Saving Emma

A lawyer’s race to reveal a wrongful conviction collides with the dark shadow of a murder in his own home in this propulsive and perfectly-plotted thriller from “one of our best crime writers at the top of his game” (William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author).

When Boady Sanden first receives the case of Elijah Matthews, he’s certain there’s not much he can do. Elijah, who believes himself to be a prophet, has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past four years, convicted of brutally murdering the pastor of a megachurch. But as a law professor working for the Innocence Project, Boady agrees to look into Elijah’s file. When he does, he is alarmed to find threads that lead back to the death of his colleague and friend, Ben Pruitt, a man shot to death four years earlier in Boady’s own home.  

Ben’s daughter, Emma, has lived with Boady and Boady’s wife Dee ever since that awful night. Now fourteen years old, Emma has been growing distant, and soon makes a fateful choice that takes her far from the safety of her godparents. Desperate to bring her home, and to free an innocent man, Boady must do all he can to investigate Elijah’s case while fighting to save the family he has deeply come to love.   

Written with energy, propulsion, and his characteristic pathos and insight, Eskens delivers another pitch-perfect legal thriller that reveals a twisted murder and explores faith, love, family, and redemption along the way.

“Ambitious, absorbing, and deeply satisfying.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 

“Eskens brilliantly combines legal and personal drama.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

“Superb . . . another Eskens novel to be savored.” ―South Florida Sun-Sentinel

• “Ambitious, absorbing, and deeply satisfying.”
  Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
• “Superb . . . Eskens delivers carefully calibrated dual plots that give equal attention to both the legal aspects and the domestic storyline. Another Eskens novel to be savored.”
  South Florida Sun-Sentinel
• “Eskens brilliantly combines legal and personal drama in this stellar standalone mystery. . . . Eskens peppers the thorny, propulsive plot with superior turns of phrase and fully realized characters. Scott Turow fans will be enthralled.”
  Publishers Weekly (starred review)
• “Eskens practiced criminal law for twenty-five years, and it shows: his novels have a realism and accuracy derived from experience. A first-rate legal thriller.”
  Booklist
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  Praise for Forsaken Country
• "Eskens is at the top of his skills."
  Oline H. Cogdill, The South Florida Sun Sentinel
• "One of our best crime writers at the top of his game."
  William Kent Kreuger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land and Lightning Strike