Perjury - Hardcover

Latreille, Stan

3.67

49 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0609601385 ISBN 13: 9780609601389

Publisher: Crown, 1998

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From a writer and trial judge poised to join the ranks of Scott Turow and Lisa Scottoline, Perjury is a fast-paced courtroom drama about lies, sexual abuse, and the conflict between law and justice.

Jack Brenner, a burned-out public de-fender from Chicago, has left lying clients and political maneuvering behind to take on the more lucrative, predictable routine of a civil lawyer in a small Michigan town. But when the court assigns him to defend a woman accused of perjury, he is swept back into the labyrinth of the criminal justice system--and into a nest of small-town politics, greed, and revenge.

His client, Davey Alden, has admitted she lied on the stand, fabricating the incidents when she claimed her husband Joel Alden sexually abused their young daughter. Outraged by Davey's deceit, the town and the legal system have shifted their sympathies to her husband, one of the most powerful men in the county. A quick, open-and-shut trial is expected.

Brenner faces a vengeful prosecutor, a political judge, hostility from the press, and overwhelming evidence and public opinion against Davey. Fueled by his growing attraction to his seductive client, Jack Brenner has a case he cannot win and must not lose--for if Davey is convicted, not only will she face time in jail, but her daughter will be surrendered to Joel's custody. And Brenner has reason to believe that even if Davey is guilty of perjury, Joel is far from innocent.

Stan Latreille tells a riveting tale of the law as it is practiced behind the closed doors of a judge's chambers and in the public eye--how guilt and innocence, means and ends, morality and justice are served, and failed, by the law.

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Review:

Jack Brenner thinks he can improve the quality of his life by moving from Chicago and his increasingly thankless job as a public defender to the small Michigan town of Kirtley and the relative calm of a civil practice. Think again, Jack. From this decidedly overused premise, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Stan Latreille has produced a surprisingly fresh debut legal thriller--albeit one with echoes of ancestors such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Anatomy of a Murder. At the heart of the story is an attractive, mercurial woman named Davey Alden, who may or may not have been lying when she accused her ex- husband of child abuse, and who then recanted after being charged with perjury. Davey plays Jack like an expert angler as he tries to avoid her charms while acting as her court-appointed lawyer, and it's safe to say that nothing we think going into this sharply written story turns out to be true. --Dick Adler

From the Back Cover:

"Latreille has woven a lively story which will keep the reader involved to the suspenseful climax. The courtroom scenes and the powerful cast of characters are first-rate."
--Barry Reed, author of The Verdict

"In the tradition of Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent, Latreille's story is a fresh, intelligent insight into the legal process as well as being a skillful work of suspense. It depicts believably a lawyer in conflict with his work and himself. Also, in the Turow spirit, what appears to be the final outcome is not the final outcome at all. Highly recommended."
--Library Journal

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