You might not think of James Comey as one of those authors who produces a new installment in a series and the moment it’s available, you drop everything to read his latest legal thriller. But that’s how he became one of my favorite writers. The fourth book in the Nora Carleton series lived up to my expectations — here is a very intelligent narrative featuring an extremely well-written female protagonist (and very tall, like her author) in a fascinating spy story/ court drama.

I’ve come to absolutely love Comey’s Nora Carleton books. “Central Park West” was about the mob; “Westport” (during Nora’s brief stint as a corporate lawyer) was a business whodunit; and “FDR Drive” was about terrorists. In “Red Verdict,” the topic is about espionage, specifically Russian baddies trying to subvert American defense contractor CEOs. The primary story is the discovery of an elite businessman who’s been compromised by the Russians, but it’s only after one of the Russian spy services accidentally kills the wrong man does the Justice Department catch on.

This book can be read as a standalone and the recurring characters are re-introduced without nagging questions about their pasts, but you’ll be missing some of the great backstories. Nora is again a Deputy US Attorney, working in Manhattan. There are some family connections: her daughter is living with her ex in Connecticut and her mom has married Nora’s chief investigator, Benny, so she’s a single woman living alone. There are multiple other characters, attorneys, FBI, CIA, judges and defense lawyers, but Comey never takes the spotlight off the importance of good teamwork. There still is complicated cooperation between federal and state law enforcement. We witness the diverging motivations (but ultimately with the same conviction goal) of the US Attorney’s office vs CIA vs FBI — and it is humorously mirrored by the Russian spy vs spy bureaucracies (FSB vs GRU vs SVR).

Comey’s special contribution to his novels has been cool insider knowledge — we get a tutorial about international wire types, observations about the cause of woodwork damage in the Attorney General’s office,and a doozy like how name tents get placed in the White House Situation Room. Comey is not political in his novels, but it must have been a catharsis to write about work insanities like this section:
“the deputy attorney general said—repeating what the principal associate deputy attorney general told him, which was what the assistant attorney general told him, which was what the principal deputy assistant attorney general told her, which was what the deputy assistant attorney general told him, which was what the section chief told her, which was what the deputy section chief told him, which was what Nora and Sean had explained.”

Again, Comey is an author whose past life definitely helps him develop realistic plot lines with satisfying conclusions. The story is action-packed, and the verdict is never quite certain (although the guilt is). The entire character team deserves another future thriller! I’m glad the author found the time for this fourth book and I look forward to a fifth. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Sean has hooded green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But a unique fact about ginkgo botany in Central Park becomes significant.

Thank you to Penzler Publishers/Mysterious Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

I really enjoy the Nora Carleton series, and Red Verdict might be one of my favorites yet. I especially loved having Nora back where she belongs — in the prosecutor’s office as Deputy U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The story kicks off with the murder of a high-level defense industry executive and quickly unfolds into a gripping spy-meets-legal thriller, blending counterintelligence, courtroom strategy, and international intrigue. The plot is smart, fast-moving, and full of fascinating twists that kept me turning pages.

James Comey continues to deepen Nora as a character, along with her family and coworkers, making the stakes feel personal as well as professional. His insider knowledge of the justice system — clearly enhanced by his daughters’ work in the legal field — really shines throughout the story and the series as a whole. That authenticity adds weight to both the investigative and courtroom moments, and the action doesn’t let up all the way to the verdict.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penzler Publishers, Mysterious Press, and Mr. Comey for the ARC of this book. I truly hope we continue to get more action-packed Nora Carleton stories — or even a spin-off focused on another standout character from the series.

Excellent book. Highly recommend. Suspenseful. Well written. Well formed characters and ingenious plot.

A man cannot even enjoy a nice dinner in New York without being assassinated via nerve agent. That is the energy “Red Verdict” by James Comey opens with, and I would like to formally request that geopolitics leave Italian cuisine alone. A high-level executive at an American drone manufacturer gets poisoned in a restaurant in what can only be described as a “we are sending a message” murder. Not subtle. Not quiet. Full international chest-thumping.

And then Nora Carleton walks in, back in her Deputy U.S. Attorney era at the Southern District of New York, and she is in her element. Competent. Focused. Morally allergic to nonsense. The kind of woman who could read you your Miranda rights and make it sound like a TED Talk about accountability. I have not read the first three books. Did that stop me? Absolutely not. Am I now feral for “Central Park West,” “Westport,” and “FDR Drive”? Yes. I want the full Nora cinematic universe immediately.

This case does not spiral. It detonates. Russian nerve agent. Possibly North Korean involvement. A weapons contractor with government ties. And the question hanging over everything like a thundercloud in a tailored suit, was this guy a traitor, or was he collateral damage in a much uglier game? The deeper Nora and Special Agent Benny Dugan dig, the clearer it becomes that this is not about one dead executive. It is about leverage. About intimidation. About someone powerful being told, cooperate or else.

And here is where the book really flexes its muscles. Because it would be easy to make this all cloak and dagger, car chases and shadowy phone calls. Instead, the tension lives in the grind. In motions. In evidence rules. In the soul-crushing reality that knowing someone is guilty is not the same as being able to prove it without torching classified intelligence. It is like watching someone try to win a chess match where half the pieces are redacted.

The interagency drama? Delicious. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, the CIA, all circling each other like extremely educated sharks who technically work on the same team but absolutely do not trust each other. It is the most high-stakes group project in America. Everyone has clearance. No one wants to share their notes. Somewhere, a deputy assistant something is forwarding an email that says “per my last message” and ruining Nora’s afternoon.

Benny Dugan remains the ride-or-die presence you want in your corner when the world is on fire. Their dynamic has that lived-in shorthand, that we-have-survived-some-things energy. It grounds the story emotionally, especially when the stakes start to feel enormous. Because Nora is not just chasing a conviction. She is carrying the weight of national security, her own moral compass, and the reality that a single misstep could either tank the case or compromise intelligence. Casual.

And what I loved, truly, is that the mystery is not some cheap whiplash twist machine. We are not flipping through suspects like we are on a dating app for villains. The tension comes from watching whether justice can even function in a world this messy. Can you hold someone accountable when the evidence is tangled in espionage and politics? Can truth survive bureaucracy? That is the real gut punch.

By the time we get to the courtroom, I was fully invested in procedural details I did not know I cared about. Objections. Strategy. The quiet psychological chess between prosecution and defense. It is less about fireworks and more about pressure. Slow, relentless pressure. The kind that makes you sit up straighter while reading because suddenly everything feels fragile.

This is a 4.5 star read for me without hesitation. Smart. Tense. Uncomfortably plausible. Anchored by a protagonist who feels both formidable and human. I did not just want a verdict. I wanted Nora to win.

Whodunity Award: For Making Me Distrust Both Vodka Sauce and Anyone Who Says “It’s Just Business”

Huge, dramatic, slightly breathless thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of “Red Verdict.” You handed me international espionage, courtroom tension, and pasta-based paranoia, and I am deeply grateful.