The Final Judgment - Hardcover

Patterson, Richard North

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679429891 ISBN 13: 9780679429890

Publisher: Knopf, 1995

Synopsis

At a heady moment of triumph in her legal career, Caroline Masters is summoned home to defend her niece who has been charged with the murder of her lover. Caroline soon finds herself engulfed by her own past and struggling to maintain the "withdrawal of feeling" that has been the cornerstone of her professional success. An electrifying new novel by the author of Degree of Guilt and Eyes of a Child.

About this title

Review

Richard North Patterson frequently rejects the label "legal thriller" for his novels, and The Final Judgement works hard to transcend this limiting category. A cleverly assembled murder mystery told with rich prose ("Moonlight refracted on the still, obsidian waters of the lake and traced the pines and birches and elms surrounding it. The only sound Brett heard was the rise and fall of James's breathing.") and filled with a cast of quirky small-town New Englanders, the novel ultimately succeeds through Patterson's talents as a writer, not just as a plotter.

As in many of Patterson's best novels, The Final Judgement draws on flashback sequences to ground the story and establish key characters. Forty-five-year-old Caroline Masters, a minor figure in Degree of Guilt and Eyes of a Child is the narrative center, and much of the suspense in the novel derives from the slow unwrapping of her past--the death of her mother and estrangement from her father. In the opening of the novel, Caroline is waiting for a message from the White House appointing her to the U.S. Court of Appeals, when, instead, her long-distant father gives her a call. Her niece has just been named the primary suspect in the murder of her boyfriend. The college-age Brett Allen was found naked, passed out from drugs and alcohol, with a knife in her hand, and covered in her boyfriend's blood. The family wants Caroline to return to New Hampshire to defend the girl.

The perils that face Caroline multiply quickly. By taking the case, Caroline clearly jeopardizes her chances for the Court of Appeals appointment. And by returning home, she must inevitably face the accumulated memories and resentments of the New Hampshire crowd, including Caroline's high-school boyfriend who is the prosecuting attorney. But her niece's life is at stake. Ultimately, The Final Judgement is a tale of the deep and twisted history of a New England family, but it is told in a captivating style that is--despite Patterson's reservations about the rubric--"thrilling." --Patrick O'Kelley

From the Publisher

With the first scenes of Richard North Patterson's electrifying new novel, we are plunged into the moment of a vicious crime: the peace of a New Hampshire summer night shattered into a nightmarish collage of murder when twenty-two year-old Brett Allen discovers her boyfriend brutally slain--and finds herself, only hours later, in police custody, the prime suspect...

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0679429891
• ISBN 13: 9780679429890
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 437