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Street Legal: The Betrayal
It's a long hot summer for the small law firm of Robinovitch, Barr, Barr, and Tchobanian. Leon Robinovitch is defending an anti-Semitic peddler of hate literature; Chuck Tchobanian is representing a pornography salesman; and Carrie Barr, fresh from her successful defence of a drifter charged as the notorious Midnight Strangler, takes on the case of a suave hit man. But Carrie's new client is proving to be far more dangerous--and alluring--than she could have imagined. Soon she finds herself drawn into a web of terror involving a rogue police operation, a ruthless drug lord, and a series of brutal murders that threatens to tear the law firm apart. Meanwhile, the Midnight Strangler is still at large. Has he chosen Carrie as his next victim?
From the Paperback edition.
From the Paperback edition.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 1995
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
William Deverell
62 books68 followersWilliam Deverell was born in 1937 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He put himself through law school by working as a journalist for the Canadian Press, Vancouver Sun, and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Deverell served as counsel for over a thousand criminal cases and is a founding director and former president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. He created the television series, Street Legal, and has written screenplays and radio plays. Deverell lives on Pender Island, British Columbia.
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
* 1998 – Trial of Passion – Winner
* 2006 – April Fool – Winner
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
* 1998 – Trial of Passion – Winner
* 2006 – April Fool – Winner
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 30, 2018
Perhaps 3.75 stars for this one!
William Deverell is one author who is able to take the nuances of the Canadian legal system and put them into a well-developed piece that anyone can enjoy. I have read some of his stunning works and while this was not as powerful for me, I can see some of his wonderful style seeping from each page. Back in 1980, young lawyers Carrie Barr, Leon Rubinovitch, and Chuck Tchobanian were making names for themselves within Toronto’s legal community. After a man is charged with being the Midnight Strangler—raping and murdering women around the city—Barr is able to get him off on a technicality. While she’s flying high on this moral victory, she must come to terms with her philandering husband, who cannot seem to see what he is tossing away. After removing Ted Barr from their legal enterprise, these three young lawyers seek to make it on their own, armed with significant legal matters that find their way woven into the narrative of the book. Barr takes on defending a man whose ties to the criminal underworld and narcotics leave her wondering if she might have grasped for the first thing that came across her line of sight. She cannot help but hope that she will find something to help the situation before she is left with a bullet in her own head. Tchobanian is trying to push the limits of free speech in a pre-Charter Canada, with a client pushing pornographic novels who’s been threatened with numerous criminal charges. Perhaps most interesting of all is Rubinovitch’s work trying to defend a man who is peddling hate literature and trying to sell the world on the conniving nature of the Jewish population. All this, while more women are being murdered on the streets of Toronto, likely at the hands of the Midnight Strangler. What’s to be done and how will these young lawyers show that they belong in the cutthroat world of criminal law? Deverell does a wonderful job showcasing these young characters in a novel that was written to play the role of prologue to a highly successful legal drama on Canadian television in the 1980s. Recommended for those who like a darker legal novel with all the nuances of the Canadian system.
I stumbled onto Deverell’s writing last spring when I was reading his stellar Arthur Beauchamp series. While it took a while to get acclimated, the series grew on me and by the end I know I would have to try some of the author’s one-off work. Deverell paints his characters in such a way that the reader wants to love them, or at least get to know them before hating them outright. The three core lawyers in this novel all bring unique attributes to the table, but I do not feel as though Deverell sought to focus his attention on any one of them. There is the banter that Carrie has with her husband, while also delicately handling a client who has such strong ties to the underworld that she cannot make a single mistake. Chuck seeks to find that loophole in the Bill of Rights legislation to allow free speech in an era where constitutionally entrenched rights are still two years away. Leon seeks to hold his nose and hope his anti-Semitic client does not ruin things before they can find a way around some of this disturbing hate literature is read in open court. All three provide much entertainment and education for the attentive reader. The secondary characters fill the gaps these three leave, if only to push the narrative along in an interesting fashion. From quirky judges to members of the police community who feel that they are above the law, through to the criminal element demanding not only a day in court, but also that they be allowed to continue their lifestyles, characters fill the pages and Deverell shapes them all to be curious individuals. With a true Canadian flavour throughout the narrative, one can only presume that this novel serves to introduce the reader to the central characters in Street Legal, the television series Deverell wrote for CBC back in the 80s, which I vaguely remember seeing in the television listings as a youth. I did not watch it, but can only imagine how compelling it would have been, based on the intricacies that Deverell puts into his books. Deverell does great work pacing the narrative while educating the reader of the legal and social issues prevalent in Canada at the time. Balancing an interesting legal matter with highly complex characters, Deverell has penned a winner.
Kudos, Mr. Deverell, for a great novel. I am so pleased to get my mind working as I digest these Canadian legal thrillers!
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
William Deverell is one author who is able to take the nuances of the Canadian legal system and put them into a well-developed piece that anyone can enjoy. I have read some of his stunning works and while this was not as powerful for me, I can see some of his wonderful style seeping from each page. Back in 1980, young lawyers Carrie Barr, Leon Rubinovitch, and Chuck Tchobanian were making names for themselves within Toronto’s legal community. After a man is charged with being the Midnight Strangler—raping and murdering women around the city—Barr is able to get him off on a technicality. While she’s flying high on this moral victory, she must come to terms with her philandering husband, who cannot seem to see what he is tossing away. After removing Ted Barr from their legal enterprise, these three young lawyers seek to make it on their own, armed with significant legal matters that find their way woven into the narrative of the book. Barr takes on defending a man whose ties to the criminal underworld and narcotics leave her wondering if she might have grasped for the first thing that came across her line of sight. She cannot help but hope that she will find something to help the situation before she is left with a bullet in her own head. Tchobanian is trying to push the limits of free speech in a pre-Charter Canada, with a client pushing pornographic novels who’s been threatened with numerous criminal charges. Perhaps most interesting of all is Rubinovitch’s work trying to defend a man who is peddling hate literature and trying to sell the world on the conniving nature of the Jewish population. All this, while more women are being murdered on the streets of Toronto, likely at the hands of the Midnight Strangler. What’s to be done and how will these young lawyers show that they belong in the cutthroat world of criminal law? Deverell does a wonderful job showcasing these young characters in a novel that was written to play the role of prologue to a highly successful legal drama on Canadian television in the 1980s. Recommended for those who like a darker legal novel with all the nuances of the Canadian system.
I stumbled onto Deverell’s writing last spring when I was reading his stellar Arthur Beauchamp series. While it took a while to get acclimated, the series grew on me and by the end I know I would have to try some of the author’s one-off work. Deverell paints his characters in such a way that the reader wants to love them, or at least get to know them before hating them outright. The three core lawyers in this novel all bring unique attributes to the table, but I do not feel as though Deverell sought to focus his attention on any one of them. There is the banter that Carrie has with her husband, while also delicately handling a client who has such strong ties to the underworld that she cannot make a single mistake. Chuck seeks to find that loophole in the Bill of Rights legislation to allow free speech in an era where constitutionally entrenched rights are still two years away. Leon seeks to hold his nose and hope his anti-Semitic client does not ruin things before they can find a way around some of this disturbing hate literature is read in open court. All three provide much entertainment and education for the attentive reader. The secondary characters fill the gaps these three leave, if only to push the narrative along in an interesting fashion. From quirky judges to members of the police community who feel that they are above the law, through to the criminal element demanding not only a day in court, but also that they be allowed to continue their lifestyles, characters fill the pages and Deverell shapes them all to be curious individuals. With a true Canadian flavour throughout the narrative, one can only presume that this novel serves to introduce the reader to the central characters in Street Legal, the television series Deverell wrote for CBC back in the 80s, which I vaguely remember seeing in the television listings as a youth. I did not watch it, but can only imagine how compelling it would have been, based on the intricacies that Deverell puts into his books. Deverell does great work pacing the narrative while educating the reader of the legal and social issues prevalent in Canada at the time. Balancing an interesting legal matter with highly complex characters, Deverell has penned a winner.
Kudos, Mr. Deverell, for a great novel. I am so pleased to get my mind working as I digest these Canadian legal thrillers!
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
July 3, 2014
Set in 1980 in the law firm of Robinovitch, Barr, Barr and Tschobanian, an account of three struggling lawyers. Leon Robinovitch is defending a peddler of hate literature, Chuck Tschobanian a book seller of pornography and Carrie a debonair hit man. The other Barr is Carrie's husband, and that becomes very complicated as well as he represents a woman in her divorce from a very rich man.
Carrie is fresh from her defence of Mr Moodie, an unfortunate man who is down on his luck, as the Midnight Strangler. Though successful, Carrie is aware that she is the only one who believe in Mr Moodie's innocence.
Carrie takes on the case of a supposed hit man who proves more dangerous than they could have imagined. Chuck has challenges as his wife is picketing the book seller he's defending.
It seems that each case touches the other as it all rushes out of control with mob murders, prostitution, blackmail, rapists and poetry. Thoroughly engaging.
Carrie is fresh from her defence of Mr Moodie, an unfortunate man who is down on his luck, as the Midnight Strangler. Though successful, Carrie is aware that she is the only one who believe in Mr Moodie's innocence.
Carrie takes on the case of a supposed hit man who proves more dangerous than they could have imagined. Chuck has challenges as his wife is picketing the book seller he's defending.
It seems that each case touches the other as it all rushes out of control with mob murders, prostitution, blackmail, rapists and poetry. Thoroughly engaging.
August 21, 2023
I WANTED to like this more. I wasn’t expecting literary excellence when I picked this up and the first third wasn’t bad but … it got tedious. I was hoping for more but it fell flat.
1. Was it necessary in the narration to jump between Carrington and Carrie so much? I understand different characters calling her one of the two but in the narration it was weird and unnecessary and didn’t seem to follow a pattern at least
2. Carrie’s mother was alive in the TV series … she was racist and wanted her to switch to corporate law to interact with “a better class of people” but suddenly she’s dead 8 years earlier?!
3. Leon using the R slur? Even in 1980 that seems off for him
4. Speaking of, this book seems like it was written in 1980 not just set in it. I understand the sexism etc was meant to be realistic but it was jarring and a lot and the amount didn’t progress the story
5. The dramatic irony was too much. I get a book won’t run like a tv show but there are so many side characters it’s hard to keep track of them, and it’s supposed to be Carrie’s story
I would try another book by this author because I do think he writes well (constructs a story well), it was just too much in this case. It does make me want to find the episodes somewhere and rewatch
1. Was it necessary in the narration to jump between Carrington and Carrie so much? I understand different characters calling her one of the two but in the narration it was weird and unnecessary and didn’t seem to follow a pattern at least
2. Carrie’s mother was alive in the TV series … she was racist and wanted her to switch to corporate law to interact with “a better class of people” but suddenly she’s dead 8 years earlier?!
3. Leon using the R slur? Even in 1980 that seems off for him
4. Speaking of, this book seems like it was written in 1980 not just set in it. I understand the sexism etc was meant to be realistic but it was jarring and a lot and the amount didn’t progress the story
5. The dramatic irony was too much. I get a book won’t run like a tv show but there are so many side characters it’s hard to keep track of them, and it’s supposed to be Carrie’s story
I would try another book by this author because I do think he writes well (constructs a story well), it was just too much in this case. It does make me want to find the episodes somewhere and rewatch
May 28, 2018
I found this book to be very well written, I do remember this tv show but was too young to watch it. I wish he had written more books in this series I believe it was an opportunity missed.
July 16, 2009
From the creator of the Television Series, a novel about the characters.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews