The novel follows a seasoned traffic lawyer, who, while defending clients caught in mundane but crucial cases—ranging from speeding tickets to reckless driving charges—finds himself drawn into a far more dangerous web of corruption, deception, and criminal activity.

Ecir’s writing is sharp and full of tension, blending moments of dark humor with unexpected twists and turns. The protagonist is a likable yet morally ambiguous character, navigating the murky waters of the legal system and dealing with clients who often have much more at stake than a simple fine. As the lawyer uncovers deeper layers of a criminal conspiracy, the stakes rise, and he must decide how far he’s willing to go to defend his principles—or whether he’ll compromise for the right price.

The novel cleverly explores themes of justice, morality, and personal ambition, all set against the seemingly mundane backdrop of traffic law. Ecir’s commentary on the legal profession and its moral complexities adds an unexpected depth to the story, making it more than just a legal procedural.

As a lawyer myself, it was engaging and clever.

Fifteen years ago, Aldair George was the top student at Yale Law. Now he’s plea bargaining minor speeding tickets. When his best friend is accused of murder, Aldair is forced to face his buried past.

Well written and hauntingly enthralling. Cannot wait to read more from the author.

a good thriller with some twists and turns and an amazing storyline! I would recommend it if your looking for a mystery with a slower storyline rather a fast paced plot heavy thriller!

The Traffic Lawyer will be enjoyed by anyone that enjoys true crime books and sci-fi or science-storyline books. I found the story intriguing, but was a little overwhelmed by the science explanations (I was not a STEM major lol) but the storyline allowed me to work through the things I didn't understand and kept me intrigued until the end!

This was an interesting book. I loved the premise of it but felt like it was kind of slow in the beginning. It did pick up in the second half of the book. Thank you to the author and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love the idea of this book but after some time the execution was poor. The story was all over the place and had way too many plot lines to keep up with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Roland Media for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I was a traffic lawyer for a while, which made the idea intriguing. Adair is presented as a loser, practicing traffic law because he's missing out on his potential. He becomes the attorney for an old friend's murder case, and secrets come out.
It was fun overall but the twists were over-the-top. I'll probably keep following Aldair and his adventures to see how he adapts now that his worldview has been shaken. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

I enjoy shows and books about lawyers (remember the practice and ally mcbeal and well those times :) )
This story has many twists and turns and realistic characters. There were a lot of ideas and plots at play in the book

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story has Aldair revaluating his role in life. It graduated at the top of his Law class at Yale, but something had him shy away from how he practiced law. Something happened that caused him to hide his potential. The only law that he is practicing relates to resolving speeding tickets. This will all change when his classmate, Rick, is charged with murder and wants Aldair to represent him.

Aldair eventually agrees after talking with Rick and Lanie, Aldair's girlfriend. As Aldair begins his search for information, he winds up being attacked several times in addition to having placed anyone helping him in danger as well. As he seems to get closer to learning what was going on he is being monitored by an individual identified as "Death".

To learn what was behind the murder of the individual Rick was charged with killing, what steps "Death" was taking to prevent Aldair from learning what was going on, how a professor at Yale plays a role and how it all ended, then you need to tead this book. The ending is one that you definitely wouldn't expect.

The main character is a flawed hero which draws me in from the beginning. I love that the characters that were close to him saw the hero and not the flaws. The story kept me interested in waiting to find out what he had done that was unforgivable to himself. The case he was solving had enough twists and turns that it kept me interested throughout. I would highly recommend this book.

A very odd book. A high flying legal graduate from Yale spends his time pleading out of state parking tickets. On a whim he attends a reunion and is called to defend his old classmate when he is accused of murder. And that's when things get very strange.

The Traffic Lawyer appears to be a legal thriller, but actually veers towards science fiction. Yet it's a strangely compelling ,, if not totally satisfying, read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Roland Media for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

DNF. This was all over the place. Chapter one, there's a potential client who just...what, disappears? Aldair is speaking to him then he's on his way to his apartment? What happened? And it didn't get any clearer the more I read. Interesting premise from the description but my head was spinning.

I really tried to get into this book but just couldn't. I wanted to like it (I love a legal thriller) but it was silly - and too many secrets we weren't privvy to which just got frustrating. In the end I gave up - sorry.

NetGalley sent me a e-book by Norval Ecir. A lawyer graduates for a prestigious law school for reasons known only to him decides to only practice traffic law. At a class reunion he runs into a few friends, one of them is in trouble and wants the main character to represent him. Seem a little out of the main characters depth but he is encouraged to take the case and is promised help defending his friend. I like the writers stye. The dialog between characters is real and not stunted, it flows. There are a few tangential plots that seem unnecessary in the telling of the story. I kept waiting for them to all come together. Still, I really liked this book.

I am grateful to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Traffic Lawyer. As someone whose professional life closely aligns with the book’s subject matter, I was eager to dive in. However, my experience was mixed.

One of the primary issues I encountered was the book’s erratic pacing. The story frequently jumps from scene to scene without smooth transitions, disrupting the narrative flow and making it challenging to follow. This abruptness made the plot feel disjointed.

Additionally, the introduction of numerous characters led to a loss of focus in the storyline. With so many individuals to keep track of, the narrative often felt cluttered and unfocused, making it difficult to stay invested.

Also, the book seemed to suffer from an overload of ideas. Rather than honing in on a few central themes and exploring them thoroughly, the story attempted to tackle too many concepts at once.

Despite these drawbacks, there were aspects of The Traffic Lawyer that I enjoyed. Aldair George and Laine stood out as particularly compelling characters. Their development and interactions brought a much-needed sense of clarity and engagement to the story.

Overall, I would rate this book a 3/5.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This had me to start - the idea of a terrible lawyer going back to his reunion and ending up embroiled in a huge lawsuit when his former best friend is set up for a crime he didnt commit. However, it also lost me about a fifth of the way in, when it became apparent that this was not the actual plot and, instead, the author had tried to cram multiple stories together to come out with…this.

Shapeshifting, genetically modified humans, transphobia, an idiotic lawyer who we are reminded has set the bar in every state at least once per chapter and inexplicable connections that just simply make no sense… this book is a lot. The character of Justin feels like the author knew what he wanted to do with him but simply had to remind us of his existence throughout and, honestly, it made it clear that he would be a main catalyst to the ending.

Most of the stars here come from the fact that it was short (and yet somehow also very, very long) and for Johan who felt like a character from Arrested Development. In hindsight, he was reminiscent of Dwight from Scary Movie 2. Sadly, that was a highlight.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of The Traffic Lawyer by Norval Eric.

This book had such a fun and interesting background idea. An ex-superstar Yale law graduate has become something of a failure by simply handling out-of-state speeding tickets. When attending his class reunion (something he had no intention to do, at first), he ends up representing his ex-bff who is accused of murder. Cool right? Well yeah, the premises were setting you up for a great story...

The execution, however, was very poor 😩. The story is all over the place, and the plot is hardly believable. The mystery/crime aspect of the novel is borderline SCI-FI. Actually, it's not borderline SCI-FI it IS. And while I am a big fan of SCI-FI, the injection of the genre did not work here.

There are also technically 3 to 4 plot lines at the same time, but they all 'converge' at the end wrapped in a pretty if not clumsy bow 🎀 . The whole thing is seriously messy, and I'm surprised that the author's team didn't try to reign in all of this. The dialogues were hardly credible and most characters felt very caricature-y and were just not likable.

On top of all that, the background idea I thought was great just became annoying. The constant reminder of how amazing he was, how great Yale Law School is etc. I also wonder if the author is aware of a little thing called Bar Reciprocity. If you know any lawyers, even ones from Yale Law 👀, you know that they don't just pass 40 bar exams for fun.

Unfortunately, this book was incredibly messy and poorly executed. 1.5⭐️ for me but I'm rounding it up to 2⭐️ for GoodReads and NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was just simply not it...like at all. I'm very sorry as I know that authors work hard at perfecting books and take a lot of pride in what they write, BUT this book was so dull and so boring. I was waiting and waiting (cue Spongebob "4 hours later") for anything exciting or interesting to happen and it just never came.

This book has a long way to go in editing before full publishing, if you ask me.

The authors intention was good but the story just fell flat for me. I feel like some of the storyline was above me and the characters were underdeveloped. I tried really hard to get into this book and love it because the description caught my attention. This book being considered a legal thriller was a bit off the mark due to lack of thrills.

I thought the plot was fun although a bit weird. However I ended up feeling more confused by storytelling than anything towards the end. It could use a little more clarity.