A drive-by shooting leaves a drug
dealer and a young mother dead. Alex Torricelli, a cop, gives chase.
He manages to grab the driver of the car, but the shooter gets away.
The police arrest a black drug dealer, but is he guilty?
The US attorney is looking for a
capital murder case to impose the death penalty. This is the chosen
case and Judge David Norcross is put on the spot. The star witness is
the sixteen-year-old driver of the car. He's been in and out of
trouble all his life and is strongly connected to the gang
responsible for the shooting. The question is whether he's telling
the truth. If he's lying, and innocent man could be sentenced to
death.
In this highly emotional novel, we see
the trial from all points of view: the judge, the attorneys, the
cops, the defendant, and some of the witnesses. The author has done
an excellent job of bringing these diverse characters to life. It's
the highlight of the novel.
The setting is very well done. The
author is, after all, a US district judge. I thoroughly enjoyed
seeing the trial from so many points of view. I do have one
criticism, however, the ending, although the author did a good job of
foreshadowing, seemed contrived. Still, it's an excellent read. I
highly recommend it if you enjoy courtroom drama.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
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