‘The Fall’ by John Lescroart

Published (US) by Atria Books,
5 May 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-476-70921-5 (HB)

Published (UK) by Headline,
7 January 2016.
ISBN: 978-1-4722-3087-4

John Lescroart has written 25 previous novels, many of them with superb courtroom drama featuring Dismas Hardy.  This novel, however, highlights the introduction of his daughter, Becky, just two years out of law school, as the lead attorney in an unusual murder trial which ordinarily would test the talents of the equivalent of an F. Lee Bailey.

The atmosphere in San Francisco where the novel takes place is charged with public and political outcry after the trials of a series perpetrators of criminal acts against black victims do not result in convictions or, even worse, not even an arrest, much less even finding a suspect.  So, when a 17-year-old black female is murdered, the police and DA rush to find a viable suspect and bring him to trial.  A chance meeting between Becky and Greg Treadway, later charged with the murder, leads to her representing him as his attorney.

Give “the Beck” (her nickname) credit for showing a great deal of legal expertise and just plain acumen far  beyond what one would expect from a neophyte attorney in a maiden trial, one for murder no less.  But then, she’s the offspring of Dismas Hardy.  Needless to say, the trial takes on a life of its own, giving the author the opportunity to exhibit some arcane legal principles.  More important, Mr. Lescroart once again demonstrates his ability to twist and turn the tables on the reader in a most unexpected way.  Although the book is interesting as a whole, it is especially recommended just for the unusual ending.
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Reviewer: by Theodore Feit

John Lescroart is the New York Times Bestselling author of twenty-five novels. He has written seventeen novels in the San Francisco based Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky series. Libraries Unlimited has included him in its publication "The 100 Most Popular Thriller and Suspense Authors," his books have been translated into twenty languages in more than seventy-five countries, and his short stories appear in many anthologies.

www.johnlescroart.com/.

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them.