No Physical Evidence - Softcover

Gus Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804117799 ISBN 13: 9780804117791

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

Deputy District Attorney Joshua Jin is up against the wall. With his life in crisis, he is forced to take on a politically charged case involving the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. The victim refuses to talk. The ex-con charged with the crime was arrested on a hunch. And . . . there is no physical evidence.

Under immense pressure to win a conviction, Jin must first earn the confidence of his stone-silent client, a troubled teenager who trusts no one. Working against a brilliant, high-priced defense attorney who wants nothing more than to crush the opposition--particularly when her opposition is Josh Jin--he throws his heart and soul into an impossible case that is far more explosive than he had ever imagined. . . .

About this title

Review

Joshua Jin is one of the more interesting protagonists to come along in mystery fiction for quite a while. The Sacramento Chinese American D.A.'s professional life has fallen apart following the death of his daughter and the departure of his wife. So mired in grief that he dissolves in tears while trying a man for murder, he's exiled to an out-of-the-way department where he's handed a politically charged Chinatown child rape case and told to make it go away. It shouldn't be hard, because there's no physical evidence, and the victim, a 13-year-old girl, won't name the man police know was responsible. Further, the perpetrator is represented by a brilliant criminal defense lawyer who happens to be the woman Jin jilted for his soon-to-be-ex wife. But Jin realizes that his personal salvation depends on fighting a system that would ignore a little girl's pain.

This gripping courtroom drama ranks with the best of Scott Turow in its brilliant depiction of the inner reaches of the human soul; the final pages throw a curve that you won't see coming. Lee's voice in this second novel (after China Boy) is confident, sure, and passionate, and his characters memorable and resonant. This is a novel with great heart, and Lee is a writer to watch. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover

"No Physical Evidence is a novel of great breadth and depth--a compelling story of a struggling lawyer facing the fight of his career. The courtroom action is first rate, and the characters as memorable as the story itself."
--Richard North Patterson

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0804117799
• ISBN 13: 9780804117791
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384