A Time to Stand by Robert Whitlow

[Karin]

This is a legal drama that's part mystery, part suspense, but there's no detective or amateur sleuth. There is a robbery, a white cop shoots a named suspect who is a black teen that doesn't put his hands up or stop running even when told to after he hears shooting. The problem is the teen wasn't carrying a firearm, so was the cop lying? He's charged, naturally, and the black community rightfully wants justice, although some people are throwing bricks and shooting bullets into the cop's house.

This is not a simple black vs white story, but rather more rounded and human than I'd anticipated, particularly since the author is a white lawyer. There's no belittling of the problems of racism, but there are prejudices within the community. For reasons best understood by reading the novel (but it's Christian, so not everyone's cup of tea) a black lawyer ends up deciding to help defend the cop.

It's a rocky ride to the finish. I don't care for the writing style but then legal mysteries/thrillers written by lawyers almost never are.