Proof Positive - Hardcover

Margolin, Phillip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060735058 ISBN 13: 9780060735050

Publisher: Harper, 2006

Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Phillip Margolin returns with a shocking and enthralling thriller about the way CSI evidence can be misused by a killer with his own twisted sense of justice.

Doug Weaver is a defense attorney who always believes the best of his clients, and Jacob Cohen, on trial for murder, is no exception. Jacob may be homeless and mentally ill, but Doug can't imagine that this meek and intensely religious man could have killed and dismembered a woman. Yet Bernard Cashman, a forensic expert at the Oregon State Crime Lab, finds evidence that indisputably connects Cohen with the crime.

Frustrated and confused, Doug consults Amanda Jaffe, star of Margolin's spine-tingler Wild Justice. Amanda and her father, Frank, are working on a case that seems completely unrelated—gangster Art Prochaska is accused of murdering an informer. When Amanda starts looking too closely at the seemingly air-tight evidence in these two apparently unconnected cases, people start to die—and she discovers that a madman with the power to alter the truth is on the loose.

From the author whose writing the Chicago Tribune called "twisted and brilliant" and hailed by Lisa Scottoline as "genuinely surprising," Proof Positive promises an unbeatable combination of inside-CSI detail and intriguing insights into the minds of criminals and the attorneys who defend them—and, of course, the plot twists, stay-up-all-night suspense, and gasp-inducing surprises that are Phillip Margolin's undisputed trademark.

About this title

About the Author:

Phillip Margolin has written nineteen novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including his latest novels Woman with a Gun, Worthy Brown’s Daughter, Sleight of Hand, and the Washington trilogy. Each displays a unique, compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior, which comes from his long background as a criminal defense attorney who has handled thirty murder cases. Winner of the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

From Booklist:

Amanda Jaffe, the Oregon defense attorney, is defending a homeless man accused of murder, while her father, Frank, is representing a mobster on a similar charge. Although both men profess their innocence, the forensic evidence says otherwise. But when Amanda starts examining the evidence in these two unconnected cases, she finds a frightening common denominator. The third Jaffe novel--after Wild Justice (2000) and Ties That Bind (2003)--is an examination of the role of forensic evidence in bringing criminals to justice. In addition to a fast-moving plot and characters who at least hold up their end of the bargain, Margolin shows readers how a crime-scene investigator can easily--and often without detection--not only influence the outcome of a trial but also effectively ensure a certain verdict. It's typical of Margolin to use the legal-thriller subgenre to explore some socially significant aspect of the jury system. The increasing popularity of forensic fiction and of CSI, the television series that has become a cottage industry, virtually guarantees this novel a wide and appreciative audience. David Pitt
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0060735058
• ISBN 13: 9780060735050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320