A long but energetic tale that’s rife with drama and mystery, both in and out of the courtroom.
A Florida lawyer has the chance to help a former client on trial for murder in Blair’s (College Football Etiquette, 2015, etc.) legal thriller set in the late 1970s.
Racial tension is a serious problem in Lincoln County, Florida, in 1979. So when cops arrest an African-American man, Lindsey Wilkens, for allegedly murdering a white, affluent car dealer, Arthur Burnside, it seems like a conviction is imminent. Lindsey’s wife, Marie, calls J.T. Lockman, the chief assistant in the Lincoln County public defender’s office. J.T. represented Lindsey years ago when he was accused of selling stolen tools that someone else discarded. The attorney was upset over losing that case and is confident now that Lindsey’s not a killer. Unfortunately, the police have Lindsey’s confession, which they forcibly coerced by using an electric cattle prod. J.T. works to get that confession tossed out and also notices discrepancies in the crime scene photos. There’s a strong Ku Klux Klan presence in the area, and its members are all but certain that Lindsey will receive the death penalty. One of the Klansmen is the cryptically named Nighthawk, whom J.T. and his fellow attorneys come to believe is the actual killer. They just have to match a face and name to the sobriquet—and some evidence, to boot. The author rigorously incorporates issues of race into the plot, which enhance the narrative without overwhelming it. Suspense, too, is in abundance: Nighthawk’s identity, as well as the fiendish Klan Wizard’s, remain unknown until the end. A surprising amount of the story takes place outside the courtroom; J.T. and his team meticulously investigate the case, but Lindsey is disappointingly absent for much of the novel’s latter half. J.T., though, is an engaging protagonist. Although he’s committed to a woman named Deena, the daughter of a wealthy local businessman, his eyes (and hands) perpetually wander to other women; however, his back story provides a convincing reason why he has “some kind of history” with “half the girls from the courthouse.”
A long but energetic tale that’s rife with drama and mystery, both in and out of the courtroom.Pub Date: March 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5238-4795-2
Page Count: 660
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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