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A review by weaselweader
Damage by John Lescroart
4.0
Lescroart has nailed down the art of making the minutiae of legal procedure gripping!
The legal system is filled with byzantine twists and turns. It is one of those glitches that frees a violent, convicted serial rapist, puts him back in the community on bail and mandates that he be re-tried at some undetermined future date. Shortly following that release, three people associated with the former trial are brutally murdered and it seems obvious that the rapist is bent on exacting the ultimate revenge for the first conviction. But under the strict letter of the law, there is insufficient grounds for re-arresting him, revoking bail and putting him back behind bars where he belongs. Moreover, as time goes on, while the original convictions for rape and murder seem to stand solidly on firm ground, doubts about who’s behind the second murder spree start to raise themselves. And what’s even worse, the disappearance of critical witnesses makes the success of the second trial a good deal less than a slam dunk!
DAMAGE is a great read and it’s obvious that Lescroart’s protagonists, Abe Glitsky and Dismas Hardy, have still got plenty of legs and lots of stories to be told. Lescroart’s explanations of the myriad tiny details of different types of arrests, the grounds for each of them, the obtaining of appropriate warrants, and when bail may or may not be granted or revoked are compelling and make for fascinating, informative reading. As one might expect, the politics of law enforcement and the perceived privilege of wealth and political placement are also an important part of DAMAGE’s fast moving plot. No real surprises, red herrings or deus ex machina plot twists are involved – just accomplished, gritty, linear story-telling with lots of bite and interest!
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
The legal system is filled with byzantine twists and turns. It is one of those glitches that frees a violent, convicted serial rapist, puts him back in the community on bail and mandates that he be re-tried at some undetermined future date. Shortly following that release, three people associated with the former trial are brutally murdered and it seems obvious that the rapist is bent on exacting the ultimate revenge for the first conviction. But under the strict letter of the law, there is insufficient grounds for re-arresting him, revoking bail and putting him back behind bars where he belongs. Moreover, as time goes on, while the original convictions for rape and murder seem to stand solidly on firm ground, doubts about who’s behind the second murder spree start to raise themselves. And what’s even worse, the disappearance of critical witnesses makes the success of the second trial a good deal less than a slam dunk!
DAMAGE is a great read and it’s obvious that Lescroart’s protagonists, Abe Glitsky and Dismas Hardy, have still got plenty of legs and lots of stories to be told. Lescroart’s explanations of the myriad tiny details of different types of arrests, the grounds for each of them, the obtaining of appropriate warrants, and when bail may or may not be granted or revoked are compelling and make for fascinating, informative reading. As one might expect, the politics of law enforcement and the perceived privilege of wealth and political placement are also an important part of DAMAGE’s fast moving plot. No real surprises, red herrings or deus ex machina plot twists are involved – just accomplished, gritty, linear story-telling with lots of bite and interest!
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss