Johnson's smart novel will engage readers with its command of the legal questions at hand and its grasp of contemporary issues. Any legal drama can outline the elements of a trial and describe their relative significance, but this novel does so with an unusual crispness. The novel particularly shines in its exploration of the legal and social components of 21st-century immigration. The threat of deportation hangs over the defendant and several other characters, and the narrative details both the complexity and frustration inherent in the U.S. legal system, even for documented immigrants.

A brisk but thoughtful and timely legal thriller.

- Kirkus Reviews

What ultimately distinguishes All Guilty Anyway from the vast majority of legal thrillers is its sense of professional reality. Johnson depicts the criminal courts as an unforgiving place where truth must compete with timing, leverage, money, fluency and institutional impatience. Johnson's prose is brisk without becoming thin, and the plotting proceeds through pressure points that feel rooted in the world Johnson has built. He is especially good on the way legal systems confuse resolution with justice. The novel's deeper subject is not simply guilt or innocence, but interpretation: who can make themselves understood, who is translated poorly, who is believed quickly, and who is processed before being fully heard.

While All Guilty Anyway is a slam dunk for legal thriller junkies, it possesses enough moral and emotional depth to engage a far broader audience. Highly recommended.

- BestThrillers.com