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McMurtrie and Drake #4
The Final Reckoning
His last challenge: live long enough to save the lives of those he loves.
Cold-blooded killer JimBone Wheeler blames Tom McMurtrie for putting him on death row. He once vowed that he’d bring “a reckoning” on Tom and everyone the southern lawyer holds dear. When Wheeler escapes from prison, he aims to fulfill his promise. Victim by victim, he’s getting closer to his ultimate target. But for Tom, who’s dying of cancer, the role of savior and protector is a struggle that is becoming more desperate by the hour.
As the body count mounts, Tom, his partner, Rick Drake, and his best friend, Bocephus Haynes, brace for a confrontation like nothing they have ever faced before. This battle will be waged not in a courthouse but on the streets and fields of north Alabama. With all those he loves at risk, Tom must save his family, his friends, and his legacy from a killer whose hunger for retribution knows no bounds.
Now, as time ticks down and fate and vengeance close in, who will survive Wheeler’s final reckoning?
Cold-blooded killer JimBone Wheeler blames Tom McMurtrie for putting him on death row. He once vowed that he’d bring “a reckoning” on Tom and everyone the southern lawyer holds dear. When Wheeler escapes from prison, he aims to fulfill his promise. Victim by victim, he’s getting closer to his ultimate target. But for Tom, who’s dying of cancer, the role of savior and protector is a struggle that is becoming more desperate by the hour.
As the body count mounts, Tom, his partner, Rick Drake, and his best friend, Bocephus Haynes, brace for a confrontation like nothing they have ever faced before. This battle will be waged not in a courthouse but on the streets and fields of north Alabama. With all those he loves at risk, Tom must save his family, his friends, and his legacy from a killer whose hunger for retribution knows no bounds.
Now, as time ticks down and fate and vengeance close in, who will survive Wheeler’s final reckoning?
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2019
3964 people are currently reading
1412 people want to read
About the author
Robert Bailey
12 books1,337 followersRobert Bailey is the bestselling and award winning author of the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series, which includes The Final Reckoning, The Last Trial, Between Black and White, and The Professor, as well as the Bocephus Haynes’ series, which debuted with Legacy of Lies. He is also the author of the inspirational novel, The Golfer’s Carol.
Robert was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of a builder and a schoolteacher. From the time he could walk, he’s loved stories, especially those about Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide football team.
Robert obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from Davidson College in North Carolina. Law School at the University of Alabama followed, where Robert made Law Review, competed on the school’s trial team and managed to watch every home football game.
For the past twenty-one years, he’s been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville. He and his wife, Dixie, have three kids.
Robert was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of a builder and a schoolteacher. From the time he could walk, he’s loved stories, especially those about Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide football team.
Robert obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from Davidson College in North Carolina. Law School at the University of Alabama followed, where Robert made Law Review, competed on the school’s trial team and managed to watch every home football game.
For the past twenty-one years, he’s been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville. He and his wife, Dixie, have three kids.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 479 reviews
May 22, 2019
This is the last book of the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Series. I was hooked with the first book. It is best to read the series in order. Robert Bailey was a new author to me when I read book one; now he is on my favorite author’s list.
The book is well written. The characters are interesting and believable. The suspense is almost unbearable. The scenes about cancer are realistic and are written with emotion. Only someone who had experience with cancer would be able to write so effectively about it. The ending was excellent in that it wrapped everything up.
This was a great series. I do hope Bailey has some more books coming. I highly recommend this series.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is nine hours and fifty-nine minutes. Eric G. Dove does an excellent job narrating this series. Dove is an actor, musician and a multiple Earphone Award winning audiobook narrator.
I
The book is well written. The characters are interesting and believable. The suspense is almost unbearable. The scenes about cancer are realistic and are written with emotion. Only someone who had experience with cancer would be able to write so effectively about it. The ending was excellent in that it wrapped everything up.
This was a great series. I do hope Bailey has some more books coming. I highly recommend this series.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is nine hours and fifty-nine minutes. Eric G. Dove does an excellent job narrating this series. Dove is an actor, musician and a multiple Earphone Award winning audiobook narrator.
I
November 15, 2019
I read this entire four-novel series over the past several months, and they are all terrific. When beginning this book, it seemed like a premise that was a little too obvious, but I should not have doubted Bailey's ability to pull it off. With one twist after another, "The Final Reckoning" is a treatise on how to maintain tension chapter after chapter while making the reader care for some characters and hate others.
September 12, 2019
The final book to the series and it was thrilling. This one was more a suspense thriller than a legal one when a crook Tom McMurtrie put on death row had escape and vow to kill everyone Tom hold dear. I can't wait for the spinoff.
July 26, 2020
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A lawyer with terminal cancer is told by a death row inmate that he will escape and kill everyone the lawyer cares about. The inmate promptly escapes and starts work, while the lawyer assembles his friends and tries to stop him.
Some pretty thrilling parts.
A lawyer with terminal cancer is told by a death row inmate that he will escape and kill everyone the lawyer cares about. The inmate promptly escapes and starts work, while the lawyer assembles his friends and tries to stop him.
Some pretty thrilling parts.
April 22, 2019
Since the three previous books in this series were all fun reads, this one (the series finale) was a bit of a letdown. The same cast of characters was here, with their rock-solid relationships, but the full-bore action of the earlier books this time seemed more like high melodrama.
Former law professor and criminal lawyer Tom McMurtrie is diagnosed with terminal cancer and withdraws from public life. At the same time, a dangerous convict on a vendetta stages a jailbreak and comes after McMurtie and all he holds dear.
The publisher's blurb warns readers that the battle in this book is fought not in the courtroom, but on the streets and fields of north Alabama. This may account for my disappointment, since these familiar characters, in the face of their monstrous opponents, had to rely not on their wits and their wisdom, but on an increasing cycle of violence.
The villains here -- the prison escapee, his accomplice, a corrupt sheriff, and a wealthy widow -- were caricatures that were hard for me to believe, let alone engage with. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.
Former law professor and criminal lawyer Tom McMurtrie is diagnosed with terminal cancer and withdraws from public life. At the same time, a dangerous convict on a vendetta stages a jailbreak and comes after McMurtie and all he holds dear.
The publisher's blurb warns readers that the battle in this book is fought not in the courtroom, but on the streets and fields of north Alabama. This may account for my disappointment, since these familiar characters, in the face of their monstrous opponents, had to rely not on their wits and their wisdom, but on an increasing cycle of violence.
The villains here -- the prison escapee, his accomplice, a corrupt sheriff, and a wealthy widow -- were caricatures that were hard for me to believe, let alone engage with. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.
March 10, 2023
This is one of those over-the-top violent books, where the villains were not at all sympathetic or worthy of living. Some truly evil people, ranging from lawmen to psychopaths. Most of them got their just desserts, though a few got off easy, but they were not quite so evil.
It was hard to read due to the fact that the Professor was dying of cancer throughout the book, getting worse as the story progressed. A bit depressing by itself, but going through all this while having a crazy but competent psychopath trying to kill him and all that he loved was not my idea of an ideal end of life for a good man.
It was hard to read due to the fact that the Professor was dying of cancer throughout the book, getting worse as the story progressed. A bit depressing by itself, but going through all this while having a crazy but competent psychopath trying to kill him and all that he loved was not my idea of an ideal end of life for a good man.
July 3, 2022
I was really hoping for more but at least the story was finished and not left dangling. 3 stars for this one.
July 9, 2021
A killer escapes from death row. With the help of his crew, he executes a deadly plan to bring a reckoning to those who put him in prison.
A captivating story, well-told. I felt the hatred, the ice-cold murders; and for our heroes, the concern and frustrations of being hunted. We can do this.
A captivating story, well-told. I felt the hatred, the ice-cold murders; and for our heroes, the concern and frustrations of being hunted. We can do this.
March 9, 2023
I’ve read all 3 of the McMurtrie character. I can’t put into words how much I crave this author’s books. I highly recommend these to all. Thank you Robert Bailey for sharing your family with us. “wide ass open”.
May 29, 2022
This was a fitting ending to a very enjoyable series! I don’t often read each book in a series without a break, but I did in this case. I highly recommend this series. Each book is very good.
May 23, 2019
"The Final Reckoning" offers a great story, fast pacing, strong narrative, action, fear and misery and transcendence. In other words, it is a great, classic thriller. Though more often than not categorized as a legal thriller, the book puts the thriller concept ahead of courtrooms and legal wrangling, though the story does have some of that too.
Bailey proves once more that he is one fine writer with a great instinct for telling a powerful story.
In "The Final Reckoning," Tom McMurtrie is a terminally ill man, but he must live long enough to save his family from destruction at the hands of JimBone Wheeler, a natural predator and criminally insane killer Tom helped place on death row. When the madman escapes and comes after Tom and his kith and kin, the dangers—and violence—escalate quickly. This book creates a tense, nail-biting manic need to keep reading and turning pages to find out what happens next, especially after JimBone makes his first successful revenge kill.
Though there is enough fast-paced action to satisfy any thriller addict, "The Final Reckoning" is also a tender-hearted family drama. Tom’s family struggles to come to terms with his stage four cancer diagnosis, even as the professor himself seeks meaning in his last days. There are some definite pangs of longing in scenes between Helen, aka "The General," a prosecutor who could have been Tom's lover if things had been different for them. And scenes with Tom and his grandson, Jackson, are moving, tender, sweet and never overplayed.
It is probably best to read the four books in the series in order. The books in the series are: The Professor, Between Black and White, and The Last Trial all published by Thomas & Mercer. All books in the series are excellent.
Bailey proves once more that he is one fine writer with a great instinct for telling a powerful story.
In "The Final Reckoning," Tom McMurtrie is a terminally ill man, but he must live long enough to save his family from destruction at the hands of JimBone Wheeler, a natural predator and criminally insane killer Tom helped place on death row. When the madman escapes and comes after Tom and his kith and kin, the dangers—and violence—escalate quickly. This book creates a tense, nail-biting manic need to keep reading and turning pages to find out what happens next, especially after JimBone makes his first successful revenge kill.
Though there is enough fast-paced action to satisfy any thriller addict, "The Final Reckoning" is also a tender-hearted family drama. Tom’s family struggles to come to terms with his stage four cancer diagnosis, even as the professor himself seeks meaning in his last days. There are some definite pangs of longing in scenes between Helen, aka "The General," a prosecutor who could have been Tom's lover if things had been different for them. And scenes with Tom and his grandson, Jackson, are moving, tender, sweet and never overplayed.
It is probably best to read the four books in the series in order. The books in the series are: The Professor, Between Black and White, and The Last Trial all published by Thomas & Mercer. All books in the series are excellent.
May 6, 2022
This is described as a "Legal Thriller" - which fit the other books in the series. But this one was just a bloodbath. Conclusion to a 4-book series, the psychopath who has been put on death row by The Professor and his partner Rick Drake escapes with a vow to have his "reckoning" with all those that The Professor holds dear. Multiple executions, assassinations, and a kidnapping throw in for good measure before the final showdown.
A little too much killing for me and not enough courtroom drama compared with the other books in the series. On to the Bocephus Haynes follow-on series....
A little too much killing for me and not enough courtroom drama compared with the other books in the series. On to the Bocephus Haynes follow-on series....
March 4, 2019
Th last book in a series is often used to simply tie together loose ends, but not this one. Yes, all things are pulled together from the three previous novels, but this book does much more... it inspires. Every day needs to be lived to its fullest, as The Professor and his friends so ably model when confronted by evil personified in JimBone Wheeler who is looking for a final reckoning.
April 12, 2023
The four books In Robert Bailey's series are beautiful readings when you do not come to read them with preconceptions. Yes, they have the background of a legal thriller, and yes, they deal with trials and people involved in the world of Justice and crime but, ultimately, they are about love and friendship and life as it is. I loved all four of them.
August 4, 2019
I have to say that this was one of the best written series I’ve ever read—and I read a lot. The storyline was well developed and compelling, the characters were believable, and though it was a series each book had realistic conclusions while still drawing hr reader in for more. I had one problem: the explicit sexual scenes and the profanity. This writer is so good that it just wasn’t necessary. I found the parts that just told the story without all of this were much much better. This kept me from giving the books 5 stars. Such a good writer though.
November 8, 2020
Okay if you read the previous ones in the series and liked them, but even then this one really jumps the shark.
March 1, 2022
A bit of a shoot-'em-up, an extreme thriller with a smattering of courtroom drama. The usual southern nicknames, too. I admit that I read the Bocephus novel out of sequence, but it didn't make any difference and it is from a different series. That story was several years after this one, and now I know why the situations were as they were at that time. Good story, sorry to the Professor gone.
July 7, 2019
I've enjoyed the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers since I read the first book. This final book is a good wrap-up of the series. It is fast-paced and exciting and it was hard to put down. I recommend this book to everybody.
June 2, 2020
In between reading some of my heavier titles, I like to read a book from the fantasy or legal genre. Robert Bailey's McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers definitely fit my need for a fast paced, lighter read. I am looking forward to reading his next series.
January 10, 2023
What a thrilling ride The Final Reckoning turned out to be. I’ve enjoyed all four books in the McMurtrie and Drake, and read them back to back. The author has created characters that you come to love and root for. There is so much tension in this book I almost forgot to breathe as Tom, his partner, Rick Drake, and his best friend, Bocephus Haynes, brace for a confrontation with JimBone Wheeler. The Final Reckoning brings all the loose ends from the previous books to a satisfying and dramatic conclusion. I admit I found the conclusion very sad but fitting. I would recommend you read the books in order rather than a standalone to enjoy the full benefit of these books.
July 1, 2025
Lacks the heart of the first two books. The author’s note makes the book make a bit more sense, that his father liked westerns and the book is dedicated to him. I found the violence unnecessary and over the top. I love action books but this wasn’t a good one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2020
This is a great series! The characters are fun and exciting and each book is a page turner. These would make great vacation reads or just an easy read when you want a good legal thriller.
October 21, 2022
A thrilling conclusion to a fantastic series. Dynamic characters.
September 26, 2024
I loved this series so much — I wish there were more! I loved how each book had its own story but they were all connected as one big one. Great series.
January 21, 2020
⭐️ 4.5 stars ⭐️
September 7, 2020
I enjoyed this one a bit less than the others because it wasn’t really a legal thriller at all. It was, as the title indicates, pure “reckoning.” Lots of death, gore, rape, and grief. Not too much smart legal, or even investigative, work on anyone’s part. Of course I still enjoyed the setting and the characters, but I wish it had been less action-adventure and more of the courtroom drama the first three books gave us.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2019
This the last of this series, and worked perfectly to entertain me during some very difficult times. I have no doubt that a few of the characters will resurface in his next endeavor...a great fast reading author!
May 1, 2019
Another high standard effort by Robert Bailey.
I'm looking forward to his next book and where he goes with it.
I'm looking forward to his next book and where he goes with it.
March 27, 2021
Plot. Tom McMurtrie is a law professor forced into early retirement by nefarious nonsense that will give you characters to hate. Tom passes on a case to a brilliant young law student who eventually becomes his partner. Through the four novels, the two face life-and-death challenges, win huge cases, put killers in jail, and, by the end of the series, confront the demonic mind of a man they sent to death row. The creep is hell-bent on a "final reckoning" that will jeopardize Tom, his partner, friends, and family. All the while, Tom is battling cancer.
Liked. Loaded with tension. Each novel contains a beginning-middle-end but read them in sequence to glean the most from these stories, or you'll miss out on some foreshadowing and character motive. Narration is good.
Not so hot. Well, it didn't really bother me, but it will some. There are instances of violence, offensive language, and sex. But, in my opinion, nothing gratuitous, and it is character-centric. Just a part of real-life; some people are evil.
The McMurtrie and Drake Legal series consists of four full-length novels written by Robert Bailey and narrated by Eric G. Dove. These include Book 1 - The Professor, Book 2 - Between Black & White, Book 3 - The Last Trial, and Book 4 - The Final Reckoning. All four novels are in the area of 10-11 hours of listening, released from 2015 through 2019 by Brilliance Audio. Read the novels in sequence as most characters traverse through all four stories - you miss development.
Recommended.
Liked. Loaded with tension. Each novel contains a beginning-middle-end but read them in sequence to glean the most from these stories, or you'll miss out on some foreshadowing and character motive. Narration is good.
Not so hot. Well, it didn't really bother me, but it will some. There are instances of violence, offensive language, and sex. But, in my opinion, nothing gratuitous, and it is character-centric. Just a part of real-life; some people are evil.
The McMurtrie and Drake Legal series consists of four full-length novels written by Robert Bailey and narrated by Eric G. Dove. These include Book 1 - The Professor, Book 2 - Between Black & White, Book 3 - The Last Trial, and Book 4 - The Final Reckoning. All four novels are in the area of 10-11 hours of listening, released from 2015 through 2019 by Brilliance Audio. Read the novels in sequence as most characters traverse through all four stories - you miss development.
Recommended.
March 18, 2021
Great Read...
Let me start by saying that I happened upon this author by accident through Kindle, but I am so so glad that I did. He's an excellent storyteller. I just finished the last of this four book series and it made me a little sad and to be honest, I cried a little too. You know a story is good when you are in it emotionally. I absolutely loved the main characters, but Tom was my favorite. I must admit that I was a little bit upset with the author that Tom was dying, but such is life right. After reading the third book of the series, I purchased several more and I'm looking forward to starting on those. After reading these four, I feel like I know each character personally. It's an amazing thing to be a reader. I always say that true readers are born. We have an opportunity to be a part of the characters' lives and through them, we experience what they experience in places we may never visit in real life. We formulate in our minds what the characters look like, we see the cities and towns in our minds and we get to make of it all what our imagination wants. Also, I love how the author shares a piece if his life under the Author Notes. The Tom character was borne out of the character of his dad, down to the same disease. Great writing...on to his next one.
Let me start by saying that I happened upon this author by accident through Kindle, but I am so so glad that I did. He's an excellent storyteller. I just finished the last of this four book series and it made me a little sad and to be honest, I cried a little too. You know a story is good when you are in it emotionally. I absolutely loved the main characters, but Tom was my favorite. I must admit that I was a little bit upset with the author that Tom was dying, but such is life right. After reading the third book of the series, I purchased several more and I'm looking forward to starting on those. After reading these four, I feel like I know each character personally. It's an amazing thing to be a reader. I always say that true readers are born. We have an opportunity to be a part of the characters' lives and through them, we experience what they experience in places we may never visit in real life. We formulate in our minds what the characters look like, we see the cities and towns in our minds and we get to make of it all what our imagination wants. Also, I love how the author shares a piece if his life under the Author Notes. The Tom character was borne out of the character of his dad, down to the same disease. Great writing...on to his next one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 479 reviews