Cinda's colleagues at the center consider her work on the case a betrayal, and she's not sure they are entirely wrong. Her client, Jason Smiley, continues to insist on his innocence, even after she assures him that appeals are concerned with procedural evidence, not innocence or guilt. Despite her initial impressions, she does begin to have doubts about the verdict herself, and when she comes across a important piece of evidence that was suppressed at trial she begins to believe that Smiley may just be telling the truth after all.

Cinda faces several moments of personal and moral crisis during the course of the story. She is forced to confront her own feelings about defending a man convicted of a brutal sexual crime, while weighing in her antipathy towards the death penalty and the knowledge that she is all that stands between him and execution. Cinda also faces a difficult situation with a best friend who is suddenly avoiding her. Even the positive development in the form of a promising love affair causes her moments of doubt.

Render up the Body is excellent; suspenseful, complex, with a conclusion that comes as both a surprise and an unresolved question of morality. Cinda was an appealing protagonist; I felt as interested and involved in her life as I did in the larger story. The legal details, the strategy, the motions, the hearings – all of these added interest and suspense.

This is an impressive first novel; I'm looking forward to more from this author.

--Jeri Wright