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  • Lethal Defense

  • Nate Shepherd Legal Thriller Series, Book 1
  • Written by: Michael Stagg
  • Narrated by: George Newbern
  • Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (103 ratings)

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Lethal Defense cover art

Lethal Defense

Written by: Michael Stagg
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Publisher's Summary

A client savagely kills a man to protect a friend. A lawyer with secrets must prove it was justified.

Attorney Nate Shepherd left a big firm to go out on his own. He sees nothing but opportunity when an out-of-town lawyer wants to hire him as local counsel on a high-profile murder case. Though his family worries that the case hits too close to home, Nate joins the defense team.

When circumstances force him to take on a bigger role, Nate ignores his family’s fears and throws himself into his client’s defense. But as he digs deeper, every aspect of the case raises memories of a terrible event that Nate has tried his best to bury.

Battling an aggressive prosecutor in court and a dogged reporter outside it, Nate fights to prove that his client’s brutal, bloody slaying of an evil victim was right. But when Nate’s own story is exposed, it threatens his client’s freedom...and Nate’s carefully constructed life. Can he fend off his own demons long enough to save his client?

This is the first book in the gripping Nate Shepherd Legal Thriller series. If you like razor-sharp dialogue, iron-willed characters, and slippery moral quandaries, then you’ll love this fierce courtroom drama.

©2020 Michael Stagg (P)2020 Podium Audio

What listeners say about Lethal Defense

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Was great

Good balance between relatable characters and entertaining lives. Not too much suspense where you want to read spoilers ahead of time, but just the right pace needed to do laundry and dishes. Will be buying the next book for sure.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • DJB
  • 2022-12-05

Intriguing from beginning to end!!

My first Michael Stagg read, I’m hooked, captivating legal thriller from beginning to end. Narrator George Newbern is the best I’ve heard to date, amazing!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Riveting story

A fascinating legal fiction. I didn’t want to put it down. I’ll be looking for more books by Michael Stagg.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story

Great characters and interesting legal case. Pulled me in and finished listening in less than a day.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Serviceable Diversion

Author Michael Stagg offers a meticulously-plotted Legal Thriller following a fascinating case of the "justifiable" homicide of a drug-pushing Roadie working for a famous Rock Star. The plot is interesting (if imperfectly paced), the characters are a little two-dimensional but realistic & harboring intriguing secrets, and the vocabulary/prose is praiseworthy. This is a very readable book.
Less fortunately, Stagg gets into the weeds of legal wranglings and behind-the-scenes strategizing (it's glaringly obvious that the author is a practicing lawyer). Add a question-by-question on-the-stand script (I mean, like a stenographer's record) to the mix, and it becomes a kinda yawnworthy procedural at times.

Reader George Newbern does a "satisfactory" job - at best - narrating the book, too. His diction, timbre, and tone are satisfyingly commendable - but his voice-acting is uninspired, and he reads with a hesitant cadence (pausing slightly too long between sentences and occasionally taking injudicious deep breaths). Setting playback speed at 1.15X corrects those problems to some extent.. but Podium Audio could have cast the project better.

Factoring in the baffling inclusion of a fight scene demonstrating the otherwise plausible protagonist as an unbeatable MMA fighting expert, 'Lethal Defense' rates 7.5 stars out of 10.
It was appropriately included in the 'Plus' catalog - an enjoyable distraction for a couple of quiet afternoons - but only spend a Credit on it if you are a diehard fan of the genre.

[Incidentally: if I were a Judge there is ZERO chance that I would allow lawyers to lead witnesses like they do in this book. Hello, Reversible Errors]

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

I think I expected this to be different. i am not the best judge in this book because I skipped so much of the book because it was dragging and became boring to me and as a result that meant the ending was super confusing. Hank went from obnoxious murderer after pummelling a man to “decent” modest murderer ordering a smoker as a thank you and having a jury who gave hugs.

From what I heard, this book is literally a legal case, every painstaking, boring aspect of it.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story

At first I wasn't sure about the narrator...but I grew to love it. This story line was really good and it was easy to follow. Definitely will check out more stories about Nate Shephard.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

really enjoyed it

I found it interesting and enjoyed it to the end. Definitely its worth the read .

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So-So

Narrator was entirely too flippant, which took away any sense of depth to the main character. Good enough story though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Bob
  • 2023-02-07

Awesome story

Overall really good. I really enjoyed it. I would have preferred more actors and a larger variety of voices.

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