Fogbound - Hardcover

Klempner, Joseph T.

4.17

811 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312310676 ISBN 13: 9780312310677

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2003

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Once more, the author of Irreparable Damage combines thrills, vivid characters, and a plot that leaves the reader breathless.

A Lincoln Navigator carries three well-dressed people through the barren New Jersey salt flats. The trip is uncomfortable but necessary. Their target has no phone, certainly no e-mail, and never answers his rare mail. But August Jorgenson is no country bumpkin. Before retiring, he was one of the most famous judges in the country, and only opinions like his fierce opposition to the death penalty kept him from a seat on the Supreme Court.

Now his visitors, from a reality show called Trial TV, have come to enlist his aid. They are excited about an idea they have that promises to strike a serious blow against the death penalty (and boost their ratings past those of Court TV).

The judge agrees to help. But as he digs into the facts of the case he becomes their enemy - an enemy who must be removed as a serious threat to their plans.

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About the Author:

Joseph T. Klempner is a former defense attorney and lives in East Chatham, New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

Klempner (Irreparable Damage) combines courtroom maneuverings, reality TV and amateur sleuthing in ways that at first seem predictable but are in fact quite subtle in this sterling legal whodunit, with its courageous and memorable hero. When the clever folks at Trial TV decide to pry octogenarian judge August Jorgensen out of retirement to argue a hopeless death penalty case before the Supreme Court, they get much more than they bargained for. Jorgensen is a staunch opponent of the death penalty, but he's also happily retired in a decommissioned lighthouse on a New Jersey barrier island and not eager to re-enter service. However, the case of Wesley Boyd Davies, who is due to be executed by the state of Virginia for a young girl's rape and murder after the appeal process has been exhausted, has an irresistible hook. The thin legal grounds Jorgensen is supposed to defend before the Supreme Court aren't strong enough for him, so he decides to do a little exploring on his own. The autistic Davies is unable to participate in his own defense, his only means of communication, and an iffy one at that, being the extraordinary drawings he sometimes produces. The present nine Supreme Court justices play themselves in the nail-biter of a denouement. Jorgensen, with his dog, Jake, and his catboat, which he sails singlehandedly, comes across as a credible and engaging character. A former defense attorney, Klempner deftly handles the death penalty issue at the heart of this highly entertaining novel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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