Loose Among the Lambs - Hardcover

Brandon; Brandon, Jay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671760327 ISBN 13: 9780671760328

Publisher: Atria, 1993

Synopsis

When a child molester offers to turn himself in to Mark Blackwell, the San Antonio district attorney finds himself caught between justice and the crimes of the city's elite. By the author of Rules of Evidence. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

It only begins when the fat lady sings, as San Antonio D.A. Mark Blackwell (Fade the Heat, 1990) learns in this crackling tale of a child-abuse confession too good to be true. Forgetting the maxim never to trust a freebie, Blackwell allows his old boss Eliot Quinn to talk him into accepting Chris Davis's surrender on charges of having kidnapped and molested two young boys. Standing before the judge, though, Davis recants his confession, and when Blackwell tries to cobble together a case from the boys' testimony, one of them positively identifies the perp as Austin Paley, Blackwell's old friend and Davis's lawyer. At the same time, a third boy, seeing Paley on TV news, spontaneously announces that this was the man who abused him in an incident he's kept secret for two years. More witnesses don't make a stronger case against an opponent like Paley, however, as Blackwell realizes when he ties Paley to an old coverup of urban development gone murderous--and sees just how capable Paley is of calling in favors to the powers that be in his desperate attempt to stay out of jail: one of the witnesses suddenly refuses to testify--an obvious beneficiary of a big payoff--and another begins to get cold feet. As if the political chicanery doesn't make the terrain slippery enough, Blackwell also has to cope with ethical reservations when Quinn gives him the details of Paley's own abused childhood (a secret Quinn has been covering up on his own) and sees how closely Paley's childhood--and the neglect of his star witness, Tommy Algren- -mirror his own distant relationship to his son David. Brandon proves unexpectedly canny about the devastating appeal of molesters to their young victims, and shows again that nobody, not even Scott Turow, can outdo him in blow-by-blow courtroom suspense- -even though once the verdict is in, you may wonder what all the fuss was about. (Literary Guild Selection for Winter) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

First introduced in Brandon's Edgar-nominated Fade the Heat , San Antonio district attorney Mark Blackwell has his back to the Alamo when he prosecutes a well-connected attorney for child molestation in this dynamic courtroom drama. In the midst of a stiff reelection campaign, Blackwell's mentor, ex-DA Eliot Quinn, throws his protege a plum. Chris Davis, the accused serial child molester who has had voters on edge, will surrender to Blackwell in front of the media through his attorney, Austin Paley. Although the young victims clearly exhibit fear at court hearings and on viewing photographs of Davis's surrender, they fail to identify Davis's mug shot and what seemed an easy case falls apart. Until, that is, one victim IDs not Davis, but Paley. With other children recognizing Paley from the TV news, Blackwell ignores warnings about Paley's clout. Besieged by powerful politicians and judges, a fickle electorate and the cynical press, Blackwell doggedly keeps on the case, jeopardizing his career to back the small voice of a 10-year-old boy. Blackwell is an appealing and vulnerable protagonist surrounded by brilliantly credible supporting characters. Equally credible is Brandon's painstakingly detailed plot in which he maps out the hurdles involved when a child accuses an adult--especially a well-connected one. Literary Guild main selection; Doubleday Book Club selection.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0671760327
• ISBN 13: 9780671760328
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384