Fatal Convictions by Randy Singer and a giveaway

Book description:
Alexander Madison is part lawyer, part pastor, and part con artist. When a Muslim imam is accused of instigating honor killings, Alex must decide whether to take the case that every other lawyer in town is running away from. He doesn’t realize until it’s too late that defending the imam may cost him the one thing in life he cares about most. Fatal Convictions is the story of a lawyer willing to risk it all and the women who must choose between faith and love.

My review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In my opinion, Randy Singer passes up John Grisham in his writing of legal thrillers, and this is one of his better ones.

The main character is an interesting person: pastor and lawyer, what a combination. Singer always uses likable and believable characters, and this book is no exception.

When Alex is asked to defend a Muslim suspected of murdering a woman for converting to Christianity, he is thrown into the limelight and gets a lot of negative reactions. Not only did I enjoy the plot, but I also enjoyed learning more about Muslims. The author does a great job of his portrayal of Muslims. He doesn't set out to show them all as murderous terrorists, but he also does not try to paint them all as peaceful either.

I had one issue with the book. I know it is fiction, but the main character who pastors a church in addition to being a lawyer, has no problem with lying and does it several times. This should not be the norm for any Christian, but especially a pastor, so I do take issue with that. It was never indicated that he shouldn't lie, or that there are consequences of lying. Other than that, this was an excellent read, and I highly recommend Randy Singer's books, especially to people who enjoy the John Grisham type of book.

About the author:

Randy Singer is a critically acclaimed author and veteran trial attorney. He has penned ten legal thrillers, including his award-winning debut novel Directed Verdict. In addition to his law practice and writing, Randy serves as a teaching pastor for Trinity Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He calls it his "Jekyll and Hyde thing"—part lawyer, part pastor. He also teaches classes in advocacy and ethics at Regent Law School and serves on the school's Board of Visitors. He and his wife, Rhonda, live in Virginia Beach. They have two grown children. Visit his Web site at http://www.randysinger.net/.

Giveaway:

Courtesy of the author's publicist, I have a certificate good for a free copy of Fatal Convictions, redeemable at any Christian bookstore, or by mailing it to Tyndale Publishing. To enter, comment whether you have ever read one of Randy's books. Ten days from now, I will use Random.org to pick a winner, and the certificate will be mailed to the winner.

Thanks to Debbie at Side Door Communications for the review copy.

Fatal Convictions is available from Tyndale Publishing.