Avery Keene is a second-year clerk for Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn, just trying to survive she can start searching for jobs after the term ends in June. But Wynn has different plans for her. Just as the court is preparing to release its final decisions (including one in which Wynn is the swing vote), Wynn slips into a coma and Avery learns that, inexplicably, she's been named as his legal guardian and given power of attorney over his life. He's also managed to pass along a few pieces to a puzzle that he thought would uncover an explosive political scandal. While Avery tries to determine if he's right or simply paranoid and senile, the FBI, Homeland Security, the White House, and the media are all banging down her door...and someone seems desperate to stop Avery's investigations.

This is a great political thriller that weaves together recent Supreme Court concerns, biotech innovations, addiction, and legal challenges, all with a well-realized cast of characters and a fast pace (slowed down only by a few sections of legalese). My only question: is there anything Stacey Abrams CAN'T do? Because she sure can write a fantastic thriller.

This was a fantastic book that kept me up past my bedtime more than once. The pacing was great, and the in depth court knowledge and politics was also compelling, even beyond the plot. I would recommend this to people who love political thrillers as well as court watchers.

This legal thriller will have readers on the edge of their seat. Some readers might get a bit lost in the intricate legal plot, but the ending is worth it!

Avery Keene is a law clerk for the most irascible judge on the Supreme Court's bench, Justice Howard Wynn. When Justice Wynn falls into a coma, Avery is horrified to learn he appointed her as his guardian, rather than his soon-to-be ex-wife or his estranged son. As Avery tries every legal trick she can muster to get out of this onerous duty, she begins to uncover a conspiracy so vast, it encompasses governments in two countries and the president of the United States. Justice Wynn was the swing vote on the merger of two companies, one American and one in India, both of whom are doing cutting edge genetic research. Justice Wynn and his son both suffer from a neurological disease that will inevitably strip them of their lives and this research might have an enormous impact. The book began very slowly, but as the characters got a little more fleshed out and the plot picked up, it became easier to read and enjoy. This is Abrams' first political thriller and it shows, but there is definitely promise here. Recommended with reservations.

I really enjoyed it! It scratched multiple parts of my brain, including the Dan Brown hemisphere and the region that controls my obsession with the Supreme Court. I thought it was paced well and had a strong cast of characters. The only thing that didn't work well for me in particular is the secret driving the conflict, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Liked this, but found it more of a jewel to be examined and passed along than a bauble to be kept and cherished; Stacey Abrams, one of the most intelligent people currently functioning in American political life, has been writing fiction for a while, but those other books were under a pseduonym, and were a completely different kind of this from this. This is more of like, "If Baldacci were a political insider," as it has the same tight narrative and tension of one of those books, but the conspiracy at the root of the plot has so many layers, and there is so much more going on, that this thrills on other levels. The characters are a bit tropey - okay, REALLY tropey - but the story is implausibly plausible a and dark and lots of fun. A completely enjoyable and smartly-written read, I would recommend this highly to a certain group of people who like this kind of thing already. Abrams will only get better if she finds the time to keep doing this.

As if the last week wasn’t amazing enough, I received an advanced copy of Stacey Abram’s upcoming release on Inauguration Day. To say that I was SCREAMING would be an understatement. This is a book that I have been anticipating from a woman that can literally do anything.

Stacey Abrams is the kind of inspiration I will carry with me for a lifetime. From celebrated national leader to best-selling author — she makes us all believe we really can do anything. Thank you, for all that you’ve done and now for this book.

In While Justice Sleeps, Abrams brings us an intricately weaved thriller set within the walls of the U.S. Supreme Court. A plot rich, tangled story that literally had me on the edge of my seat.

The story centers around legendary Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn and a sudden turn of events which leaves his law clerk, Avery Keene, in the center of it all.

This was a fast-paced book that gave me a lot more than what was expected, and I mean this in the best way possible. As a protagonist, Avery is intriguing and also relatable. Abrams has an innate ability to draw a reader into a character’s feelings even if the they are a relatively private. I found this style of writing to be extremely organic and engrossing. With each twist and turn, Avery’s feelings were palpable and also realistic. There were moments that I had to remind myself that this was fiction.

When I say there was a little bit of everything - I mean it. Whether it be the intricacies of a child-parent relationship, loyalties to colleagues, attraction, court room drama, murder, attraction, even chess references...it was ALL there.

The same kind of style flowed with the setting as well. A true D.C. experience with every page turned. I found myself delighted while imagining the inside of the Oval Office, as well as the genuine familiarity of a late night meet-up at Kramer’s.

In addition, there was a big connection to India which I was NOT expecting. As a Desi myself, I was elated about this surprise that wasn’t mentioned in any synopsis or press release that I had read. Oh Stacey Abrams, you knew exactly what this reader was looking for!

This book was absolutely PERFECT for the moment. It gives you an ultimate thriller with a plethora of dimensions and human emotion at the center of it all. I guarantee you will be thinking about it long after you read the last page.

Thank you @doubledaybooks, @penguinrandomhouse, @netgalley, and @staceyabrams for the opportunity to read and review this title to be released on May 11th, 2021. Pre-order your copy today! ⚖️🇺🇸

This book started off a little rough but it quickly got good. I really enjoyed this. Avery is a great MC and I loved how smart and capable she was. It has been awhile since I have enjoyed a good political thriller as they always seem to be very male centric.

How well Avery knows her boss will determine the fate of both of them. Avery's boss is a Supreme Court Justice and he is currently in a coma after naming Avery (instead of his wife) as his guardian.
This situation is made more precarious by the fact that the judge is a swing vote in a very important decision before the court. Avery is whip smart and that helps but she gets entangled with bad guys from all sides of the political fence who will stop at nothing to get at the judge through her. Some of the legal language and inner workings of the court were lost on me but legal savvy readers will appreciate the way Avery works the system. It is one of those stories you really hope is firmly in the fiction category. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

How amazing is Stacey Abrams? She saves American democracy, is a fierce advocate for us all AND is an amazing writer of fiction, this novel is one that you cannot out down once you start. It’s gripping, full of suspense and so timely! Well done, Ms. Abrams, now I want to devour all her other novels written under a pen name.

From the publisher: From celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams, While Justice Sleeps is a gripping, complexly plotted thriller set within the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court. Drawing on her astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape, Stacey Abrams shows herself to be not only a force for good in politics and voter fairness but also a major new talent in suspense fiction.

While Justice Sleeps is an intricately plotted thriller. Sharp and fast paced, it covers a lot of ground. The author clearly knows her way around DC, the federal government, and the Supreme Court. Main character Avery Keene is biracial and has a drug addict mother, allowing Abrams to touch on issues of race and family, addiction and loss. Avery is smart and capable, and she is surrounded by a small cast of interesting side characters.

I did not feel character development was a great strength of this novel. The bad guys especially, while diverse, are pretty standard in their bad guyness. The plot was a little too convoluted for my liking, but that may be partly because I’m just not in the mood to figure things out after a year of Covid-19 pandemic. I can imagine some readers will love all the twists, turns, and puzzles. (I also don’t play chess, and the author leans pretty hard on chess analogies.)

There’s a lot to like here for thriller fans. Recommended for readers of the Da Vinci Code and similar novels, and also for watchers of TV shows like Law & Order. While Justice Sleeps has “movie script” written all over it.

I read an advance reader copy of While Justice Sleeps from Netgalley. The book is scheduled to be released in May 2021, and the Galesburg Public Library will own it in print and as an ebook.

I’m in awe of Stacey Abrams for a multitude of reasons. (Seriously, she’s just the coolest.) I was super excited to hear that she was a fiction writer, and even more excited to get my hands on an ARC of her newest book.

Avery Keene is a young lawyer who beat the odds and worked her way up to a coveted clerkship in the U.S. Supreme Court. She’s very good at her job, although her boss, Justice Wynn, doesn’t seem to think much of her – or of anyone, really. But one day, when Justice Wynn suddenly falls into a coma under mysterious circumstances, Avery finds out that he has entrusted her not only with his medical power of attorney, but with solving the mystery behind his sudden illness as well. With the possibility of a Supreme Court seat coming into play, and a ruling on high-profile case against a Presidential decision hanging in the balance, Avery quickly finds herself embroiled in a high-stakes game of chess with more than one life on the line.

Abrams excels at not only at plotting a clever story, but also in creating characters that the audience is interested in following, something which legal thrillers too often lack in my opinion. Avery is smart, likeable, and very human. Wynn, for all his cantankerous behavior and many flaws, is someone the audience wants to know more about. Many of the secondary characters are just as complex and interesting. Meanwhile, the plot has enough twists, turns, and brain-teasing mysteries to keep you guessing.

One criticism of something minor that I can’t let slide (sorry, Stacey): The 3rd person omniscient POV is mostly limited to a handful of characters, and usually only one per scene, but occasionally there are random jumps to other characters, for as little as a sentence or two, and these little jaunts into another character’s mind sometimes give too much away. I’d prefer if these little glimpses into what a character is thinking, or what their motivations are, would be conveyed in a more subtle way, or even just left to the imagination. I didn’t feel like I got much of value out of these tiny little POV jumps, and often felt like the story and the writing would have been tighter if I hadn’t known what that person was thinking.

Overall, though the writing lacks the subtlety of a master of the genre, the result is still a tense, intriguing, puzzle-solving thrill ride with high stakes and interesting characters. Plus, I always like to find a book about a badass woman of color, particularly one that’s written by a badass woman of color. Definitely worth a read!

I stayed up way too late reading this one! This one is outside of what I normally read these days, but it is Abrams’ first fiction under her own name, and I wasn’t passing it up. I was not disappointed. It’s a political thriller filled with fascinating puzzles, over-the-top cover-ups, judicial history, and dangerous (or life-saving) biotech research. Brilliant young law clerk Avery Keene finds herself the legal guardian and power of attorney for her suddenly comatose mentor and boss—Supreme Court Justice Wynn. Wynn’s machinations push her into a deadly game, exploding her life, and starting her on a dangerous hunt for answers.

Well-plotted, plot-driven legal/political thriller with puzzles to be solved, a la Dan Brown or early John Grisham. A Supreme Court justice falls into a coma right before the end of term, leaving a huge case to be heard. Gazillions of dollars are riding on the outcome of this case. Although he has a wife and son, they are not close, and he leaves his power of attorney with one of his law clerks, a young woman who barely knows him and is baffled as to why she was chosen.

Immediately the young law clerk, Avery Keene, is thrust into peril from mysterious, powerful forces, making it impossible for her to know whom to trust, and forcing her to solve the Justice's cryptic messages in order to figure out what was his true intent.

Many of the clues revolve around chess strategy, which is kind of a thing right now since The Queen's Gambit, and the plot also involves biomedical engineering and related ethics. Even though some of the characters are political figures, they bear no resemblance to actual people.

I found it a fun ride, though I personally prefer more character development.

I look forward to recommending this to readers who love legal thrillers. This is a great one, clearly written by someone who truly understands the world of politics and our legal system -- including the dark sides of both! Smart, appealing protagonist and a very brisk plot that is full of twists and turns. Love this!

Wanted to love this, but found it to be just ok. The overall story is good, but the pacing is a bit off and the characters are a little flat. Abrams has a lot of potential as a writer (along with everything else she does well), but this one needed work, to me. The book takes a while to pick up steam and really get interesting, but does finish strong.

While Just Sleeps is a twisting, turning complex political and legal thriller. Avery Keene is a law clerk for Justice Howard Wynn. She is brilliant, loyal and has an eidetic memory. Justice Wynn is the swing vote on a controversial case involving merging companies. When he is found collapsed in a coma, no one is more surprised that Avery to find she is his guardian and has his power of attorney. This starts off a series of twists and turns that involves the White House, Homeland Security and the FBI. Avery is helped by Justice Wynn's son Jared, his lawyer Noah and Ling her roommate.

This book felt like a John Grisham legal thriller or a Dan Brown mystery. I enjoyed the plotting and the action felt doable in the time allotted. Avery is great as a protagonist using her mind and legal knowledge to try and do right by the law and Justice Wynn. The genetics and biotech information was somewhat overwhelming but the story makes sense and when it ended I couldn't think of anything I felt was unresolved.

I was thrilled to get to read my first book by Stacey Abrams and will look forward to more in the future. Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Great story, interesting characters, lots of political insight, and a satisfying ending. Plus the author is Stacey Abrams!

This was my first Stacey Abrams book and it was stunning! A fast-paced thriller with a really compelling plot and a very likeable central character. One of my 2021 favorites and a must-buy for all public libraries.

I'm sick of politicians and currently avoiding political thrillers but when I learned that Stacey Abrams had written a new book I had to check it out! Loved the Supreme Court setting and all of the characters. Some of the science went over my head but overall the pacing was great and the conclusion was satisfactory.