Book Review: Diamonds and Deception by Ellen Butler

I have enjoyed this series since the first book. Karina is such an unusual blend of smart woman, foolish choices, and those choices seem to get more foolish book/adventure by book/adventure. By this, the third installment, some of them were (frankly) downright ridiculous. By rights, those choices should affect the overall credibility of the series, yet somehow they do not. I don’t know how Butler pulls that off (frankly again), but she does – and with aplomb. Many of Karina’s choices require a significant suspension of disbelief because they seem so utterly disregarding of personal safety. This is NOT a typical defining characteristic of the lobbyist-lawyer (which I know from personal experience). They are, however, choices that drive the action and adventure forward at ever-elevating levels – and perhaps it is because of that ramping-up effect that they wind up working over the course of the book even if they do occasionally cause eye-rolling while they’re happening.

This time, KC has gotten embroiled in a mess of her sister’s making, after her sister’s friend and co-worker is charged with stealing diamonds from her employer. Of course this is Karina’s world, so things are infinitely more complicated than that, and the resulting attempts at extricating her increasingly-involved sister Jillian involve more violence, lies, and crime than your average lobbyist-lawyer runs into on a daily (monthly? yearly? lifetime?) basis…

The details unfold through a series of red herrings, revelations that turn out to have hidden meaning, and increasingly dodgy judgment calls on the part of everyone involved. The action was delivered in an up-and-down pacing that worked well for the story, and the new characters (particularly Jillian) added an extra layer of depth to Karina’s world.

I continue to enjoy these tales, even (particularly?) when they seem to jump over the line of sound decision-making. Perhaps it’s Karina’s disregard for her own safety and otherwise well-established law-abiding nature that nurtures that enjoyment, even as it occasionally tweaks at my eye muscles and sense of likelihood. She always manages to pull it all together in the end (albeit with a LOT of help from her “private security” and FBI friends) in a way that satisfies and ultimately, that’s all a good story needs to do!

Thanks to the author for my obligation-free review copy.