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TELL NO LIESJulie ComptonPan pbk £6.99Feb 2008Martin Edwards |
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Martin Edwards is a leading lawyer and crime fiction writer. He has edited ten anthologies of crime writing and written eight crime novels and more than 700 articles for more than 60 publications. www.martinedwardsbooks.com |
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There seems to be an almost endless conveyor belt of thriller-writing American lawyers. I sometimes suspect that creative fiction forms an integral part of the syllabus at their law schools (if so, it is a good idea that our own College of Law would do well to pinch.) Julie Compton is the newest kid on the block and her debut novel features popular St Louis prosecutor Jack Hilliard. Jack is successful at his work, married to the lovely Claire, has adorable children and buckets of charm. When he decides to run for D.A., success seems almost pre-ordained. But Fate interrupts his version of the American Dream, and takes the glamorous form of his former colleague Jenny Dodson. We see right from the start that Jack is susceptible to her flirtatious manner and as his campaign flourishes, his desire for her deepens. But on the night they finally become lovers, a murder is committed. Jenny is the prime suspect – but to alibi her will cost Jack his reputation, and his marriage. After a slow start – the crime is not committed until we are more than halfway through the story - the tension finally begins to build. The obligatory courtroom scenes are competently done, and there is a plot twist which, although I anticipated it, resolves the puzzle in pleasing fashion. But Compton’s real interest lies elsewhere. She is concerned from the very first sentence (‘Jack drove his car a little too fast…’) with depicting the flaws in Jack’s make-up, and later with charting his path to possible redemption. She captures his obsessive streak and deals thoughtfully with the questions of principle over which he agonises. The interest in human weakness lifts this book above the routine level of so many courtroom-based novels and ultimately compensates for that initial lack of pace.
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