The author makes you feel like you are in the story, whether as a police officer, firefighter, defense attorney or prosecutor, person on trial, witness to the alleged crime, or just in the presence of everyone else. aforementioned. “Under Fire” is written so you don’t get lost, as some stories seem to intentionally! He will discover that he is putting himself in the capacity of a small shop owner when he discovers his shop is on fire and believes his son is trapped upstairs in his room. To do? You then hear through the smoke something crashing followed by the lights of what turned out to be a firefighter’s belt flashlight as two of them try to get you out while searching the rest of the building for others who may be trapped. Are you already in this story? You will be if not!

You realize more firefighters are arriving when you hear some sirens. You manage to get out of the building, as does your son, who has injuries from the smoke and fire. You watch feeling helpless as your own store burns down. Then, as soon as his concern turned to his store and his son, he is arrested for burning down his own store. It’s a nightmare you want to wake up from, never to return. But a firefighter was shot during the attempt to fight the fire and died.

Sarah Lynch had previously been a prosecutor. Her uncle, Buddy Clancy, was a defense attorney who used many different kinds of moods and words in her defense. When Buddy was asked to defend Amina Diallo, the owner of the dilapidated store, he contacted Sarah and convinced her to help defend her even though Sarah had been a prosecutor. Amina’s son, Malick, was injured in the fire, but was also one of the suspects due to his proximity during the fire. Sarah had mixed feelings since some time ago she had lost one of her best friends who was a firefighter in a fire. She now she had to defend a woman accused of killing another firefighter. Sarah also knew other firefighters and police officers very well, which also made her job difficult.

A lot came into play between a mortgage company and its owners/managers and murder. Could they have been part of a plan to kill Amina because of a dispute between the shady deals with the mortgage company? The trial went on with a really good mix of characters on the jury box who were all sorts of different classes, political thinking, various perspectives on life, and mutual thoughts. Sarah’s kindness to some of the firefighters and police officers often helped her obtain information that she would not otherwise receive. She knew the law from her and knew how to extract information from many sources.

You should have a pretty good idea by now how great this book is. The author has researched far and wide to learn the many facets of this book. “Under Fire” is a fantastic story written extremely well. Add to all of the above the fact that Sarah loved to skate and she had been a hockey player who had played in the Olympics. I hope Margaret McLean continues writing because she certainly has become a huge fan of mine.