The Third Victim: A Novel

"Margolin continues his return to the exceptional form of his early novels with this gripping, tightly plotted, and smoothly written legal thriller... A winner from a veteran genre author." -Booklist

The "master of heart-pounding suspense" returns with a brand new series and a USA Today bestseller The Third Victim is New York Times bestseller Phillip Margolin at his very best.

A woman stumbles onto a dark road in rural Oregon-tortured, battered, and bound. She tells a horrific story about being kidnapped, then tortured, until she finally managed to escape. She was the lucky one-two other women, with similar burns and bruises, were found dead.

The surviving victim identifies the house where she was held captive and the owner, Alex Mason-a prominent local attorney-is arrested. Although he loudly insists upon his innocence, his wife''s statements about his sexual sadism and the physical evidence found at the scene, his summer home, is damning.

Regina Barrister is a legendary criminal defense attorney, known as "The Sorceress" for her courtroom victories. But she''s got a secret, one that threatens her skill, her reputation, and, most of all, her clients. And she''s agreed to take on the seemingly impossible task of defending Alex Mason.

Robin Lockwood, a young lawyer and former MMA fighter, has just left a clerkship at the Oregon Supreme Court to work for Regina Barrister. The Alex Mason trial is her first big one, a likely death penalty case, and she''s second chair to Regina. Increasingly, she''s worried her boss''s behavior and the details in the case against their client don''t quite add up.