This book was so good!! It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole story, and it was full of so many twists and turns! I think it was well written with a great amount of thill and mystery. I really enjoyed it!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This is a nice, solid character study in the workings of a public defender, probably one of the hardest jobs out there. There's a mystery that develops slowly, reminding you every little bit that there IS something sinister at work, but that it can get lost in the day to day minutiae of the main character's life. Until it's front and center. And then the story gets very VERY real.

4.5 stars rounded up-It is not often that there is a book from the perspective of the public defender. In some ways I enjoyed that but in others it is hard to read, because we are getting an inside look at how prosecutors negotiate charges and who gets more or less time. That being said, this book was different from what I was expecting. The first 100 or so pages are about the beginning of Sant’s career as a public defender and his relationships with his best friend and his co-worker CJ. The story from the blurb doesn’t develop much until the end. After the book is finished you realize that you needed all the backstory to truly appreciate the ending, and the talent of the author to bring us such an impactful story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc, I really enjoyed this one!

A great read, kept me on the edge of my seat. Really enjoyed the characters. It challenged me see our own justice system in a different light as well.

Does the court system truly deliver justice?

Santi Elcano returned home to Reno, Nevada, after finishing law school, accepting a job with the public defender's office there because he both thought it would be more interesting than doing mindless work for a large law firm and he wanted to "do good". Like many an idealistic young lawyer before him, he soon discovered that his job came with a crushing workload and clients who often seemed doom to need his services over and over again. The system was, to put it kindly, more prone to failure than justice. As he worked alongside his new mentor, the jaded but savvy C. J., Santi had the opportunity to work alongside her to defend Michael Atwood, a man accused of savagely murdering young mother Anna Weston near Reno's famed silver mines. There was very little in the way of physical evidence to support the charges against Atwood, but he was convicted nonetheless and years later still sits on Death Row, It is a case that still weighs heavily on Santi; he and C. J. were convinced that Atwood was innocent, but their client fell victim to a case where public fascination combined with political pressure on the police to find and convict the killer led to a rushed prosecution and a guilty verdict. When Atwood sends Santi a letter from prisoner after all these years, Santi can no longer keep himself from questioning the case that still haunts him...and as he looks closely at what happened he will come to conclusions that will forever change him.
Its no surprise that our real justice system looks nothing like what we've seen portrayed on TV and in the movies. Public defenders are not like Atticus Finch or Johnnie Cochran; they are fallible human beings, overworked and underpaid, doing battle in a flawed system that takes it toll not only on the unfortunate people who are continually fed in to the system with little hope of understanding what they are up against but on the lawyers themselves. What happens to a person who believes in the concept of justice for all when they discover that, given the overall lack of time allowed to prepare, cases are tried with one or both legal teams having had little interaction with the client with at best a cursory knowledge of the case, and it is generally deemed best for all concerned to strike deals so that they can move on to the next case? Lather, rinse, repeat. Author Gabriel Urza's years as a public defender infuse the novel with an authenticity that is hard to miss. It is billed as a legal thriller, and in part that is true, but it is also a nuanced look at the state of the judicial process in the US today (hint: it's not pretty). I found myself liking C. J. far more than I did Santi (maybe the first person narrative factored in to that, its not my favorite construct). An intriguing tale that threads the challenges of poverty, racism and addiction into its core story, it is a book that will appeal to readers of Scott Turow, Jonathan Harr and Attica Locke. My thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me access to this unique legal novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Silver State was an enjoyable legal novel about a defense attorney grappling with a former case

We follow Santi, who in the present day has been contacted by a former client he defended fresh out of law school, who is now on death row. Most of the story is a flashback to Santi’s time starting as a public defender in Nevada and being named to help established attorney, CJ, defend Michael Atwood who has been accused of killing a woman, Anna Weston. Going in as the reader, we know Atwood’s defense wasn’t successful by the fact that he is contacting Santi from death row.

This was a very quick, unputdownable, legal thriller about the justice system with a nuanced take on its flaws. It also makes a definite statement about how lawyers need to examine their own values and can accidentally lean into biases about their cases.

There is a twist that wrapped this up very well for me. All in all the only thing I felt lacking was more of all the characters, but for a 9 year plot Urza did a great job and I would recommend this to fans of legal thrillers, like the ones John Grisham writes.

Thanks Algonquin Books, Gabriel Urza, and NetGalley for the ARC. 4 stars from me!

interesting character study with some interesting ideas and cool writing. a worthwhile read, in my opinion. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.