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Michael Gresham #7
30 Days of Justis: A legal thriller
She’s a daughter he didn’t know he had. They meet when she’s 28 and waiting on Death Row. She has but 30 days left until her execution for aggravated murder.
Her case has been appealed to all higher courts. Each one has denied her. There are no appeals left when Michael Gresham comes to her side.
So he does the next best thing: he goes back to the first, the beginning of the case. And he begins looking for the one thing that could possibly save her life. When it begins to look hopeless, Michael Gresham promises he will be there at her execution. He will not allow her to die alone.
30 Days of Justis is the story of a frantic father who happens to be a lawyer. But he is a lawyer without a case when she first contacts him. With gathering speed, the days tick past.
What about Michael Gresham? Is he the lawyer who can save her? Or is he in her life only as the last face she sees before it goes dark?
Her case has been appealed to all higher courts. Each one has denied her. There are no appeals left when Michael Gresham comes to her side.
So he does the next best thing: he goes back to the first, the beginning of the case. And he begins looking for the one thing that could possibly save her life. When it begins to look hopeless, Michael Gresham promises he will be there at her execution. He will not allow her to die alone.
30 Days of Justis is the story of a frantic father who happens to be a lawyer. But he is a lawyer without a case when she first contacts him. With gathering speed, the days tick past.
What about Michael Gresham? Is he the lawyer who can save her? Or is he in her life only as the last face she sees before it goes dark?
334 pages, Paperback
Published December 2, 2025
About the author
John Ellsworth
101 books522 followersFormerly a trial lawyer for 30 years, John Ellsworth is now a full-time writer of thrillers and historical fiction, with over millions of copies sold. He holds titles such as USA Today bestseller, an Amazon Bestseller and Featured Author, as well as a Kindle All-Star.
Official Website: www.ellsworthbooks.com
Official Twitter: @jellsworthbooks
Official Instagram: @johnellsworth_author
Official Facebook: facebook.com/johnellsworthauthor
Official Website: www.ellsworthbooks.com
Official Twitter: @jellsworthbooks
Official Instagram: @johnellsworth_author
Official Facebook: facebook.com/johnellsworthauthor
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews
February 11, 2018
Ridiculous story
I know it's fiction but it did not have the slightest hint of being believable. I will continue to read your books, but this one was a dog
I know it's fiction but it did not have the slightest hint of being believable. I will continue to read your books, but this one was a dog
March 9, 2018
Excellent novel.
You'll find out the relationship between attorney and person in death row. She will be put to sleep in thirty days. Michael Gresham will do everything he can to stop this happening, she was convicted by crooked judge, attorney and police even turned their backs. Every evidence he find to prove her innocents again and again rejected. Only thing left to do is hold her hand and pray for a miracle.
You'll find out the relationship between attorney and person in death row. She will be put to sleep in thirty days. Michael Gresham will do everything he can to stop this happening, she was convicted by crooked judge, attorney and police even turned their backs. Every evidence he find to prove her innocents again and again rejected. Only thing left to do is hold her hand and pray for a miracle.
April 23, 2018
Ridiculous book. None of it was remotely believable. No depth of feeling - nothing. I kept waiting for it to improve. Never happened.
July 27, 2019
This story was not believable. It had stereotypes and childish behavior for the characters.
July 6, 2018
I downloaded this book with happy anticipation, given all the 5 star reviews. Ok, it was a page turner.....I will give it that, and only that. The book’s lack of editing was distracting, the story just a bit too farcical to be believable, and the end was totally unbelievable. The premise of the story that originally attracted me was good, but the book itself ruined it. There are many mysteries out there that hinge around death row inmates, the issue of the death penalty, AIDS, and an attorney trying to “beat the clock” to save an inmate’s life. From my viewpoint, find a different one to read.
September 24, 2018
The plot is completely implausible - a young woman sentenced to die for something supposedly done when she was 13 years old??? You know how it will end up before you finish the first chapter. A totally ridiculous, boring book.
June 20, 2018
I Struggled With This Book.
Reading this book was a chore for me. The writing just didn't flow, in my opinion. Out of my genre.
Reading this book was a chore for me. The writing just didn't flow, in my opinion. Out of my genre.
January 30, 2019
This one was hard to finish and the only way I would have been able to enjoy it is if I had left all common sense and logic behind while I read it. The story was implausible and the characters were right out of a bad Hollywood movie, not a single one likeable or believable. The writing style was so painful I tried to listen to the Audible book, that was worse, I recommend to anyone contemplating listening to this book to try listening to the Audible sample before committing.
July 5, 2020
Really? Totally unbelievable. While there are corrupt lawyers/judges out there I would like to think that they are the exception to the rule and, many lawyers/judges are liberal. I just can't believe that this could have happened. And the early life? I just can't see that happening. You are probably asking yourself why I finished this book. I continued to read it to determine what ludicrous thing the author was going to have happen next.
April 4, 2018
Oh WOW!!
Blown away by this. The writing was out of this world. The plot twists sucked me in and wouldn't let go. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, IT DID. Mr. Ellsworth you have a new fan.
Blown away by this. The writing was out of this world. The plot twists sucked me in and wouldn't let go. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, IT DID. Mr. Ellsworth you have a new fan.
April 9, 2018
A good plotline lost its way!
The plot started with great promise but sadly, it ran out of ideas and then it was rambling and repetitive.
The plot started with great promise but sadly, it ran out of ideas and then it was rambling and repetitive.
May 7, 2018
Really ridiculous and really a bad book. I've liked most of his other books; this one, not so much.
November 12, 2019
Excellent read. Real page turner told in present tense that has a real sense of immediacy to it. Highly recommend.
April 29, 2018
The good and the bad. The bad first.
The Bad: The first person narrative grates occasionally. And it feels as though every other chapter is closed with some sort of exclamation about the need for justice to be served or a pep talk about how the protagonist must step up his game. We get it. This is an important case. Suck it up and do your job.
The Good: 30 Days of Justis is truly compelling. It's a riveting story driven by some interesting characters (though Mr. Ellsworth could have spent a little more time on them) and huge miscarriages of justice. I wasn't aware of how emotionally invested I was until the end.
I understand that this is part of a series but that it stands alone fairly well. I've just downloaded Ellsworth's first entry in the series and look forward to starting at the beginning.
The Bad: The first person narrative grates occasionally. And it feels as though every other chapter is closed with some sort of exclamation about the need for justice to be served or a pep talk about how the protagonist must step up his game. We get it. This is an important case. Suck it up and do your job.
The Good: 30 Days of Justis is truly compelling. It's a riveting story driven by some interesting characters (though Mr. Ellsworth could have spent a little more time on them) and huge miscarriages of justice. I wasn't aware of how emotionally invested I was until the end.
I understand that this is part of a series but that it stands alone fairly well. I've just downloaded Ellsworth's first entry in the series and look forward to starting at the beginning.
December 3, 2019
I felt generous giving it two stars, I usually like Ellsworth books but not this one. Did not like the daughter, her problems, her spoiled attitude. So truth be known, I really didn’t care how the trial turned out. I’ll think twice before I commit to reading another tome featuring same cast of characters.
August 29, 2022
Corruption in the judicial system
I found this book to be implausible. Michael is portrayed as a goody - goody. He rescues a dog that was hit by a car. The dog turns out to be a purebred Springer Spaniel and no one claims the dog. Seriously!!! Can a minor really be charged with 1st degree murder for giving someone AIDS?
I found this book to be implausible. Michael is portrayed as a goody - goody. He rescues a dog that was hit by a car. The dog turns out to be a purebred Springer Spaniel and no one claims the dog. Seriously!!! Can a minor really be charged with 1st degree murder for giving someone AIDS?
May 24, 2019
Not up to par
Maybe a little less of Gresham having children he didn't know about? He doesn't seem all that interested in the ones he has! Also Danny's mother was killed several books ago and was resurrected to babysit. Not happy with this one.
Maybe a little less of Gresham having children he didn't know about? He doesn't seem all that interested in the ones he has! Also Danny's mother was killed several books ago and was resurrected to babysit. Not happy with this one.
August 2, 2020
Is it possible?
I have to admit, the premise of this book strikes me as odd. Would someone really end in death row for giving another person AIDS, even if it led to his death? The author is a criminal defence lawyer so maybe he knows...
I have to admit, the premise of this book strikes me as odd. Would someone really end in death row for giving another person AIDS, even if it led to his death? The author is a criminal defence lawyer so maybe he knows...
June 18, 2019
Easy quick read. Not realistic at all. Corny, wouldn’t happen and predictable
June 10, 2018
Page Turner
April 18, 2024
A thriller in its own right. The events fly. The fight against the system is unbearable. The end is suddenly surprising
May 19, 2023
one of his best
What more can Ellsworth write about. From the first page I was hooked again. His detail for detail goes beyond what I expect. I am a loyal fan and only read his books. On to the next one. Can’t wait!
What more can Ellsworth write about. From the first page I was hooked again. His detail for detail goes beyond what I expect. I am a loyal fan and only read his books. On to the next one. Can’t wait!
April 18, 2024
Great book
It's been a long time since I read a legal thriller and I gotta say, I loved this one and regret waiting so long to read it! What a nail biter!
It's been a long time since I read a legal thriller and I gotta say, I loved this one and regret waiting so long to read it! What a nail biter!
September 21, 2019
I keep reading these books because the first 3 or 4 were good. But they
get worse every time. The last couple seem to be written by an entirely different author, who doesn't even seem to have read the previous books closely. In this book the younger kids were being taken care of by their birth mother's parents for a bit. Except their birth grandmother was killed in a previous book. Can the author not even remember his own story lines?
get worse every time. The last couple seem to be written by an entirely different author, who doesn't even seem to have read the previous books closely. In this book the younger kids were being taken care of by their birth mother's parents for a bit. Except their birth grandmother was killed in a previous book. Can the author not even remember his own story lines?
November 19, 2018
Continues Michael's path of finding children from long ago affairs. Much soul searching on Michael's end. First time I had to read the last chapter to decide if I wanted to wade through the anguish.
September 20, 2019
There are elements of this book that are completely unbelievable that it is crazy and yet I still enjoyed it.
August 1, 2020
Improbable but with an interesting protagonist who pulls off a "happily ever after" procedural legal victory.
February 6, 2018
Imagine being successful and working in a job you love as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Washington, D.C. Attorney’s Office. You are happily married with three beautiful daughters and an adopted savant daughter. All is well. Except when you receive a letter crying out for help from a woman, who claims to be your daughter, and is now on death row. And on the July 4th weekend no less. What would you do? Michael Gresham doesn’t think twice, he flies to the Spokane Detention center to see his daughter, and to find out why she is on death row. It seems that she has been accused of killing a Judge. After meeting his daughter, Cache Evans, he finds out that her mother, Millicent Evans, kept her daughter from knowing anything about her father. Of course, this set Cache on the downward spiral that consumed her life and set her on the course of drugs and prostitution. Michael takes on the case and continues to delve into why his daughter was accused of killing a Judge by passing on the HIV virus to him. There are so many inconsistencies throughout the trial transcripts that definitely point out to a cover up of the Judge and his “dark side.” He only has 30 days to try to save his daughter. Every appeal has been exhausted, so what will he do. He and his investigator, Marcel, continue to uncover facts that were not expressed in Cache’s trial, and should have been. One of them being that she was placed into the Judges’ household by CPS, and that she was raped by him. There is too much cover up and conspiracy going on, and Michael must save his daughter’s life. It seems like quite a mountain to climb. Will he be able to get another hearing, due to the faulty lack of representation? Will he be able to uncover the promise of a judgeship, if his daughter is let to take the blame for something she didn’t do? Will he be able to have a relationship with his daughter even though the time is speeding by towards her execution? What an awesome and intriguing plot! The twists and turns of the book keep the reader riveted to their seat. The character development was superb, and the reader could definitely relate to the emotional roller coaster each person was experiencing in the book. If you like legal conspiracies, corruption, intrigue and mystery, this book will definitely take you there. I loved this book very much and can’t wait for the next one. I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
April 17, 2018
Quick fire
If you like your stories fast paced, this is for you. From page one it rushes breathlessly on and doesn’t stop to the end. It is very much a book of the US, where as the author comments, the populace do not trust the government at all, yet trust them to murder citizens with the death penalty. There is also a kind of apologia at the end where he says he isn’t taking a position on the death penalty. I assume he isn’t because he is afraid of losing his US readership, or at least part of it. As far as I am aware, the US is the only developed country that does murder its citizens. Which makes the apologia interesting. It is as if no one dare speak out against the practice, which is not evidence of freedom of speech and respect for differing views.
The daughter on death row is for me too much of a fairytale. I don’t believe any child living through those experiences would emerge with any kind of sanity or social behaviour. She would more likely be totally screwed up, and act appallingly, having been taught from such a young age she can trust in no one and nothing. Hug her long lost dad? I doubt it. She would be more likely to kick him in the teeth, even though her situation was not his fault. That is why I have only given four and not five stars.
Apart from that, it is a rattling good read, but does present the US legal system in a horrendous light. Can a middle-aged man really blame an already abused 13 year old for sexual congress? She is a child! It is rape, pure and simple. The fact that any court would not see that immediately is deeply shocking. The case should never have been heard except to prosecute the man, who had a duty of care as her foster father. As a non-US citizen I found that deeply shocking. If that could really happen, I am amazed. But as children can marry in the US in some states at 12 or even under, I suppose it fits in with the general lack of legal respect and protection for children in that country.
An interesting novel, and I did enjoy the story and the pace with which it was told.
If you like your stories fast paced, this is for you. From page one it rushes breathlessly on and doesn’t stop to the end. It is very much a book of the US, where as the author comments, the populace do not trust the government at all, yet trust them to murder citizens with the death penalty. There is also a kind of apologia at the end where he says he isn’t taking a position on the death penalty. I assume he isn’t because he is afraid of losing his US readership, or at least part of it. As far as I am aware, the US is the only developed country that does murder its citizens. Which makes the apologia interesting. It is as if no one dare speak out against the practice, which is not evidence of freedom of speech and respect for differing views.
The daughter on death row is for me too much of a fairytale. I don’t believe any child living through those experiences would emerge with any kind of sanity or social behaviour. She would more likely be totally screwed up, and act appallingly, having been taught from such a young age she can trust in no one and nothing. Hug her long lost dad? I doubt it. She would be more likely to kick him in the teeth, even though her situation was not his fault. That is why I have only given four and not five stars.
Apart from that, it is a rattling good read, but does present the US legal system in a horrendous light. Can a middle-aged man really blame an already abused 13 year old for sexual congress? She is a child! It is rape, pure and simple. The fact that any court would not see that immediately is deeply shocking. The case should never have been heard except to prosecute the man, who had a duty of care as her foster father. As a non-US citizen I found that deeply shocking. If that could really happen, I am amazed. But as children can marry in the US in some states at 12 or even under, I suppose it fits in with the general lack of legal respect and protection for children in that country.
An interesting novel, and I did enjoy the story and the pace with which it was told.
February 28, 2023
Okay, so here's the quick synopsis. Michael had a quick fling with Millie and then they both moved on with their lives and careers. Millie had Michael's baby but never told him. The baby (Cache) finds her dad online when she is 11 or 12. She's mad at mom for not telling her about her dad and she runs away. She is put into a foster home and is raped by three older boys. A judge and his wife take her in and become her foster parents. The judge starts molesting Cache. He develops aides and eventually dies. Cache is charged with murder (because when her foster dad molested her as a minor and ended up with aides, it could have only been her that he contracted it from). They decide to try her as an adult (okay to molest a minor, but if you die from it, okay to try her as an adult). She gets the death penalty (for being a minor molested by her foster father and allegedly giving him aides.) Cache contacts dad (Michael, the lawyer) and asks for his help. Oh yeah, she's due for execution in 30 days. She's already stood trial, found guilty and sentenced to death.
I kept thinking I must have misread something somewhere along the lines because this is the most ludicrous premise I have ever heard of. But it was action packed, so I wanted to finish it. The writing is amazing. I just found the whole line of events utterly unbelievable. Then when I finished it and read about the author, I was absolutely floored to find out he is an actual lawyer! So does this mean if you get raped, you really can get charged with murder for passing on a transmittable disease? And does this mean it's okay to molest your foster daughter as long as you're a judge? I'm totally confused. Glad to be done with this book.
I kept thinking I must have misread something somewhere along the lines because this is the most ludicrous premise I have ever heard of. But it was action packed, so I wanted to finish it. The writing is amazing. I just found the whole line of events utterly unbelievable. Then when I finished it and read about the author, I was absolutely floored to find out he is an actual lawyer! So does this mean if you get raped, you really can get charged with murder for passing on a transmittable disease? And does this mean it's okay to molest your foster daughter as long as you're a judge? I'm totally confused. Glad to be done with this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews