Rich Justice

Rich Justice 

By Robert Bailey 

Thomas & Mercer, 2024 

Paperback: $16.99 

Genre: Legal Thriller 

Reviewed by Edward Journey 

Robert Bailey harnesses the mystique and mythology of Alabama’s Sand Mountain region in Rich Justice, Bailey’s tenth novel and the third in his series of Jason Rich legal thrillers. Bailey, a Huntsville attorney, is the bestselling author of the Bocephus Haynes series and the McMurtrie and Drake series, in addition to the Jason Rich books and The Golfer’s Carol, an inspirational novel.  

Jason Rich is a charismatic, smart, and grandstanding “billboard lawyer” – also arrogant, alcoholic, and reckless – known throughout Alabama. Rich Justice finds him as a disgraced attorney on a two-year suspension from practicing the personal injury law that made his reputation. It would be a disservice to reveal much of the plot of Rich Justice. It begins, however, when Tyson Cade, the “meth czar of Sand Mountain,” is murdered at a service station and all evidence implicates Jason Rich as the murderer. The events that follow revolve around Rich’s decision to represent himself in the murder trial and the machinations of Matty Dean, Cade’s apparent successor, who is as evil a villain as is likely to be found.  

At a fast-moving five-hundred-plus pages, Bailey introduces a slew of characters – many of whom will be familiar to readers of the previous Jason Rich books. Shay Lankford, previously a prosecutor and former district attorney, gets caught up in Rich’s defense as she declares, “It’s time for us to bring the circus back to town.” Hatty Daniels is the hard-working Marshall County sheriff, doggedly reforming a corrupt department. Wish French, the current district attorney, has many an awkward encounter with his former assistant, Shay. Albert Hooper, an Alabama football-obsessed profiler, provides comic relief and crucial plot points. And then there are those villains – Dean, Lu Stephens, and assorted others.   

The three Tonidandel brothers, former soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne – the “Screaming Eagles,” are Rich’s neighbors and bodyguards, and among the most entertainingly rendered characters; Satch, the oldest Tonidandel, is obsessed with 1970s and ‘80s media and amusing references to television series like “Dallas” and “CHiPs” and the movie The Godfather abound. The Tonidandels perceive their protection of Jason Rich as being their own current “war.”  

Rich Justice is haunted by the ghosts and characters of Rich’s past. Robert Bailey’s pacing and finesse in the exposition supply these characters’ backstories even if you have not read the previous books in the series. Bailey’s mastery of narrative misdirection makes it easy to suspect the possible guilt of any number of characters and the veracity of any number of possible plot turns. As Col. Satch Tonidandel says, “There is only one kind of justice on Sand Mountain.” But Rich Justice shows its myriad variations.   

Scenes of intense violence and extreme tension in Rich Justice are intertwined with moments of meditative reflection and grace. Rich’s struggle with his alcoholism intensifies the feelings of guilt he experiences. This is my fault is a sentiment that he struggles with on more than one occasion. Many of the characters struggle with secret lives, inner demons, and hidden truths. At one point, Bailey describes an “odd combination of calm and excitement. The way you felt when you were in a cozy theater about to watch a movie you’d been waiting on for a while.” His narrative contains many such moments and, despite a few over-extended passages, rarely fails to deliver. Real places and actual locations provide a veracity to the story, even if the reader has never been to Lake Guntersville or Sand Mountain. 

Rich Justice delivers on the promise of a well-plotted and memorable thriller. Prepare to be surprised. 

Edward Journey, a retired university professor and theatre professional living in Birmingham, regularly shares his essays in the online journal “Professional Southerner” (www.professionalsoutherner.com).