and the next adventure (which I had not yet discovered) but was most likely to be too light and frothy to hold my interest.I do appreciate real literature even though I read 95% action fiction and I try consciously to avoid it since my first degree (like this author's) was English Lit centred because I can't help analysing it which spoils my enjoyment. So I guess this had all the signs of chic-lit and I was looking to kick myself for starting but that constant question dug its heels and every time I had to feed the child, buy the food or pay attention to the world, I asked "what happens next?"This is a well written story with surprises and characterisations which manage to avoid stereotype yet fit comfortably with expectations. As much for men as any adventure, some technicality not too much, some law not too much, some romance not too much. I could analyze more but it's better to say read it yourself and free myself to read more from the author.I rarely find new authors I wish to follow, this one caught me completely and I only noticed as I finished the book and realised I want more.

I often download free books as it's a great way to try out authors I have never read before. The plot was scary in that you do wonder how long it is going to be before some sick ***** works out how to blow up planes remotely. But a lot of the storyline was predictable. The ultimate bad guy who designed the lethal device turned out to be a complete wimp. Sasha may take self defence classes but the way she always took out the bad guy (or guys) was implausible. The fact that she never reported the attacks completely unbelievable. I don't know the first thing about the law regarding client confidentiality or placing your employer in a bad light, but surely having your own life endangered crosses a line. You should be telling somebody somewhere that someone is trying to kidnap/maim or kill you.Finally I am not the least bit interested in the pecking order in law firms in America. OK that is the author's background and she may well find it absolutely fascinating. But it left me cold and I didn't think it added to my understanding of what was happening. In fact I was so bored that I flicked through those passages.Did I read the story right to the end - yes. Am I glad that I didn't pay for it - yes. Would I pay £3.99 for the next book in the series - no.

Irreparable Harm is the first novel I have read by Melissa F. Miller and while it has an interesting plot, I have rather mixed views about some other aspects of the book.Sasha McCandless is an attorney who is being considered for promotion to partner in a prestigious US law firm, provided she doesn't foul anything up with her clients in the interim. When a plane operated by one of the firm's largest clients crashes and all the passengers perish Sasha is asked to head up the defence team for the client in anticipation of the lawsuits to come. However, Sasha discovers that the crash was not accidental and soon after her mentor (and one of the partners at the law firm) dies. Further misfortunes occur that threaten not only the law firm's reputation, but also Sasha's future.There are plenty of twists and turns as the plot unfolds and also plenty of 'action' scenes, and in this respect the story held my interest. Very little of the action however takes place in a courtroom!I found I did not warm to any of the characters in the story, including Sasha. Sasha is a diminutive person whose skills with Krav Maga (a military self-defence system of fighting) enable her to overcome with ease villains who are considerably larger and stronger than her. Couple that with her ability to work all hours of the day and night while managing to get by on very meagre rations, and trusting relative strangers without checking their credentials (etc.) struck me as being just a little too unrealistic.In addition, I am not really familiar with the US legal system and so I probably missed the relevance of some of the legal terminology, abbreviations and references that pepper the story. Still this did not really distract from the plot which, as I mentioned earlier, held my interest.So, while I have only given this book three stars, it has whetted my appetite sufficiently to read another in the series.