An idealistic young public defender and his colleagues decide to stop plea-bargaining in Franklin’s (An Irish Experience, 2008, etc.) historical novel.
The year 1968 was a tumultuous time in America. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, Vietnam War protestors filled the streets, and violence broke out during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. That chaotic year is the setting for this legal thriller, which tries to recapture some of that era’s idealistic spirit. Matt Harris joins the public defender’s office in Solina, California, where the court system is filled with bullying and prejudicial judges and where poor African-Americans, Hispanics and others at the bottom of society’s ladder receive no justice. Sparked by the feelings of rage in the air, Harris and other public defenders decide that they are going to stop advising their clients to take plea bargains because they usually result in innocent people receiving unjust punishment; instead, they resolve to start trying every single case. This plays havoc with the system and makes enemies of the judges. Meanwhile, Harris deals with the fact that his girlfriend, Stella, is battling cancer. In this novel, Franklin attempts to recapture a unique time in American history: The judges represent the law-and-order element that wanted to keep a lid on change, and the public defenders are, in effect, the liberals who aimed to tear down the establishment. The book exclusively tells its story from Harris’ point of view, which doesn’t allow readers to see how the other public defenders are faring in court, beyond the occasional casual reference. Franklin does successfully use many 1968 touchstones, particularly song titles (such as Dion DiMucci’s rendition of “Abraham, Martin and John”), to set his scenes. Sometimes he tries too hard, however, particularly with his characters’ clichéd and constant use of the term “pigs” to describe those representing the established system. Harris’ love affair with Stella is reminiscent of Love Story, and she, like other characters here, often seems like a cardboard construct who doesn’t exist except when she’s with him.
A thriller with a unique story idea and a well-captured historical mood but hampered by one-dimensional characters.
Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9908398-0-4
Page Count: 565
Publisher: Chamberlain Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.
A forsaken family bound by grief still struggles to pick up the pieces 12 years after their mother’s death.
When famous author Gil Coleman sees “his dead wife standing on the pavement below” from a bookshop window in a small town on the southern coast of England, he follows her, but to no avail, and takes a near-fatal fall off a walkway on the beach. As soon as they hear word of his accident, Gil’s grown daughters, Nan and Flora, drop everything and return to their seaside family home in Spanish Green. Though her father’s health is dire, Flora, Gil’s youngest, can’t help but be consumed by the thought that her mother, Ingrid—who went missing and presumably drowned (though the body was never found) off the coast more than a decade ago—could be alive, wandering the streets of their town. British author Fuller’s second novel (Our Endless Numbered Days, 2015) is nimbly told from two alternating perspectives: Flora’s, as she re-evaluates the loose ends of her mother’s ambiguous disappearance; and Ingrid’s, through a series of candid letters she writes, but never delivers, to Gil in the month leading up to the day she vanishes. The most compelling parts of this novel unfold in Ingrid’s letters, in which she chronicles the dissolution of her 16-year marriage to Gil, beginning when they first meet in 1976: Gil is her alluring professor, they engage in a furtive love affair, and fall into a hasty union precipitated by an unexpected pregnancy; Gil gains literary fame, and Ingrid is left to tackle motherhood alone (including two miscarriages); and it all bitterly culminates in the discovery of an irrevocable betrayal. Unbeknownst to Gil and his daughters, these letters remain hidden, neglected, in troves of books throughout the house, and the truth lies seductively within reach. Fuller’s tale is eloquent, harrowing, and raw, but it’s often muddled by tired, cloying dialogue. And whereas Ingrid shines as a protagonist at large, the supporting characters are lacking in depth.
Simmering with tension, this tragic, albeit imperfect, mystery is sure to keep readers inching off their seats.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-941040-51-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Tin House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters...
Female rivalry is again the main preoccupation of Hannah’s latest Pacific Northwest sob saga (Firefly Lane, 2008, etc.).
At Water’s Edge, the family seat overlooking Hood Canal, Vivi Ann, youngest and prettiest of the Grey sisters and a champion horsewoman, has persuaded embittered patriarch Henry to turn the tumbledown ranch into a Western-style equestrian arena. Eldest sister Winona, a respected lawyer in the nearby village of Oyster Shores, hires taciturn ranch hand Dallas Raintree, a half-Native American. Middle sister Aurora, stay-at-home mother of twins, languishes in a dull marriage. Winona, overweight since adolescence, envies Vivi, whose looks get her everything she wants, especially men. Indeed, Winona’s childhood crush Luke recently proposed to Vivi. Despite Aurora’s urging (her principal role is as sisterly referee), Winona won’t tell Vivi she loves Luke. Yearning for Dallas, Vivi stands up Luke to fall into bed with the enigmatic, tattooed cowboy. Winona snitches to Luke: engagement off. Vivi marries Dallas over Henry’s objections. The love-match triumphs, and Dallas, though scarred by child abuse, is an exemplary father to son Noah. One Christmas Eve, the town floozy is raped and murdered. An eyewitness and forensic evidence incriminate Dallas. Winona refuses to represent him, consigning him to the inept services of a public defender. After a guilty verdict, he’s sentenced to life without parole. A decade later, Winona has reached an uneasy truce with Vivi, who’s still pining for Dallas. Noah is a sullen teen, Aurora a brittle but resigned divorcée. Noah learns about the Seattle Innocence Project. Could modern DNA testing methods exonerate Dallas? Will Aunt Winona redeem herself by reopening the case? The outcome, while predictable, is achieved with more suspense and less sentimental histrionics than usual for Hannah.
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters and understanding of family dynamics.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-36410-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008
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