Review: The Competition by Marcia Clark

• Series: A Rachel Knight Novel
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mulholland Books (July 8, 2014)
• ISBN: 978031622097
• Source: Publisher

After a high school is the site of a shooting, LA Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight and her best friend LAPD detective Bailey Keller are assigned to the case.  While the shooters are dead of an apparent mutual shooting, that doesn’t alleviate the pain of the community. Yet as they begin to interview students and other witnesses, the facts don’t add up. Is it possible that the two individuals found in the library, dead, are not the killers but victims as well?  The idea that the shooters are still on the loose is devastating.  Rachel and the police force must find answers before another attack is made on the community. Killers with this type of anger aren’t going to stop on their own, the only way they will be brought down is at the cost of their lives, be it by police or suicide.

And so Rachel embarks upon an investigation that delves deep into the lives and psyche of a killer’s mind. With a number of potential suspects, the investigation isn’t easy.  Just when they think they have the guilty party in their hands, they are blown away to discover the killer has been right in front of them all along. With plans on duplicating and outdoing other mass-killings, everyone in the community is at risk.

This is my first taste of Marcia Clark’s Rachel Knight series. I admit, when the first book was released, all the promotion and hubbub about the book actually eliminated all desire to read it. And come on, she’s Marcia Clark. Anyone alive during the Simpson trial recognizes her.  Yet when people in the book world (I’m talking about you, Erin & Jen!) kept singing the series’ praise, I knew I had to cave and experience it for myself. And believe me, I’m so thrilled that I finally did.  Clark has managed to do the unimaginable, to prove to the world that she is much more than the Marcia Clark who served as prosecutor of this world-recognized case.

The setting and storyline Clark creates is chilling. Unfortunately, our country’s children have been victims of multiple mass-shootings without any hope of an end. I’m not going to start preaching here, leaving it at the idea that we all have a deep and emotional reaction when we hear of a school shooting. Clark captures that and delves deep into it, using her own experience as a prosecuting attorney to inform and educate her readers about this large social problem. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything, delving deep into the type of person capable of such a horrific act. That said, she also shows sensitivity to all involved in such an act, from the victims to their parents, and even the parents of the shooters themselves. All are victims of these heinous crimes.  No one is left untouched.

While it is difficult to remember, killers like these are often victims of mental illness, something snapping in their psyche that forces them to believe that an act like this is the only way to be heard or to get attention. Skilled at hiding their motives, those closest to them are often completely unaware of what is happening right in front of them.  As the mother of a teen myself, while I feel I know my son and believe he could never perform an act like this, I can see how easily it would be for behavior to go unnoticed. Killers don’t wear a sign announcing their intents, in many cases they wear a veil of innocence.

Bottom line: Clark has exceeded any and all of the expectations I had about this book, and the series as a whole. You better believe I’m going to go back and read it from the beginning. While there is sufficient back story on all of the characters, I want to know even more about Rachel Knight and the other cast of characters. Highly, highly recommended.