Terminal Ambition by Kate McGuinness

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Maggie Mahoney wants justice for women at her law firm.
The firm chairman wants to be Attorney General.
Only one can win.
Sweeny, Owens & Boyle sits at the top of Wall Street law firms. Brilliant and beautiful, Maggie Mahoney became a partner and the trophy wife of its managing attorney. Her husband’s death renders Maggie an outsider with the firm’s male establishment and creates a power vacuum.

Obsessed with his dream of becoming the next Attorney General, firm chairman, Andy Anderson, chooses a surprising replacement: Jack Slattery, a reputed sexist. Jack’s background hardly qualifies him for such a prominent position. Maggie suspects Jack has something on Andy, but what is it?

Andy’s ambition drives him to desperate measures. With proof of misconduct in hand, Maggie demands justice, but it comes at a high price.

If ambition rules, can justice prevail?  (-synopsis from Goodreads)

Terminal Ambition

I was excited to read this legal thriller about a female lawyer fighting for women’s rights.  When I first started reading the book I was overwhelmed by the amount of important characters.  However, the more I read the easier it was to keep track of them because they were all very well developed.

Maggie is a successful lawyer and partner of one of the top Wall Street law firms.  She has just lost her husband to a terrible accident and her best client for the same reason.  She begins looking for new clients when the chairman, Andy Anderson, asks her to be a part of a committee to find out if women are being sexually harassed in the workplace.

At first Maggie despises the task of interviewing women about harassment in the workplace.  That is until she finds out just how many women are having trouble with the male partners at the firm.  As Maggie digs deeper into the troubles of the women she begins to doubt that Andy is looking into these incidents for the right reasons.

Initially Maggie tries to help the women but still ends up siding with the firm.  However, when she walks in on a shocking incident where a partner is literally caught with his pants down she begins to wonder if her big law firm is all it’s cracked up to be.

Maggie desperately tries to find out what Andy’s motives are while trying to help the women in the firm.  She’s knows she’s running out of time when Andy is nominated for Attorney General.  But just when she thinks she might lose the battle Maggie learns something interesting that may blow the entire coverup out of the water.

I found Maggie to be a strong, confident woman who had a good head on her shoulders.  She was a believable character because while she wanted to help the women at her firm she kept thinking of her job first.  Maggie does begin to change her mind and her ways after speaking with the women and seeing just how arrogant and selfish the male partners can be.

I also found the underlying message about women’s rights to be important but not over the top.  It’s a prevalent topic that led to a lot of conversations between me and some of my female friends.

This book is well written and keeps the reader engaged until the very end.  More and more details come out in each chapter so I kept wanting to read more.  There were a few side stories involved in the book which also kept me interested.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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