Judgment Calls is the debut novel of Alafair Burke, and the first of the "Samantha Kincaid" series. I always give a bit of leeway for debut novels, as I think authors need a bit of time to find their stride, and their books tend to get better over time. I sincerely hope that's the case with this author. Because from a seasoned author this book it would be a major disappointment, but as a debut novel, I'd call it "OK", and just hope the next one's better.

Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid works in Portland's Drug and Vice Division. Samantha is about to take her biggest case yet, a 13 year old girl's rape and assault. Kendra Martin was high on heroine at the time of her attack, but she still seems pretty sure she can identify her attacker. With Kendra's ID, and a few other pieces of circumstantial evidence, Samantha goes to trial. In fact, it's starting to look like this is going to be a slam dunk.

But halfway through the trial, the defense pulls a rabbit out of its hat. Suddenly this case, which seemed cut and dried before, is being tied to a major crime from years before, one in which a man is coming up for execution. Now it looks like there might be a serial killer on the loose, and it's becoming clear that Kendra's survival of the attack was an error. And someone's trying to finish the job.


Ms. Burke knows a lot about being the Deputy DA in Portland - it's the title she used to hold before trying her hand as a novelist. While it's nice that she brings her in-depth knowledge of "the system" to this book, I think she spends way too much time trying to lecture us on the ins and out of Portland's legal system. Especially the first part of the book, which felt more like a text book than a novel. It was dry, and dull, and I nearly gave up.

I couldn't wait for the main story to finally get underway. At least once it did so, it was pretty interesting. Kendra was an interesting victim. Only thirteen, and already addicted to heroine, and turning to prostitution to support her habit, she's not the most sympathetic character. Yet, she has an air of maturity brought about by circumstances beyond her control that made me want to take her into my home and help her, rather than simply cast her off as a loser.

The attack, itself, is every bit as brutal as you can imagine, when a child is raped, beaten, and left for dead. There is no question that we want the monster caught, and justice served.

The problem is that the second half of the story becomes extremely complex, and convoluted. The simple case we were working on suddenly becomes much more complicated, and a bit hard to follow. After a while, I got so caught up in the goings-on, I forgot about poor Kendra completely! And it wasn't just me that seemed to forget about her - it was like her case got swept under a rug while more important issues were attended to.

And then there was the "obligatory romance angle". Knowing from the beginning of the book that Samantha is single, I knew there had to be romance tossed into the mix. Sure enough, Samantha's ex-lover is a policeman working Kendra's case. One would think that Samantha would know better than to mix work and pleasure, at least while they're involved in the same case. But, romance can not be put aside for something as mundane as her work, I guess. Naturally, this causes problems when their private lives become public knowledge.

Other than her bad judgment when it comes to romance on the job, I actually liked Samantha. She's smart, hard-working, and has a dry wit that makes her endearing to me. She has a great relationship with her father, and she has a cool dog named Vinnie. I would give future novels in this series a try, just on the main character's likability.

But, this book only gets 3 stars from me, as it truly is only "average". Let's just hope the future books get better!

Recommended: No