Holding the Line by Geoffrey Berman

 This is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the US Attorney for the powerful Southern District of New York during the previous administration. Spoiler alert: Attorney General Bill Barr does not come off looking too good.

While the book is partially about the Justice Department's attempts to interfere in SDNY cases, a lot of the book is devoted to high-profile cases  the office took on. These included Jeffrey Epstein, a couple of drug cases (Rochester Drug Cooperative and Insys Therapeutics),  and the return of a Renoir painting stolen by the Nazis.

Because Berman frequently refused to comply with Barr's overly politicized commands, Barr tried to force him out by dangling other jobs in front of him (some of which were not even his to offer) so that he could put one of his own people in charge of SDNY. When Berman refused, Barr announced that Berman was resigning--which Berman promptly and publicly announced wasn't true.

The book ends on this thought-provoking note:

"I look back with a sense of optimism but not comfort. We fought back and protected a cornerstone of American justice, but it is important to understand how fragile the system is and how vulnerable it can be when powerful people attempt to abuse it for political gain. In SDNY, we did not let that happen. But it still could."