Author: Robert Whitlow
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Legal Thriller
Format: Kindle ARC and Audiobook ALC
Length: 12 hrs 33 mins
Narrator: Jason Keller
No. of Pages: 464
Date of Publication: April 7, 2026
My Rating: 3 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
In seeking to help an employee charged with drug smuggling, a man in the federal witness protection program is drawn back into the criminal world he thought he'd left behind.
While in his early twenties, Jason Favreau went to work in the accounting department for a company he thought was in the import/export business. He was partly right. It was a front company for a cartel smuggling drugs into the US. Once he becomes aware of the illegal operation, he doesn't quit--he's making a lot of money and participates at various levels. When the cartel is raided, Jason is arrested and agrees to testify for the government. In return, Jason is ultimately placed in the Witness Protection Program, relocated to southeast Georgia, and given the name Jon Tremaine. He goes to work for a large commercial tree farm, and after eighteen years he is the manager of the operation. One of his employees, Pablo Mendez, has a side hustle importing exotic chocolate from his home village in Mexico for sale to high-end restaurants. But when one of his pallets of chocolate is seized at the port of Brunswick, drugs are found, and Pablo is arrested.
Jon helps Pablo hire Kelli Jackson, a former US Attorney in Atlanta who has moved to Brunswick with her two children after a divorce from her unfaithful husband. Kelli takes a job with a law school friend who has a growing practice in Brunswick. Based on her prior criminal law experience, Kelli agrees to represent Pablo. As the case is investigated, it becomes clear to Jon that the drug gang operates much like the group he was part of in Louisiana and Texas. Pablo agrees to cooperate with the government in return for dismissal of charges that will otherwise certainly result in a conviction and separate him from his young family for decades.
Life as a defense lawyer is much different from that of a US Attorney, and Kelli struggles to keep up. But as Pablo's case heats up, so do the dangers for all involved. It will take a great deal of courage and legal knowledge to protect Pablo and bring the criminals to justice.
While in his early twenties, Jason Favreau went to work in the accounting department for a company he thought was in the import/export business. He was partly right. It was a front company for a cartel smuggling drugs into the US. Once he becomes aware of the illegal operation, he doesn't quit--he's making a lot of money and participates at various levels. When the cartel is raided, Jason is arrested and agrees to testify for the government. In return, Jason is ultimately placed in the Witness Protection Program, relocated to southeast Georgia, and given the name Jon Tremaine. He goes to work for a large commercial tree farm, and after eighteen years he is the manager of the operation. One of his employees, Pablo Mendez, has a side hustle importing exotic chocolate from his home village in Mexico for sale to high-end restaurants. But when one of his pallets of chocolate is seized at the port of Brunswick, drugs are found, and Pablo is arrested.
Jon helps Pablo hire Kelli Jackson, a former US Attorney in Atlanta who has moved to Brunswick with her two children after a divorce from her unfaithful husband. Kelli takes a job with a law school friend who has a growing practice in Brunswick. Based on her prior criminal law experience, Kelli agrees to represent Pablo. As the case is investigated, it becomes clear to Jon that the drug gang operates much like the group he was part of in Louisiana and Texas. Pablo agrees to cooperate with the government in return for dismissal of charges that will otherwise certainly result in a conviction and separate him from his young family for decades.
Life as a defense lawyer is much different from that of a US Attorney, and Kelli struggles to keep up. But as Pablo's case heats up, so do the dangers for all involved. It will take a great deal of courage and legal knowledge to protect Pablo and bring the criminals to justice.
MY THOUGHTS:
Kelli Jackson struggling as a single mother to two children. Currently staying with her aunt Carli for now, Kelli owes her best to help those least fortunate. Her new job connects her with a friend from law school, Jon Favreau, whose career had been sidelined. Now they are both working hard together to help a man named Pablo, who has somehow become involved in a widespread drug smuggling operation. Pablo works for Jon at a commercial tree farm, and claims his innocence. Can Jon and Kelli help Pablo, especially now that he has become a government informant?
This is no easy case for Kelli to have taken on, especially as the intensity ratchets up, almost to the point of burying Pablo. Yet her determination to find justice for Pablo prevails. While her working with Jon doesn’t necessarily make her job any easier, the pair indeed make a fine team.
I had Witness Protection as an audiobook and I admit that I struggled with the story throughout. Both the concept and conflict were good, but the delivery simply did not connect with me. Perhaps it was the narration that kept taking me out of the story - whether it was due to the bland narration or the delivery of the female voice. Then there were the constant scriptural references, yet I stayed with it as I was hoping for a satisfying conclusion, and for that, Robert Whitlow did deliver.
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