A JURY OF HIS PEERS
By
Jack Pearl merchandises the violent contusions of modern life in the from of novels which never rise above the level to which they sink, but are distinguished (surely the wrong word) by a readability factor many others lack. This one's about poor, shy Stephen Walker, a seminary student about to be ordained, who cannot get rid of his carnal cravings in the confessional booth and, after awkwardly soliciting an all too visibly alluring young woman in the park, attempts to rape her. Most of the book is concerned with the trial to follow when Stephen's defense is undertaken by a personally ambitious if religiously confused lawyer. At the end Stephen is driven to his accidental death even if his ""jury of peers"" have exonerated him. A cheap shack-up for the night in which you read it, and a paperback certainty.