The Love That Kills - Hardcover

Levitsky, Ronald

3.33

9 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684192950 ISBN 13: 9780684192956

Publisher: Scribner, 1991

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A Jewish civil rights lawyer, Nate Rosen, defends a fascist who is accused of the murder of a young Vietnamese woman in a small Virginia town, but someone does not want the truth revealed about the crime

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From Publishers Weekly:

Though Levitsky's debut novel offers no thrilling plot twists, his likable characters and unobtrusive voice make this an enjoyable and often provocative read. Jimmy Wilkes is a Southern lawyer who specializes in environmental issues in his hometown of Musket Shoals, Va. His boss and old family friend, Edgar Simpson, asks him to prosecute Edison Basehart, accused of killing a young Vietnamese woman who lived in a neighborhood that has become an enclave for Asian refugees. Wilkes is reluctant, but Simpson convinces him to take what is apparently an open-and-shut case--Basehart is a member of Guardians of an Undefiled Nation (G.U.N.) and is widely known for his hatred of all ethnic groups. Improbably, Nate Rosen, a civil rights attorney for the Committee for the Defense of the Constitution, is assisting in Basehart's defense; for while Rosen despises Basehart's fascist views, he believes the accused man is innocent. Although the two lawyers are ostensibly on opposite sides of the case, they are soon working together, allied by a shared commitment to justice, to clear Basehart and punish the guilty party. Along the way, Levitsky raises interesting questions about how fanatics can abuse liberty in the name of a putative higher good. Detective Book Club selection.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A first novel that soberly, without fanfare or gimmickry, tells the story of Edison Basehart, the militant white supremacist arrested for killing Vietnamese immigrant Hguyen Thi Nhi, in quiet Musket Shoals, Virginia; Jimmy Wilkes, the young prosecutor assigned by his aging patron Edgar Simpson to get a fast conviction; and Nate Rosen, the attorney from the Committee for the Defense of the Constitution who's been sent to assist in the defense of the virulently anti- Semitic Basehart. The ingredients are familiar--Nate stirs up trouble with local rednecks and politicos reaching as high as State Senator Dick Dickerson and his troglodyte son, gets involved with the victim's drugged-out sister Nguyen Thi Trac, and strikes up a wary friendship with Jimmy Wilkes, who worries that he lacks the killer instinct that Simpson's successor needs. But, here, the ingredients are blended by a master's hand; the matter-of-fact bigots of Musket Shoals are treated with compassion and respect, and the clumsy goodness of Jimmy and Nate is improbably affecting. Don't miss this one. -- Copyright �1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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