If you like the intricacies and drama of the courtroom, I dare you not to like this book. If you find minute detail related to the courtroom and relationship between lawyer and client tedious, pass this up. This book should probably not even be classified as fiction since it appears about as realistic a portrayal of the legal system as one would never hope to experience. What makes this book remarkable is that the author, a real trial attorney, creates a sense of foreboding and gloom from the most mundane of legal proceedings. The case was a nightmare for this young attorney, for as he notes at one point, lawyers HATE innocent clients. It puts them in a terrible bind because they know the vagaries of the jury system. Innocent people get convicted. Lawyers do their best for their clients: if they win the case, terrific, they got a good deal for their client and if he'she is guilty well perhaps he got them a reduced sentence. But if the attorney is convinced of the innocence of his client the pressure to win becomes unbearable and haunting. Every action and decision made during the course of a trial will be reexamined over and over if the client is convicted and the attorney will be scarred by the wonder of what he might have done differently.

A reviewer on Amazon downgraded this book because it didn't have any "surprises" which every good thriller should have. As the author notes in his "epilogue," this is a true story with many of the names not even changed. That, regretfully, is all the surprise one can handle given that without a bit of luck, an innocent man would have been convicted of four rapes.

A thought-provoking book about the way our system works (or doesn't.) ( )

I really wanted to like this book. The summary sounded really interesting, and I think it definitely could have been more engrossing. The tone was just really dry most of the time, and I had to force myself to finish it. Maybe less explanation of every little nuance and fewer dry "court transcripts," and more actual story with something driving the plot along, would have helped. ( )