Former US State Representative Stacey Abrams has hit it out of the park with her debut fiction novel. While Justice Sleeps is a tautly written page turner that will satisfy anyone who likes the mystery/suspense genre.

The first thing that struck me was how Abrams was able to inform her story based on her own experience and connections in the American political system. Not only did she serve 11 years in the Georgia State Legislature, she is the founder of Fair Fight, Fair Count, and the Southern Economic Advancement Project, organizations whose focus is on tackling voting and social rights issues at all levels of government. She is credited with having played a significant role in the outcome of the 2020 elections for President and Senate.

While Justice Sleeps is told from the perspective of Avery Keene, a gifted law clerk for supreme court judge Justice Howard Wynn. Wynn is a brilliant but oft times cantankerous jurist who has uncovered information that has the potential to upset the political balance in the country. Facing health issues of his own, he comes up with a plan that will set Keene on a winding and dangerous path to discovering Justice Wynn’s secret.

Not knowing who she can trust, Keene must put her faith in unlikely partners to uncover the layers of seemingly nonsensical codes and messages masked as chess moves: a path that Wynn has laid out to lead her to uncover a horrifying secret plot endorsed by the president and his henchmen. Keene’s own brilliance and photographic memory enable her to slowly unravel the twisted route the Judge has laid out for her.

There were times, I will admit, that I found her recall somewhat unbelievable but it didn’t ruin the rest of the story for me at all. This is a great debut novel and I eagerly await Abrams’ next offering.

— Nancy C.