A Cure for Night

by Justin Peacock

That's what the criminal law is: it's how the day tries to correct the night's mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would've dreamed of doing in broad daylight.

What does that make us? I said. The night's janitors?
We're absolutely that Myra said, sipping her cosmo. What else do we do but clean up after it? That's why we'll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night.

In Brooklyn's criminal courts, justice often depends on who has the better story to tell.

After a drug-related scandal ejects Joel Deveraux from his job at a white-shoe law firm, he slides down the corporate ladder to the Public Defenders' office in Brooklyn, where he defends the innocent and the guilty alike, a cog in the great clanking machine that is the New York City justice system. When his boss offers him the second chair to the savvy Myra Goldstein in a high-profile murder case, he eagerly takes it. The defendant is Lorenzo Tate, a black pot dealer from the projects who is charged with the murder of a white college student in a street shooting; and the tabloids have sunk their teeth into the racially tinged trial.

In this twisty and overwhelmingly authentic journey through the real Brooklyn, Justin Peacock paints a portrait of the law as a form of combat where the best story win but who's telling the truth and who's lying are matters of interpretation. And of life and death.

This compelling debut novel announces Justin Peacock as a writer who enters the territory of Richard Price and Scott Turow with a fresh new take on urban crime and punishment.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Law, Crime, Suspense, New York, Mystery Thriller

341 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

I am the author of the novels A Cure for Night and Blind Man's Alley. I received an MFA from Columbia and a law degree from Yale. I live in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

His debut novel, well-written and engaging story of a junkie lawyer's fall from grace and later work as a public defender.

[Thoraiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this pretty slow and technical to begin with and the writing not overly inspired (junkies are described repeatedly as "waxy and sallow" - if I saw the word "waxy," I knew "sallow" couldn't be far behind!) but as I went on, it became pretty clear that my resistance to reading was part of my hating on the unsympathetic main character. When I realised that was the whole point, and that the tricksy clever author had not only manipulated me to that position but then enjoyed a giggle by making this POV character hate on the aspects of himself that he saw in others, I had to smile. Well played, Peacock. I can confront me a bit of my own human frailty, if I have to. Oh, and thanks for destroying the last vestiges of my faith in the law.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't usually read police or in this case, lawyerly, procedurals but the fact that it's the first from a Brooklyn DA and people were comparing it to The Wire got me interested. I'd call it Wire-Lite. The language ranges from the down-to-earth-white-folk to the struggling projects. While the varied characters language rings true to some extent it was cliched and too uniform with respect to race. The story was well paced and big props to Justin that every piece of the puzzle always added up here, and made sense... unfortunately, the main characters were not necessarily likable. It did end well... but was not much of a surprise. A good initial try...

[Torey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooohhhh.. I liked this one.
Crime novel, dirty lawyers, drug scandals, defense attorneys who make their careers of defending their clients rather than seeking truth, A Cure for Night is a must read!

Our main character Joel is involved in a drug scandal which nearly causes him to lose his liscensing as a lawyer. Forced out of his big shot job, he transfers to public defense. Quickly promoted to take the second seat in a murder trial, it would seem Joel gets a second chance for redemption. His partner Myra is an excellent character. The 2 of them seek to defend their client all the while intentionally ignoring the blatant truth that stares them in the face.

Twists and turns that built well into a terrific climatic ending. Recommend for sure. Looking forward to Peacocks future works!!

[Brian O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great potential for a first novel.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Joel Deveraux's girlfriend, Beth is found dead in the bathroom of his law office. Beth died after taking heroine and then chocking on her vomit.

Beth's father is an influencial attorney and claims that Joel turned Beth on to the drugs. Joel isn't found guilty of this but admits to taking drugs himself and as a result, he is fired and his license to practice law is suspended for 6 months.

When the suspension is over, a friend gives him a job in the public defender's office where he is appointed second chair to Myra Goldstein in defending Lorenzo Tate in a murder trial.

How do they defend someone who has confessed to the killing and there is a witness who says she saw him commit the crime?

Tate is accused of killing a college student Seth Lipton. Lipton's roommate tells Joel that the reason Seth was in this drug area was that he was studying sociology and working on his thesis about the structure of drug dealers. In addition, he is supposed to have been under the protection of the dealer Devon Wallace who was also shot that night but not killed.

Everyone lies in this novel and the story is full of very flawed characters. From Joel's use of drugs, to one of his first clients who Joel gets off and then tells Joel that he was really guilty and goes back to selling drugs on the street.

The reason Lorenzo confessed is that he wasn't very smart to begin with and he was interrogated for over 14 hours.

Then we learn that the witness, Yolanda Miller, had been dating Wallace but had a child by Malik Taylor and that Taylor didn't like her having his son when in contact with a major drug dealer.

The writing is clean with little unnessary descriptions or discussions, almost Hemingway in this regard but the characters are so unlikable that it is hard to enjoy the story. Maybe that is realism but the realistic approach is not enough to save the story even though it has been nominated for an Edgar for the best first novel in the mystery field.

Not recommended.

[Nette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been so good -- it was well written and interesting right up until the author introduced the African-American characters. Every one of them spoke in the same horrible, bogus dialect. (Familiar to those who read the Spenser novels and cringe whenever Hawk opens his mouth.) Yo, Peacock, all black people don't be talkin' like pimps from 1970s blaxploitation movies, ya feel me? Dawg, you got to get yourself a new editor, or read a Richard Price novel, or watch just one episode of "The Wire" to find out that there are all SORTS of black voices, yo.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joel's life is nearly destroyed by a drug scandal. He goes from a lawyer in a big firm to a public defender. After a few months paying his dues, his boss assigns him second chair in a murder trial. He is helping to defend a black drug dealer accused of murdering a white college student in the projects. Joel's life and work takes many interesting twists and turns. A good book and I look forward to reading Peacock's next novel.

[Denali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yipes. What to say? I really liked how much of the book took place in familiar territory. And I thought it was a nice concept.

The dialogue was terribly written, especially the bits in urban vernacular (though I did have fun reading these out loud). To be fair, not everyone can be Richard Price, which I guess is my general takeaway:

It's not hard to find a mediocre courtroom drama/mystery engaging but it's next to impossible to write a very good one.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Law and Order complete with gangsta language. The law is not black and white, but shades of grey. I finished this book thinking that the end all happened in a drug fuelled rush and that it's not who finds the truth necessarily, but who can tell the best story and the most
believable. This may not have been the best story, but I still wanted to find out what happened...a quick read that was a different story, (for me at least).

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Joel Devereaux loses his job at a big law firm on a drug charge. He takes a job at the public defenders office and, after a year, serves as second chair on a drug charge. You'll be surprised by the twists and turns of this case.

[Chase Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this from the first sentence. This is a terrific suspense story, and a glimpse of a fairly creepy side of New York I never really wanted to visit, anymore than the ivy-league-lawyer narrator wanted to. That tension between the protagonist and his world made a fascinating framework.

[Kelly Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quite decent novel about a young, Ivy League attorney who finds himself demoted after his own legal run-in. He gets appointed to a pretty high profile murder case, where he eats humble pie while sitting second chair.

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems like it would be right up my alley, but it just fell flat.

The story and writing seemed disjointed, repetitive, and at times, lazy. Most lawyer-like novels don't usually delve into the public defenders' offices so that was a refreshing take.

[Cozette Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

with a twist

A legal thriller with a twist. It had all the normal components of a legal thriller with the in depth coverage of the case from inside the court room, as well as a new back story for the main character. I enjoyed it and it was a great start to the year

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this debut novel, Justin Peacock offers the reader an intense courtroom thriller. From page one, the reader gets hooked and stays hooked until the very end. As with the best page-turners, you won't want to put this novel down until you find out what happens.

Joel Deveraux is working at a top-notch, white collar law office in New York City when he decides that he wants to date his legal assistant, Beth. Not only is this potentially unethical, but Beth also has the air of something forbidden; she is an adventurer in life, perhaps on the dark side. Joel soon finds out that Beth is playing with fire, a powdered fire called heroin. While Beth is really into this drug and has already let her professional life flounder, Joel joins her as a weekend partier. He fools himself into believing that because he uses only on the weekend, he's really okay. One day, at work, Beth overdoses and dies. Joel is at the center of the investigation and loses his job. He is given the option of resigning before he is fired and he takes this option. He finds himself at the losing end of a civil lawsuit filed by Beth's father who mistakenly believes that he was the one who got Beth into drugs. Joel loses his license to practice law for six months and finds himself unable to land a job at any reputable law firm. Word travels fast on the grapevine, even in Manhattan. Joel finally secures work as a public defender in Brooklyn. Though he's not there for the idealistic reasons that many public defenders share, he appreciates the work. He's not using heroin any longer but he's not in a good recovery program either.

Joel has been working as a public defender for about six months, primarily doing arraignments, when his boss offers him the chance to play second chair in a murder investigation. This is where things begin to pick up and get really interesting. The reader is privy to intricate courtroom dramas between the public defender's office and the prosecution, between lawyers and clients and between victims and perpetrators. We are shown the ugly head of racism as it peaks out from every corner, especially in jury selection and in impulsive judgments about clients. The dialogue is very realistic and the lingua franca of the city projects appears to be genuinely portrayed.

Joel is paired up with a senior defender on his team, Myra Goldstein. She is a seasoned six year veteran of the public defender's office - tough, assertive, self-assured. She doesn't see the need to have a second chair but her boss is concerned that she won't have enough time to give to this case. Myra is also working on an appeal for another client who she believes is innocent but has just been sentenced to life in jail. Joel likes to be in the courtroom, an experience he did not have at his posh law office. The murder case also interests him a lot. A jewish student from Brooklyn College has been murdered at the projects. A second man, a black drug dealer, has been shot in the back twice and is alive. The alleged perpetrator, Lorenzo Tate, has been identified by an eye witness but continues to assert his innocence. It is a case with a lot more than meets the eye at first look. Joel learns that it is often not the best case that wins, but the best story. But what is the real story of this case. That's what this book is about.

The title of this book is interesting in itself and forms one of the backdrops for the story. Myra says to Joel that "the day tries to correct the night's mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would've dreamed of doing in broad daylight". Joel asks Myra if that makes them the night janitors. Myra says "We're absolutely that...What else do we do but clean up after it? That's why we'll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night."

While the novel is riveting at times and always a page-turner, the ending is a bit of a let-down. Despite fitting together nicely, I expected more of a drama and revelation than I was given. It seemed a bit too pat and a bit too far-out at the same time. Despite my disappointment with the ending, I could not put the book down until I got there. It had me in its clutches like a pit bull and I lost quite a bit of sleep last night.

I think that Justin Peacock has a good career ahead of him as he polishes his style and continues in this vein. I haven't read such a good courtroom drama since The Juror by Dawes or The Thirteenth Juror by Lescroat. Peacock has a wonderful way with dialogue that keeps the nail biting going strong. I wanted better physical descriptions of Joel and Myra from the author but I made them up for myself. Peacock knows the courtroom. He understands the confrontations and the ethical dilemmas. He understands addiction and the rationalizations that addicts make to themselves when they're not in full recovery. He knows how to keep the reader turning pages. I look forward to his next book.

[Glenda Bixler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cure for Night
By Justin Peacock
Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0-385-52580-0
341 Pages

“That’s what...criminal law is: it’s how the day tries to correct the night’s mistakes...
“What does that make us? ...night’s janitors?
“We’re absolutely that...a cure for night.” (p. 152)

I think I was most intrigued by the concept of Justin Peacock’s novel, A Cure for Night. Consider that the majority of crime is committed during night/dark hours; you quickly realize that, indeed, criminal lawyers could be called the nation’s janitors—or more, its doctors!

Based upon that concept, Peacock takes readers into all facets of various law cases, looking deeply into the lives of many of the main characters. I don’t recall becoming so empathic toward characters’ lives in other legal novels or, perhaps, I was just more drawn to those created by Peacock. Bottom line--A Cure for Night pulled me in and held me until the end...and beyond...

Joel Deveraux began his legal career at one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, earning a six-figure salary that was exchanged for most of his waking hours. That was until he met Beth, a paralegal assigned to one of his cases. Along with fulfilling Joel’s sexual needs, Beth introduced him to heroin. But when Beth OD’d and the death was investigated, Joel was scrutinized and found guilty—guilty enough to lose his position and be placed on probation for retention of his law license.

He was finally able to acquire a new position—as a Brooklyn public defender. While his new boss knew the background that led to his “resignation” from his former position, Joel wondered how long it would be for word to leak out. In the meantime, he was inundated with minor misdemeanor cases, most of which were handled by plea-bargaining.

Finally, after putting in sufficient time, his boss assigned him to assist in a big new murder case. Although Myra Goldstein was not thrilled, she made the best of it, while still letting Joel know that this case was definitely hers! The defendant was Lorenzo Tate, a black drug dealer of marijuana who had never been caught and jailed! The victims were a white college honors student who had been killed while he was talking with a major drug dealer, who had only been injured.

“A criminal trial is a search for the truth, but the defense lawyer isn’t a member of the search party.” (p. 72)

The case is clear-cut from the prosecution’s standpoint. He has two major witnesses: Devin Wallace’s sister who claimed that Tate was threatening her brother regarding money he owed him. The other claims to have seen Tate run by her the night of the crime, carrying a gun.

For Joel and Myra, they must defend their client, no matter what is or is not the truth. But in doing so, an innocent man is later shot and Joel and Myra face their own deaths, as lies are used to manipulate those involved!

Joel’s past use of drugs becomes part of the picture as more than one of his clients become involved in the “whodunit” investigation. And Joel and Myra find that, for this case, justice and truth will not be found, in the courtroom—or, on the streets!

Peacock’s debut is a winner from my standpoint. His movement deep into the entire case was a welcome addition. Although there is a feel of Raising the Bar, the impact is more slowly developed as discovery is made, and thus momentous as the book’s surprise ending comes! Highly recommended by a lover of drama!


G. A. Bixler
For Amazon vine

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cure for Night, published in 2008 under the Black Lizard imprint, was an intriguing book, and an admirable debut novel by Justin Peacock. It’s a murder mystery told first-person by a public defender named Joel Deveraux, who worked for a high-flying law firm before heroin got him fired. Now he’s defending common criminals in Brooklyn, New York.

He gets assigned to help Myra Goldstein, a tough, street-smart public defender, with a murder case. A black man, a pot dealer, has been accused of shooting two men–killing a white Jewish college student, and wounding another drug dealer. Because it involves a white man gunned down in the projects, the case is drawing some attention.

Joel and Myra go about their business, talking to the various witnesses and other people involved, building a case to defend their client. There are no big themes–no racial issues, no cover-up by powerful people, no government conspiracy, no Mafia figures lurking in the background. It’s just a straightforward, fairly pedestrian procedural. As I progressed through the book, I kept waiting for a Big Theme to emerge, something to justify the book’s existence and my continued investment of time in reading it. Yet, I was engrossed.

So what kept my rapt attention? Three things.

-Well-drawn characters, particularly Joel and Myra. Joel’s backstory, including his occasional contacts with a friend back at his previous law firm, are quite interesting.

-The relationship between Joel and Myra. It was fun watching these very different people work together. Myra knows that Joel came from a big-money law firm, but doesn't know about his drug history.

-The glimpses into the criminal justice system. I learned a lot about how things work in a big-city public defender’s office. It can be messy and ambiguous and infuriating. The known guilty can go unpunished, and the innocent can get a raw deal. Sometimes things are exactly as they appear, sometimes not, but it’s hard to tell the difference.

The book’s title comes from this exchange between Joel and Myra:

Myra: “That’s what the criminal law is: it’s how the day tries to correct the night’s mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would’ve dreamed of doing in broad daylight.”

“What does that make us?” I said. “The night’s janitors?”

“We’re absolutely that,” Myra said, sipping her cosmo. “What else do we do but clean up after it? That’s why we’ll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night.”

The book ended on a very satisfying note, and though the resolution should have been obvious, it took me by surprise.

[Patrick Chabannes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Je n’étais pas là pour lui raconter que mon client avait un alibi en béton, ni que nous détenions la preuve qu’un témoin mentait. J’étais là pour salir les morts.”

De nombreuses et excellentes critiques outre-Atlantique augmentent l’attente à l’ouverture du premier roman de Justin Peacock, A cure for a night, édité en 2008 et traduit pour les éditions Sonatine par Johan-Frédérik Hel Guedj, fin connaisseur de l’œuvre de John Grisham, sous le titre Verdict en 2010.

Si les premières pages me déçoivent par leur lenteur et leur confusion, Justin Peacock accélère le rythme avec facilité passant de la description détaillée des procédures pénales à des dialogues percutants et nerveux. Je me laisse entraîner par cette capacité à allonger les phrases, les mots, les descriptions et à la demande de remonter les vitesses de son style dynamique. Étonnant.

Le scénario, bien que prévisible, est bien travaillé et se laisse découvrir par étape avec intérêt. Je dirai même avec curiosité. Cette curiosité du lecteur qui connaissant les coupables attend de savoir comment l’écrivain va lui présenter la chose. Et le moins que l’on puisse dire est que l’on est pas déçu. L’imagination est au rendez-vous.

La comparaison facile avec John Grisham semble acceptée par beaucoup. John Peacock nous fait entrer dans un univers plus réaliste que celui de John Grisham. Différence d’époque peut-être, John Peacock nous plonge dans les arcanes des procédures, nous peints des personnages complexes, questionne la société sur sa justice en restant dans son rôle de romancier.
Méfiant par habitude des machins américains, le style très intéressant, les thèmes bien traités, le scénario travaillé et le suspens présent au service d’une réalité d’une précision parfois digne d’un documentaire, met Justin Peacock au rang des grands romanciers américains.

[Perryville Library]

This book is a modern version of an old noir mystery complete with a main male character with a tortured past, and a gritty, dystopian view of justice and human nature. Instead of a private detective, our main character is a public defender in Brooklyn, New York. Joel Deveraux, originally a high powered attorney with a major New York law firm, washes up in the public defender's office after the death of female colleague exposes his budding heroin addiction to his employers. Still struggling to set his life to rights again, Joel is assigned second chair to a controversial murder in which a white college student is gunned down while doing sociological research in one of the borough's toughest housing projects. Teamed up with the cynical veteran defender, Myra Goldstein, Joel finds himself knee deep in a case that grows more complex by the hour. The innocent college student may not be so innocent after all, and Joel and Myra find that their client isn't the only person with motive for murder. Was the intended target the college student, or the drug dealer who was also injured in the shooting? While dark and moody, this book is captivating, and Justin Peacock wraps his audience up in the world of his characters and won't let you go until the very last sentence. This book is a perfect read for fans of classic noir fiction such as Raymond Chandler's work, The Big Sleep, and films such as Double Indemnity. Fans of more modern detective and courtroom dramas such as The Wire and Law and Order will also feel at home with this legal thriller. Readers who enjoy modern authors like Michael Connelly and John Sandford may also like A Cure for the Night's noir legal procedural.

[Mebhe]

Ce roman policier est intéressant dans la mesure où les deux héros, Joël et Myra, ne sont pas des flics mais des avocats commis d'office. Ils ont un client à défendre, qui n'est pas un ange. Mais peu importe, leur rôle consiste à le défendre du mieux possible et pas forcément en sachant si ce qu'il dit est vrai ou non. Car l'accusé, Lorenzo Tate a en fait deux chefs d'inculpations aux fesses : l'homicide involontaire d'un étudiant blanc, Seth Lipton et la tentative de meurtre sur Devin Wallace, un autre dealer black.



Le lecteur est projeté dans le monde des avocats commis d'office, ceux qui défendent les bas-fonds de New-York pour une rémunération tout aussi misérable. Joël et Myra ne restent pas cloîtrés toute la journée dans leur bureau, comme les avocats des affaires, plus aptes à gagner de l'argent sans trop rien faire. Ils enquêtent, presque comme les policiers, qui ici, ne semblent pas tout à fait faire leur boulot ni dire non plus tout à fait la vérite.



Le procès est retranscrit avec minutie et crédibilité. Les rebondissements ne sont pas absents et les personnages de ce roman sont attachants, même l'accusé ! La fin réserve d'ailleurs une belle surprise qui ouvre bien des questions.



Bref, un très bon roman policier judiciaire, le premier écrit par Justin Peacock, lui-même avocat. On pourrait bien entendre reparler de lui.

[Tiffeny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book last summer and really really enjoyed it. The foul language, particularly the author's excessive use of the F-word is what kept me from giving it four stars. I probably should have stopped reading, but I was a good 50 pages into it before he started dropping them and couldn't make myself stop reading. I'm weak. : )

It was a really good story. Public defender is assigned to a murder case. Things seem pretty cut and dry until he starts investigating and talking to witnesses. Lots of twists. I really like the main character Joel, and his sidekick Myra. They very likable with all their flaws. I would really like to see him write another book with them as the main characters.

My favorites lines are these:

“That’s what criminal law is: it’s how the day tries to correct the night’s mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would’ve dreamed of doing in broad daylight.”

“What does that make us? The night’s janitors?”

“We’re absolutely that. What else do we do but clean up after it? That’s why we’ll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night.”

'People have done something they'd never dream of doing in broad daylight.' How true is that? No wonder my Dad always wanted me home at 11:00pm. Darkness gives us courage, and not always for the good.

[Loren · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are no heroes in A Cure for Night, which is I guess technically a legal thriller, but mostly about the ambiguities of the criminal justice system, the messy dissection of the fine shades of gray between "not being innocent" and being "legally guilty" (or, more tragically, the reverse). Neither the prosecutors nor the defense attorney protagonists nor the cops--nor even the victims, mostly--are wholly on the side of the angels here, and that makes for a much more complicated, and much less predictable, course than your typical courtroom novel (though it's got plenty of juicy courtroom showdowns, too). Not only could I not confidently predict how the main trial was going to play out, I wasn't entirely sure most of the way through how I wanted it to play out--what verdict would equate in some rough way to justice being done.

And even if I thought I'd known any of the above, the twists kept coming to prove me wrong. Even after several of the main plot strands have (supposedly) played out, the story keeps twisting into an edgier, darker, scarier place. Make sure you've got time to read the last 50 pages or so all in one sitting, because (to appropriate a totally cheesy but appropriate Barnes-and-Noble coinage) they're unputdownable.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A CURE FOR NIGHT (Legal Proc-Joel Deveraux-NYC-Cont) – G
Peacock, Justin – 1st book
Doubleday, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780385525800

First Sentence: The day my life fell apart began like any other.

Justin Peacock was an associate in a high-profile law firm until drugs and the overdose of a fellow associate changed his life. He is now clean and trying to rebuild his career as in the Brooklyn Defenders’ office. He is asked to be second chair to attorney Myra Goldstein defending the accused in the murder of a black dealer and white college student.

This is very much a plot-driven story with good characters. I liked the way that, through the story, we learned more of Joel’s background and that Myra wasn’t as she first appeared. Their relationship progressed in a realistic manner.

The description of the investigation and trial were interesting but didn’t make for a fast-moving story. In fact, I did find myself skimming at times wanting the story to move on. There was a good twist in the case.

The author clearly knows his subject and made interesting points about the law, but I found the ending very unsatisfying. Lawyers and those who like legal procedure would probably enjoy this more than did I.

[Stuart Nachbar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good first legal thriller in the sense that you get to know what public defenders actually do and the ethical/professional dilemmas that confront them. Being a public defender or prosecutor is considered to be a "do-gooder" position, but Peacock shows that finding proof of innocense can be more difficult than finding proof of guilt.

The writing style seemed much like a Grisham novel, though Grisham makes his characters more interesting. Peacock's main character, Joel Devaraux, is an Ivy League law graduate who crashed and burned, due to corporate politics and a love interest addicted to heroin. That appeared to be a character played out in other novels. Grisham novels are interesting because the lawyers are more human. They did not all go to Harvard, live in New York and take on corporate clients. They are more more real because their law practices are more real.

The stronger, and more interesting character is public defender Myra Goldstein. Throughout the story you learn that she is not what you'd expect her to be. That keeps a surprise in the story that keeps you reading.

[CT · Rating 5 out of 5]

“That’s what criminal law is: it’s how the day tries to correct the night’s mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would’ve dreamed of doing in broad daylight.”

“What does that make us? The night’s janitors?”

“We’re absolutely that. What else do we do but clean up after it? That’s why we’ll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night.”


This legal thriller, from first time author Justin Peacock, is absolutely compelling! After a scandal costs him his job at a top-flight corporate law firm, Joel Deveraux finds himself defending petty criminals in the Brooklyn public defenders office. He eventually teams up with veteran trial lawyer, Myra Goldstein, on a murder trial, which takes readers on a gritty, urban tale about the nature of justice. It's not a thriller in the sense that it's a page-turner. Instead, it's a book that speaks with a social conscience and written by someone who has spent time quality time in the streets and in the courtroom.

Highly recommended! Fans of The Wire and The Practice will love it!

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre for a number of reasons. Worst of all, the way Peacock writes African Americans is absurd to the point of being offensive. It reads as if Peacock watched a couple episodes of the Wire and then came up with a formula for converting normal sentences into "black" sentences...

1. Change the tense of a couple of words in the sentence, like "do" to "did" or "asked" to "ask"

2. Add a "yo" at the end of the sentence or change a "no" to an "ain't"

3. Toss in a "black expression" like "all up in my business" or "got his self shot"

DONE!

Additionally, Peacock managed to make drug addiction boring. That's saying something. There was an opportunity for Peacock to make it interesting, since the main character has kicked his heroin addiction but is now a functioning alcoholic. But honestly, I don't think he even realized he did that. I just think that Peacock doesn't know how to write a non-legal scene without sitting the characters down for a meal or giving the characters something to drink.

If you are looking for a nice legal mystery, don't waste two days of your life reading this book. You're better off watching a Law & Order marathon on T&T.

[Sera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book kind of on a whim. I've been wanting to work some thriller/suspense books into my genre mix, and this one received a good review in EW so I rented it on CD from the library.

I liked this book because I thought that it had some great insight into law school and the practice of corporate law. I also liked the main character, Joel, a down on his luck former drug user who ends up at the PD's office working on a murder case with one of his colleagues. The characters are likeable and there are some laugh out loud moments throughout the book. However, the murder story itself is a bit light and then gets overtop by the end of the book so the unevenness in regard to that storyline took the book down from a 4* to a 3* read for me.

Nevertheless, I would recommend the book to people who enjoy this genre. Also, Peacock does a great job of explaining how the law works and the types of legal strategies used by the lawyers in the book, which I found to be both accurate and informative. The reader on the CD was also decent so that helped to make the story more enjoyable.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was just strolling through the bookstore and happened to read the jacket of this book where Peacock is compared to Richard Price. Need I look further I thought?
It was a good read, a respectable first novel, but there is definitely room for improvement. The beginning and ending are very strong and intriguing, but I found the middle substance to be lacking in depth and variety. Even though the place was varied, I found that I got a little bored with the mechanics of preparing and going through the trial. And to my social worker ears, I didn't find the dialogue to ring true.
However, I greatly appreciated the efforts of the male author in the pseudo-crime genre at providing a fairly rich and complex female character (Price and Pelecanos could learn a thing or two, and should make the attempt at learning). And I also loved reading about a trial that takes place in America everyday: not a death-penalty case, corporate scandal headliner or terrorist trial. I look forward to further novels from Peacock and seeing how his writing evolves.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two books in a row about drugs! This was way, way more compelling than Limitless.

My favorite aspect of the book was the main characters, who each have a variety of interesting problems. Joel's attempt to keep himself together and overcome his addiction, the exhilaration of being in the courtroom after leaving a stifling corporate job, the (admittedly trite, but well handled) office romance. Well done.

However, I thought the conflict between the white attorneys and their black clients was very poorly handled. I'm always a little uncomfortable when white authors write with inner-city dialects, but authors like Richard Price get away with it by making all of their characters three-dimensional. In this book the black characters are inscrutable - it's not just that the main characters can't connect to that world, it's as if Peacock is writing about aliens.

Overall, pretty good book, it just fell victim to my closer examination of the social implications of crime fiction after I read The Name of the Wind.