Prior Bad Acts - an intrguing multi-faceted mystery

Prior Bad Acts by Tami Hoag takes its name from a legal precedence whereby the court must weigh the accused's prior misdeeds. And this is what the main character, judge Carey Moore must deal with. She is overseeing the trial of Karl Dahl, a drifter accused of the heinous murder of a woman and her 2 foster children. Dahl has previous convictions of possession of child pornography, assault and other crimes.

When Moore rules that Dahl’s prior bad acts are not admissible in court, a media storm of controversy erupts and suddenly Moore is being chastised in the public eye. While walking to her car after the controversial hearing, she is attacked and beaten in the parking garage on her way to her car. Detective Sam Kovac, a regular in Hoag's novels, is on the case and begins investigating. But soon Dahl escapes police custody.

So what might have been a routine whodunit (which I dislike), the book takes on 3 separate mysteries: Will Dahl be caught? Will the prosecution be able to make a case against him despite Moore's ruling? Who assaulted Judge Moore and why? Hoag weaves a very intricately detailed story of intrigue, suspense, and violence. She doesn't pull any punches when it comes to describing the violent murder that Dahl is on trial for.

As the story progresses, red herrings abound, people are not who we expect them to be and the lives of individuals delve into the world of pornography, murder, and deceit. This makes for quite the ride and qualifies this novel as a real page-turner of a book.

The only complaint I have about the book is the fairly contrived ending. While at first my attitude was "Wow that was cool", it quickly changed to "Waitaminute, there's no way I could have seen that coming." While the initial shock of a good twist is fun, if it comes out of left field with no prior hints, the audience feels manipulated and taken for a ride. As well, once we think the author has an opinion about the legal precedence of prior bad acts, she turns this opinion upside down and muddies the water.

In her defense, the book is never preachy and doesn't try to pass off one opinion over the other. So in that regard, it's the audiences fault for thinking the author has an opinion. And I'm sure Hoag knew this and her twist at the end was simply a little having fun with the audience.

Despite this slight flaw, the book is extremely engaging, totally engrossing and very entertaining. The characters are thoroughly likable and very human. While it does tread a bit into the stereotypical emotionally distant gumshoe, Kovac is a great, flawed character that resonates well within the pages of this book. This is the first Tami Hoag book I've read, and I look forward to picking up more of her stuff.

Conclusion
A thoroughly entertaining book full of twists, turns and bit of creepiness. A solid read.