Damaged by Pamela Callow (Book Review)

Title: Damaged (Book 1 of Kate Lange series)
Author: Pamela Callow
Publisher: MIRA Books


(Please don't confuse this with Damaged by Alex Kava which I am currently holding a giveaway for).
My synopsis: Kate was a new lawyer at Lyons McGrath Barrett law firm.  She knew that she was going to have to work hard to prove that she belonged there.  Having recently ended an engagement to Ethan Drake, detective, she had got a new job, bought a new house, and acquired a dog named Alaska.

Barrett was determined to keep Kate practicing family law for 2 reasons - He had a bone to pick with Ethan Drake and with John Lyons - the partner who had recruited her.  He assigned her a case with a futile outlook.  A grandmother (Marian) wanted custody of her granddaughter (Lisa) - but did not have any proof that the granddaughter wasn't being taken care of properly or that she was doing drugs.  The hitch was that Lisa's mom was Hope Carson, a criminal court judge known for her icy personality and demeanor.

Kate tells Marian that she really doesn't have a case, but after mulling it over tries to call her back to discuss it.  Unfortunately it is too late and Lisa has been murdered and dismembered.  Talk about opening a can of worms!  Now Kate has to worry that she did everything by the book in talking with Marian.  She figures she can throw her law career out the window when John Lyons assigns her a litigation file with Trans Tissue as the client.  Trans Tissue makes surgical products and they are being sued by someone who believes they contracted Hep C after an arthroscopic knee surgery using their product.  See, the surgical products are made from human tissue from cadavers harvested by tissue suppliers. 

So you really have two stories in one.  You have the medical mystery of how this patient contracted Hep C and you have the very grisly thriller of the serial killer.  There are quite a few supporting characters which are absolutely necessary to round these out and the book kept me tuned in all the way to the end.  They did not give anything away too quickly but rather dropped the pieces in a little at a time.  Definitely a must read.  I am eagerly awaiting the second book in the series Indefensible, which is due out in January of 2011.  I just discovered there is a third book - Tattooed coming out in August of 2011 and a fourth book planned for 2012. 

Pamela will be at Thrillerfest at the Debut Author Breakfast and Signing tomorrow morning (July 10).  I so wish I could go!

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Media Muscle in exchange for my review.~

Damaged
Publisher/Publication Date: MIRA, June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2750-9
453 pages