You will, no doubt, be shocked to find that the central premise of this twisted tale is that clients lie and lawyers cheat. If that premise is one that excites you, read on. Otherwise, look for another book.The book potentially has some interesting aspects -- a deaf child who is a key witness to a murder, Cuban-Americans with scores dating back to pre-Castro times, a visit to Guantanamo Naval Air Station in Cuba, Communist involvement in the plot, and a most peculiar marriage. Somehow those elements are mostly wasted in an attempt to create a series of cliff-hanger chapters that resemble the daily soap opera offerings.
Defense attorney Jack Swyteck finds himself drawn into defending a most unreliable defendant, Lindsey Hart, who is accused of murdering her husband. The stakes are high: There's a young boy involved who will be left parentless if she is convicted and receives a lethal injection. What's more, the boy is the adopted son of Swyteck's former lover. The defendant argues that the son is actually Swyteck's own biological offspring.
The story develops along the lines of Swyteck trying to find out what really happened, what's going on with the boy, and defending the mother against murder charges.
The plot has more holes than most Swiss cheese that I see. The author claims to have been a trial lawyer for twelve years, but it was hard to see evidence of that claim in the story. The legal side of the case reflects popular prejudices about the judicial system more than the reality. In several cases, the behavior ascribed to the characters seems to be a pretty long stretch. The client is particularly hard to accept as the portrayal of someone who could have been a real person.
In the end, I found myself wanting to get to the end more because I didn't want to read the ridiculous plot anymore than for any other reason. By midway through the book, I had lost sympathy for the characters and my interest in their fate.
If you liked Mr. Grippando's earlier books, you should probably give this one a try. If you haven't started his series about Jack Swyteck, I think you can skip this one.
