Book Review--The Midnight Before Christmas, by William Bernhardt

Okay, I am slightly out of season with this, but oh well. This is a holiday thriller, not all that festive, but good. With this book, the author has taken a break from his Ben Kincaid series, but this is also a legal thriller.

Lawyer Megan McGee doesn't have much of a Christmas planned for herself, so she agrees to see a client with an emergency on Christmas Eve. The client, Bonnie Cantrell, is seeking legal protection against her husband, an ex-cop who tends to drink too much and get violent. Bonnie reports that he has threatened to kill their 7-year-old son rather than be separated from him.

Megan asks where her son, Tommy is, and Bonnie tells her that he is at the daycare run through his school. Megan gets a bad feeling and asks Bonnie to call and check on him. When she does, she discovers the worst has happened; a substitute caregiver who didn't know the situation had allowed Tommy to go with his father.

Megan and Bonnie spend their Christmas Eve searching for Tommy, praying to find him before the unthinkable happens. And Megan discovers that there is quite a bit more to this case than Bonnie is telling her.

The book isn't long and it's easy reading, but there are some twists and turns that really make it interesting.