THE GURARDIANS by John Grisham

Finished Fr 1/26/24

This is a harbdback that Janny loaned to me. 

'The Gurardians' is a group of lawyers who specialize in people who have been placed in prison in error. 

2 Cases:

1) A man is in jail for nearly ten years for a rape that he didn't commit. Police did not do DNA testing on a few pubic hairs. One of the lawyers from the group 'borrowed' a hair to have it tested. This showed that all of the hairs belonged to another man.

2) A lawyer was shotgunned to death and a black man was held responsible. The conviction was based on three snitches and a flashlight that had blood on it, but was missing from the evidence. The flashlight was photographed and a phony 'expert' said that it was blood splatter. Later in the novel the flashlight is recovered (in an abandoned house that was cursed by a voodoo witch).

My question: The man's wife testified that this was his flashlight, but he claimed he had never seen it before. She was lying, but how could this prove that he never bought a flashlight that she wasn't aware of? 

It's a very easy read and a compelling reading experience. 

From the book's page at GoodReads:

"In the small north Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues behind. There were no witnesses, no real suspects, no one with a motive. The police soon settled on Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s.

Quincy was framed, convicted, and sent to prison for life. For twenty-two years he languished in prison with no lawyer, no advocate on the outside. Then he wrote a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small innocence group founded by a lawyer/minister named Cullen Post.

Guardian handles only a few innocence cases at a time, and Post is its only investigator. He travels the South fighting wrongful convictions and taking cases no one else will touch. With Quincy Miller, though, he gets far more than he bargained for. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith Russo, and they do not want Quincy exonerated.

They killed one lawyer twenty-two years ago, and they will kill another one without a second thought."

From the book's page at Kirkus Reviews:

"The prolific Grisham (The Reckoning, 2018, etc.) turns in another skillfully told procedural.

Pay attention to the clerical collar that Cullen Post occasionally dons in Grisham’s latest legal thriller. Post comes by the garb honestly, being both priest and investigative lawyer, his Guardian Ministries devoted to freeing inmates who have been wrongly imprisoned. Says an adversary at the start of the book, learning that his conviction is about to be overturned, “Is this a joke, Post?” Post replies: “Oh sure. Nothing but laughs over here on death row.” Aided by an Atlantan whom he sprang from the slam earlier, Post turns his energies to trying to do the same for Quincy Miller, a black man imprisoned for the murder of a white Florida lawyer who “had been shot twice in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun, and there wasn’t much left of his face.” It’s to such icky details that Post’s meticulous mind turns: Why a shotgun and not a pistol, as most break-ins involve? Who would have done such a thing—surely not the guy's wife, and surely not for a measly $2 million in life insurance? As Grisham strews the path with red herrings, Post, though warned off by a smart forensic scientist, begins to sniff out clues that point to a culprit closer to the courtroom bench than the sandy back roads of rural Florida. Grisham populates his yarn with occasionally goofy details—a prosecuting attorney wants Post disbarred “for borrowing a pubic hair” from the evidence in a case—but his message is constant throughout: The “innocent people rotting away in prison” whom Post champions are there because they are black and brown, put there by mostly white jurors, and the real perp “knew that a black guy in a white town would be much easier to convict.” The tale is long and sometimes plods, especially in its courtroom scenes, but it has a satisfying payoff—and look out for that collar at the end."   

THE SINS OF THE FATHERS by Lawrence Block

 Refinished Sa 1/20/24

I have read this a couple of time and the flyleaf says that I finished on Columbus Day Mo 10/8/12.

This is the first Matthew Scudder novel.

Scudder only asks for a 'gift'. He does this to dodge regulations about being a licensed private detective. Travis McGee takes 'one half of anything that's recovered' for the same reasons. 

In this novel a man wants to know about his estranged daughter. She was stabbed to death by her boyfriend and believed to be making her living as a kind of prostitute. 

THE HOOK: The boy's father was the killer and he framed his son.  The killer was a very conservative minister and the books brings up some moral questions. I loved the book. 

From the book's page at Kirkus Reviews: 

"The 1976 paperback that introduced Block's melancholy, alcoholic shamus Matt Scudder finally gets a well-deserved hardcover edition—as well as a charming fan letter of an introduction from Stephen King. King pinpoints why the nine-book Scudder series (A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, 1991, etc.) is among mystery's most popular and finest: "The absence of cats," i.e., "tricks." As King says, Scudder is a "pure" detective who "is real because his milieu is real." The fascinating ordinariness of Scudder and the harsh realness of his New York City arrive full force here as the p.i. is hired by a distraught father to look into the recent stabbing murder of his estranged daughter. Not to solve it, because the apparent killer, the girl's gay male roommate, has already been arrested—and punished: he's hung himself in his jail cell; but to find out more about the girl and why anyone would want to kill her. Scudder accepts the job reluctantly, as is his dour way, and during the course of his brief digging exhibits the sort of brave yet flawed behavior that sets him apart from other literary p.i.s: doggedly following the victim's trail down unexpected alleys as he learns that she was a moderately happy hooker who in fact was loved like a sister by her alleged killer; as he tithes 10% of his earnings to random churches; casts a cynical yet kindly eye on his fellow citizens; seeks release from the evil he finds in some through booze, the hired love of call-girl Elaine, and stunning bursts of violence, particularly against a mugger whose fingers he carefully snaps one by one. And, of course, Scudder turns up the real killer. Not as richly textured as most of the later cases, but, still, as haunting and mournful as the baying of a hound at the moon—and a must for Block/Scudder fans."

REDEMPTION by David Baldacci

 Finished Th 1/18/24

This is a paperback that Janny loaned to me. It's another of the 'Amos Decker Series' and I didn't notice it because it was billed as 'A Memory Man Thriller'.

From the book's page at Google Books: 

"Decker is visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by a man named Meryl Hawkins. Hawkins is a convicted murderer. In fact, he's the very first killer Decker ever put behind bars. But he's innocent, he claims. Now suffering from terminal cancer, it's his dying wish that Decker clear his name.

It's unthinkable. The case was open and shut, with rock solid forensic evidence. But when Hawkins turns up dead with a bullet in his head, even Decker begins to have doubts. Is it possible that he really did get it wrong, all those years ago?

Decker's determined to uncover the truth, no matter the personal cost. But solving a case this cold may be impossible, especially when it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the old case reopened. Someone who is willing to kill to keep the truth buried, and hide a decades-old secret that may have devastating repercussions."

This really stuck in my mind: At one of the crime scenes Amos notices a bloody fingerprint on a light switch. He realizes that the switch plate is connected by only two screws and this one had been added after the murder. Most investigators would never consider how easy this could be to 'taint' the scene. 

 

THE WINDCHIME LEGACY by A.W. Mykel

 Sa 1/13/24

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. It was an enjoyable read concerning  international espionage. 

A secret Artificial Intelligence is in danger of being captured by enemy agents. 

From a reviewers at GoodReads:

"The primary character is Justin Chaple, an agent for a very secret US intelligence organization. He, and his colleagues, are involved in one thrilling, deadly encounter after another.

He is sent on a mission to bring a defecting Russian KGB officer safely to the US. He is also involved in finding a Dr. Edward Bridges who has been involved in the development of a secret supercomputer in the US. Bridges had grown unhappy with his position and has decided to defect, selling the key information to the highest bidder. The computer Bridges has worked with is at the heart of the agency that Chaple works for. However, Chaple begins to question some of the things he has seen and been told.

There is plenty of intrigue, suspense and twists in the plot of this spy novel. The fact that is was written over 30 years ago does not diminish the reading pleasure. The author, A. W. Mykel, is also something of a mystery. Some of the gadgets in the novel have the feel of contemporary technology, and the underlying plot fits in well with today’s world. In many respects it reminds me of the “James Bond” thrillers of the same era that I read a a teenager."

The novel was written in the late 1970's and I was surprised that the agents in the novel were wearing 'hearing implants' that allowed them to be connected during missions. Was this technology available in the 70's. 

SIEZE THE NIGHT by Dean Koontz

 Finished Mo 1/8/24

This was a hardback that Janny loaned me. It's got to be one of my favorite books by Koontz.

The novel is set in Moonlight Bay, California {Mid Coastal California}. The town was the scene of a secret government  that was involved in secret experiments. 

Several friends must go through the evil installation at Fort Wyvern. 

It's a 'Quest'!

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"Seize the Night is a novel written by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1998. The book is the second in a trilogy of books known as the Moonlight Bay Trilogy, involving Christopher Snow, who suffers from the rare (but real) disease called XP (xeroderma pigmentosum). The first in the series is Fear Nothing and the third is tentatively titled Ride the Storm (release date unknown)."

Plot:

"Seize the Night begins a few months after Fear Nothing. It starts with Chris and his dog Orson happening upon Chris's ex-girlfriend, Lilly Wing, whose son Jimmy has just disappeared. Chris swears to Lilly he'll find Jimmy, and departs with Orson to begin the search. The trail leads them to Fort Wyvern, the abandoned military base Chris likes to explore. They search the base, but soon become separated, and Orson goes missing. Fearing for his dog's well-being, along with that of Jimmy, Chris calls his best friend Bobby Halloway to join him in the search and then sends his current girlfriend Sasha Goodall to Lilly's house to console her. Soon after calling them, Chris sees about thirty or so of the rhesus monkeys encountered towards the end of Fear Nothing and takes refuge from them in a nearby bungalow. The monkeys follow him in, and he is saved from being found by Bobby's arrival.

Bobby and Chris search the base, but find nothing except a few strange devices and rooms. After leaving, they stop by Lilly's house. Sasha and Chris head to their place, while Bobby heads off to Lilly's mother-in-law Jenna, to bring her back to Lilly's.

The next day, Chris calls Manuel Ramirez, the acting chief of police, to give him information about Jimmy Wing's kidnapper's vehicle. Getting no answer, he leaves a message for Manuel to call him after noon.[clarification needed] Bobby stops by a bit later to say that Jimmy is not the only child missing.

Later, Manuel tells Chris in no uncertain terms to back off, while confiscating his and Bobby's guns and trashing his house. After he leaves, Roosevelt Frost arrives with his cat, Mungojerrie. They all leave and head out to an old road a few miles away where Sasha's coworker at the radio station, Doogie, meets up with them. They then head back to Fort Wyvern to continue the search for the children and Orson.

Chris and company head into the base, where Bobby is critically wounded in an ambush. He sends everyone else on to find the kids and Orson, and when they return with them in tow, Bobby dies. Chris, refusing to leave Bobby's body behind, demands it be taken with them on the way out. On the elevator ride back up, they actually encounter themselves at the top of the shaft, and Chris is able to stop Bobby's past self from being shot. With the past now altered, Bobby's body disappears from the elevator, and Chris takes the live Bobby with him out of the base to return Jimmy and the other kids to their parents."

NATIVE SON by Richard Wright

Mon 1/1/24 {First Book of The New Year}

The story of Bigger Thomas who is a young black man in 30's America.

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"...It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s.

While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic causation behind them. Bigger's lawyer, Boris Max, makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American since they are the necessary product of the society that formed them and told them since birth who exactly they were supposed to be."

"The protagonist of the novel, Bigger, commits crimes and is put on trial for his life. He is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair. His acts give the novel action but the real plot involves Bigger's reactions to his environment and his crime. Through it all, Bigger struggles to discuss his feelings, but he can neither find the words to fully express himself nor does he have the time to say them. However, as they have been related through the narration, Bigger —typical of the "outsider" archetype — has finally discovered the only important and real thing: his life. Though too late, his realization that he is alive — and able to choose to befriend Mr. Max — creates some hope that men like him might be reached earlier.

Debatable as the final scene is, in which for the first time Bigger calls a white man by his first name, Bigger is never anything but a failed human. He represents a black man conscious of a system of racial oppression that leaves him no opportunity to exist but through crime. As he says to Gus, "They don't let us do nothing... [and] I can't get used to it." A line goes, one cannot exist by simply reacting: a man must be more than the sum total of his brutalizations. Bigger admits to wanting to be an aviator and later, to Max, aspire to other positions esteemed in the American Dream. But here he can do nothing . . . just be one of many blacks in what was called the "ghetto" and maybe get a job serving whites; crime seems preferable, rather than accidental or inevitable. Not surprisingly, then, he already has a criminal history, and he has even been to reform school. Ultimately, the snap decisions which the law calls "crimes" arose from assaults to his dignity, and being trapped like the rat he killed with a pan, living a life where others held the skillet."

What I noticed is that not much has changed for poor black men except there is absolutely NO gang activity in 1930's America. That's about the only difference.