Book Review of "By Reason of Insanity" by Randy Singer

Attorney Randy Singer brings us a legal thriller in the genre of Grisham and Patterson. Dramatic courtroom scenes and twists pull the reader from one page to the next. There is always a thread of doubt cast on the main characters, leaving us asking who is guilty? Who is telling the truth? Who is not who we think? Even though there are a few hanging unsolved details, if you like fast-paced courtroom drama for a joy-read, you will like By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer.

Quinn Newberg knows what every attorney knows, but that doesn't stop him from taking on the challenge: insanity pleas usually end in convictions. He's caught up in an intense trial, one in which he has a personal stake: after years of abuse, his sister Annie has been charged with her husband's murder.

During the trial, it is revealed that Annie was also abused by her father, while young brother Quinn stood by helpless. Both Annie and Quinn carry the burden of the truth of what happened to Annie's husband but the reader never quite believes their recounting of the events. Did she kill him by reason of insanity, acting out her anger on her husband after years of abuse by her husband and father? Unexpectedly, the murder trial ends in a mistrial and Annie and Quinn must go through the difficulty of a retrial.

As a news reporter for the Norfolk, VA, the Tidewater Times, Catherine O'Rourke has been covering the trial. Sitting in the courtroom day after day, she felt as though Annie was speaking for all victims of sexual crimes. A victim of a publicly unrevealed rape herself, she was finding it difficult to be fair and balanced and not to project her own feelings into her reporting.

When some murders and kidnappings in Virginia Beach start happening, "Cat" begins to see connections between them. Assigned to the story, her anonymous source in the police department continually feeds her information. She finds herself held in contempt when she refuses to reveal her source to a grand jury. She hires Marc Boland, an attorney she admires and has written about covering other court cases.

Cat ends up going to jail rather than violate the agreement with her source. In jail, she finds herself even more involved as she begins having unexplained and terrifying visions that leave her with more questions than answers.

Cat's visions seem to indicate that she had personal knowledge that she could not have known unless she had been present at the murders and kidnappings. Suddenly, Cat finds that she is no longer reporting the news: in a twist of fate, she has become the news. Back in jail and accused of murder, she still can't explain why she knows so much about the case or how her DNA ended up on a piece of evidence.

When it looks like she may need the help of an attorney who handles insanity pleas, she ends up hiring Quinn Newberg. Even Cat doesn't know if she's guilty or not and she begins to think that an insanity plea is the only way out.

Is hiring Quinn an admission of guilt? Does Cat have multiple personalities? Why does she continue to have visions? How will Cat prove her innocence when she can't prove it to herself?

Randy Singer weaves a complex novel with lots of twists and turns, and the reader is never really sure what is going to happen next. The book is complicated and requires your attention to keep up with the plots and subplots lacing back and forth. He builds several good characters and we end up believing in Cat's innocence even when no one else does.

However, some of the subplots like Quinn's gambling in Las Vegas get in the way of the flow. Singer also lets us know what his feelings are about the death penalty and domestic abuse.

There were a few loose ends for the reader; for example, what happened to the other kidnapped twin? I am still not sure how Cat was able to have the visions about the murders and kidnappings, even though she had never experienced them before. The visions were a little bit of a stretch for me in the believability of the story.

The pace of the book picks up significantly in the last few chapters, making the first part of the book seem a little slow in retrospect. I was able to personalize with Cat, but the characters of Quinn and Marc were not as developed or likable. There is a romance in the novel, but it seemed to be added as a second thought.

I enjoyed reading Randy Singer's By Reason of Insanity because I like a good thriller. If you like this genre, you already know that even insignificant facts can turn out to be humdingers. Singer's book is a good one to enjoy on a long winter's day when you can read it straight through. I found that I had to go back and refresh myself on a character or two as I read this one over a few nights.

Overall, I give this book 7 out of 10 stars: I liked it as a once-through joy-read.

© Cindy Wolfe, All rights reserved.