The sadly overplayed genre of the "legal thriller" keeps producing writers, novels and, eventually, movies. Some of these works are good, others dull, still others inane.
Richard North Patterson's new novel "Silent Witness" definitely belongs in the good section.
The story appears at first to be the same as a dozen other courtroom tales: a sharp, talented lawyer defending someone whom everyone believes guilty. But that's where the similarities to other legal thrillers ends.
"Silent Witness" is not just the story of one murder, it is the story of two. The main character, Tony Lord, is a wealthy, happily-married lawyer in San Francisco, married to a successful actress, raising a son whom he adores.
Then he receives a call from some old friends, asking for his help.
Tony's old high school buddy Sam Robb, from the small town of Lake City, Ohio, is suspected in the brutal slaying of a girl at the school where Sam is a faculty member. Tony goes to his aid and recalls why he originally left Lake City.
The story then flashes back to 1967, when Tony was an athletic superstar Lake City. The night of a stunning victory in high school football, Tony's girlfriend Alison Taylor is strangled. Due to the circumstances, Tony becomes the prime suspect and finishes the remainder of his senior year with the accusations of the entire town focused on him.
His lawyer, Saul Ravin, apparently clears the matter up, and Tony leaves for college at Harvard. His experience has convinced him to become a defense attorney.
Then, the story returns to the present with Tony's return to the town that he had fled from in disgrace, to defend his friend, who is now in much the same predicament. Sam is implicated in the death of Marcie Calder, a member of the track team that Sam coaches.
The excellent plot was not the only positive quality of the book. There was a great deal of exploration into human nature, specifically in the relationship that Tony and Sam had in high school. They were close friends, but felt the need to compete with each other for various athletic honors. After Alison's death, Sue Cash, Sam's girlfriend, became very close to Tony, and this complicated Sam and Tony's friendship even more.
The dark effects of jealousy, competitiveness and alcoholism are all touched upon.
There is also a smaller subplot dealing with racial tension (complete with several references to the O.J. Simpson trial).
In the 1967 portion of the story, Ernie Nixon attends Tony and Sam's high school, as the only African-American student. With murder accusations flying at him, Tony begins to understand the isolation Ernie feels.
However, almost 30 years later, Ernie's actions make him usable as a scapegoat in Sam's case, and Tony unwillingly must attack Ernie's credibility, knowing how the people of the area still feel about Ernie.
Then there's Tony's relationship to Sue, which, in the flashback portion of the story, slowly grows to be more than friendship.
His return to Lake City, reawakens some of these feelings, complicating matters with Sam as his client, who begins to look more and more guilty of several repugnant crimes.
This leads to Tony's guilt as he becomes forced to attack other people in the courtroom in order to plant the seed of reasonable doubt. He damages reputations, lives and marriages.
The one problem I saw with this book was some of the unnecessary details. Even allowing for the fact that it was about two murders that were both sexual in nature, there are still some very upsetting descriptions.
This is not a book for the squeamish. One scene involves a forensics expert describing what happened to Marcie Calder's head as it was repeatedly clubbed with a 10-pound rock. And, there are a lot of "bedroom" scenes, some a bit less appealing than others.
I will not spoil the ending, but, needless to say, it is worth the gory descriptions.
