Joseph Finder, Judgment

I've been a fan of Joseph Finder's for more than fifteen years, and I've read the majority of his books. This is not one of the better ones, I'm afraid. The setup is very promising: A usually cautious judge makes a rash decision while out of town that leaves her vulnerable to blackmail and threatens to ruin her life. I love a story like this, where a relatable person gets in over their head and is thrust into impossible circumstances through a series of understandable decisions. But this time the setup never thrills. A lot of the story has to do with the minutiae of a legal case the judge is presiding over, and a lot of that is related to finances—not the stuff of thrillers, really. More importantly, while there's real physical danger involved, it's not treated as real. The protagonist is nearly choked to death, for example, but while she's shaken, she doesn't seem to have any visible bruises the next day. The judge's family is in at least as much danger as she is, but when she finally bothers to tell her husband (so that maybe he can keep a closer eye on their son, say), that conversation—which I'd been waiting for for chapters—takes place off-screen! The family is treated throughout as an afterthought. There was a lot of potential to rack up the tension there, but it all just falls flat. And the denouement is tepid. If you're new to Joseph Finder, give this one a pass, because it's really not representative of his talents.