Long, long ago, on a network far, far away, there was a television show called "Arrest and Trial." It was 90 minutes long; the first half of the show involved the commission of a crime and the "Arrest" of the suspect, and the second half of the show presented the "Trial." It only lasted one season or so, but it was really pretty good, what with Chuck "The Rifleman" Connors and an interesting premise, even if the show's reach more often than not exceeded its grasp.
I thought of "Arrest and Trial" often while reading THE HEARING, an excellent new novel by John Lescroart. Lescroart isn't exactly a household name yet, although he has written several very good novels previous to THE HEARING. This one, though, may put him way over; methinks you'll be seeing it clutched in a lot of hands at bus stops, beaches, and airports.
Like "Arrest and Trial," THE HEARING is part police procedural, part courtroom drama, taking the best of both genres while blurring the lines between them. The jacket to THE HEARING isn't slathered with a lot of quotes about what a keep-you-up-all-night guy John is. No, the design guys got their way on this one, and they did very well. Simple cover: raised lettering with the title and author on a court signboard in red (I think. I'm colorblind, and Mommy isn't here to dress me or correct my color mistakes). Simple, but striking. What goes on in THE HEARING, however, is anything but simple.
THE HEARING is set in modern, right-now, San Francisco. Let's talk for just a second about how wonderfully Lescroart describes that city: half-Shangri-La by the grace of God, half-Calcutta due to the mangled, soft-hearted and soft-headed governing policies of the past 20 years. Lescroart gets it just right, as only a native could; it is difficult to read more than a few pages of THE HEARING at a time without yearning to hop on some mode of transportation and spend a few days just walking the streets, taking in the beauty and the food and the sounds of The City. Lescroart, as only a great writer is able to do, does this while keeping his story moving. He also, however, pulls off an additional sleight of hand.
THE HEARING has an intriguing, complex plot. Elaine Wager, a well known attorney, is found shot to death in an alley. Her apparent murderer is Cole Burgess, a down-and-out heroin addict who is found in an alcohol-induced stupor near her body and with the murder weapon in his hand. The police even have a taped confession. It appears to be a slam dunk. The District Attorney, facing defeat in an upcoming election, decides to use the incident to political advantage and presses for death penalty specifications, something she has never done before. Dismas Hardy, a principled defense attorney, is reluctantly drawn into Burgess's representation, even though he is thoroughly convinced of his guilt. Initially brought into the case by Burgess's sister, Hardy is disturbed by the attitude of the District Attorney's office with respect to this case.
The D. A.'s office in the previous four years has treated the office as a social agency as opposed to a mechanism by which criminals are brought to justice. This particular case involves a defendant so intoxicated that he can barely recall what occurred. Why does the D. A.'s office want the death penalty in this case? The case is complicated by the fact that the investigating officer, Abe Glitsky, is --- unknown to almost everyone --- the victim's father. Glitsky initially is convinced of Burgess's guilt as well, but slowly starts to see cracks in his certainty. He and Hardy begin working together to actually investigate what to all appearances is an open-and-shut case.
Lescroart's unrushed and thoughtful narrative expertly and meticulously begins to paint each piece of the puzzle and slowly put them together, one-by-one. While he does this, we really get to know and care about the people involved. This is not a book that will meet anyone's explosions-and-karate quota; that is not what it is about. It is about painstaking, step at a time, investigation, made more difficult by the fact that it seems unnecessary. The reader cannot be sure until the last quarter of the book whether or not Burgess is the true murderer. There are other potential suspects --- a self-centered boyfriend, a wonderfully drawn shyster lawyer, the opportunistic D. A. --- but finding out who murdered Elaine Wager, and why, becomes an all-engrossing task. Lescroart has done something quite remarkable here. THE HEARING is not a page-turner in the classic sense; it takes some worthwhile time to get through. It is, however, nearly impossible to put down. When you do, the who and why will stay with you, even when you have read the final page.
THE HEARING is an all encompassing feast for the senses with enough mystery, drama, and characterization to fill three books. And I'm serious about Lescroart's descriptions of San Francisco too. If his descriptions of The City in THE HEARING can't reverse the decline in tourism, nothing will. Highly recommended.
--- Joe Hartlaub
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