Review of "Jake Fox: Ties That Blind" by Michael Stockham

Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)

Jake Fox: Ties That Blind is one of the most thrilling crime dramas and legal thrillers we've read in a long time!

Author Michael Stockham is a real-life all-star, veteran attorney, and it shows! This book provides an authentic, believable, and eye-opening view of perhaps the most tense courtroom scenario imaginable. Oh, and it's incredibly engaging and entertaining. We couldn't help but get on board with the two major plots and get behind the major protagonists as they did their best through heartbreaking and traumatic circumstances.

Where do we even begin with a book that tackles such heavy subjects as human trafficking, exploitation, murder, and self-termination?

Well, maybe we should start from the beginning... This book has one of the most heart wrenching, shocking, and gripping openings of any book we've read, featuring the tragic death of the protagonist's daughter, Lucy, who hangs herself. The protagonist, the titular Jake Fox, is haunted by the questions any parent would ask when their child makes such a decision:

- Why?
- What did I do wrong?
- What could I have done?
- Am I to blame?
- Can I ever be forgiven? Can she?
- Did she still love me? Or did she hate me?

While this traumatic scene sets the tone, demonstrates the stakes, and grips us, Lucy's tragedy actually isn't the main plot of the book. There are actually two major and overlapping plots:

1. The murder of Marcus Tucker, allegedly by his daughter, Rose Tucker—leading to Fox having to serve as Rose's defense attorney
2. The kidnapping and trafficking of Beth Dubose, who just so happens to be Judge Dubose's daughter

These concurrent plotlines resonate with defense attorney Jake Fox on a deeply personal level. He later expresses how he sees his late daughter, Lucy, in both Rose and Beth, whose lives are about to be upended in a manner that seems completely undeserved, unjust, and unfair.

This book really hits home the plight and vulnerability of kids, especially young girls, in our society. How often do we hear on the news about missing, exploited, or outright murdered girls? It's sickening, disgusting, and—for a lack of a better word—unacceptable. We should be doing more to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

While Jake Fox is an excellent character in his own right, fueled by a heavy conscience and moral compass, he isn't the only memorable character in this book.

Beth, the judge's kidnapped daughter, also stood out to us a lot. Despite the peril and trauma of her predicament, she still finds ways to cling to herself, her dignity, and her identity. She still finds ways to claw back at the perpetrators, showing herself to be more than just a passive and compliant "victim."

Beth is targeted and trafficked as an "all-American" white girl with a major public figure as a parent, making her more "valuable" on the market due to the risks involved. This really introduces readers to the uncomfortable and disturbing mindset of traffickers and those who purchase from them.

Zach and Lilith, the primary villains of the novel, do everything in their power to dehumanize and break Beth, to turn her into nothing more than a commodity. They dye her hair black. The chain her. They control when and where she uses the restroom. They control what she wears. They gag her in at least one scene, taking away her speech. They even try to rewrite her whole identity, calling her "Viv" or "Vivian."

Yet their cruelty only magnifies her strength and our sympathy for her. Every small act of resistance, every flicker of her will to survive, hits like a triumph against the darkness. For example, she calls Zach by his real name constantly.

Mind you, Zach isn't just abusive and a kidnapper/trafficker, he's a big, burly, biker/Viking-looking dude with a beard in two long braids. The guy would scare a full-grown man! But Zach sasses him and points out the dumb or short-sighted things he says and does, knowing she might face retribution. Beth even finds clever ways to drop clues for others to find her, like leaving the pamphlet in the toilet paper dispenser.

Lilith is scary in her own way. While she's not as big or imposing as Zach, she's disarming in how feminine and womanly she comes across, at least in public. Aside from her red hair (which is a bit of a rare trait), she blends right in, all the while participating in horrific crimes behind the scenes. It almost makes you wonder about women like Lilith who are out there in society, scouting girls, preying on people, grooming them, and becoming almost a motherly figure or a "mentor" to them, all while exploiting them for profit. She's pretty much the Ghislaine Maxwell of the novel.

Together, Zach and Lilith embody the ugliest truths about exploitation—how predators manipulate, control, and strip away humanity for profit and power. But the book doesn’t just leave them as faceless monsters. Their presence forces the reader (and Jake Fox) to confront uncomfortable questions about justice, accountability, and whether the system is enough to stop people like them.

But there's another antagonist in the book we wanted to talk about: Krista Robb. Krista can only be described as a crooked and corrupt prosecuting attorney. She is the prosecutor opposite of Jake/Rose's side. To say that Krista is ruthless would be an understatement. You could almost argue that Krista is as evil and villainous as Zach and Lilith, enabling these traffickers and murderers to do what they're doing, all while trying to place the blame on innocent people. What does she care? As long as she wins the case and gets paid, right?

It's funny... in real-life, it's defense attorneys who normally get a bad rap. Why? Well, society is programmed to buy into the headlines, jump to conclusions, and immediately see the accused as the convicted. Honestly, we buy into that way of thinking too. Sometimes, a case is so obvious (in the public's eyes) and the wrongdoer is so clear, that the formalities of a trial just seem tedious and unnecessary.

However, our justice system exists with a burden of proof and with phraseology like "beyond a reasonable doubt" for a reason. In the past, extortion, bribery, torture, and other unscrupulous and cruel methods could be used to extract a confession and subsequent verdict. In the past, people were convicted and sentenced in kangaroo courts, often without knowing they had valid defenses.

So, this book actually paints the prosecutor in a villainous role, at least in this scenario. We found that interesting.

All of this to save Rose... a troubled and disgruntled girl who is accused of shooting her dad in the back of the head after allegedly being abused by him. Rose is interesting because, in a lot of ways, she's a lot like Lucy, at least Lucy in her darker times. Rose is not a happy camper and she rarely behaves herself, which makes defending her very difficult for Jake. But Rose is still worth saving. Why? Well, because if she's truly innocent, she should not do the time or be punished for something she didn't do.

Oh, and there's Sheriff Stone, another protagonist. She's handling the law enforcement/investigative side of the both cases outside of the courtroom, which means a lot more when you consider that many of the other protagonists are tied up in one way or another: Beth is imprisoned by the villains, Rose is in jail during the trial, and both Attorney Jake Fox and Judge Harlan Dubose are tied up in court. So, a lot of resolving these plots actually falls on the shoulders of Sheriff Stone.

One character whom we had mixed feelings about in this book is Judge Harlan Dubose. On one hand, he's a good judge. He's also funny at times. For example, when Jake tries to pressure him to recuse himself from the case due to conflict of interest, then threatens to appeal, Judge Dubose says, "Go ahead. I'll be sure to let the appellate judges know about your complaint when I play golf with them later this week."

This got more than a chuckle from us.

However... Judge Dubose was also very frustrating. Picture this: the man's daughter is kidnapped. Horrible things are possibly happening to her. In fact, we know that some horrible things are happening. There are times when Beth is beaten, half-starved, half dying from dehydration. Yet, Judge Debose is disturbingly stoic and calm, even cracking snarky comebacks like the golfing one. You could argue that this is all a fascade (and it probably is) to hide the storm going on inside of him, but it still bothered us deeply. Judge Dubose isn't just functioning in his role, he's putting his full faith in law enforcement and dedicating thought and effort into a case which may have little to nothing to do with his daughter's disappearance. Could you image if you were him? Would you be acting like that?

Anyway, what really sealed this book was the ending involving Jake and Lucy, who kind of follows him around as a ghost or memory. It's very beautiful.

Check it out on Amazon!