An energizing legal tale that shows the value of asking the right questions.
A courageous lawyer seeks justice for his sister and her family in this novel.
Melanie Simpson is at her wits’ end when her husband, Jared, off his antipsychotic meds because of a recent job loss, runs out into a thunderstorm. She calls 911, a move that will change her loved ones’ lives. That’s because Lt. Vincenzo Sparafucile of the Hopperville police department in Indiana shocks Jared multiple times with the Taser-like “Electric Gun,” resulting in cardiac arrest and the black man’s eventual death. Jared’s initial vegetative state leads his son, Ryan, to take his father’s rifle to Sparafucile’s house, but the cop shoots him dead. Rocked by what has happened to her husband and son, Melanie commits suicide, leaving a note to her brother, Jason “Bear” Judge, to get justice for her family. Bear, a former FBI agent-turned-big-city attorney, had come west from New York City to support Melanie following Jared’s hospitalization. After her family is wiped out, Bear sues the makers of the Electric Gun for false safety claims and the Hopperville police for excessive force. His firm forces him out and he starts up a new practice in Indiana, aided by a talented young Kenyan associate. The two have to overcome several threats, both legal and illegal, in their effort to get justice for Melanie. What elevates this novel by Zipes is his weaving in such timely topics as police brutality toward minorities and individuals who are unable to afford essential drugs. The author, a Harvard Medical School graduate, is a professor at the Indiana University Medical Center. His career lends authenticity to the medical details that are at the heart of this story. In addition, he has created a well-rounded protagonist in Bear, a skillful interrogator who is determined to do the right thing despite an earlier mistake that continues to haunt him. Other enjoyable characters include Bear’s flawed but loving wife, Kat, and his brilliant associate, Deroshay “Shay” Odinga. The acts of intimidation against Bear’s team by the defendants seem heavy-handed but Zipes makes sure readers know who the villains are. The smooth narrative just flies along, both in and out of court. What results is a heady blend of legal thriller and social justice drama.
An energizing legal tale that shows the value of asking the right questions.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5320-7972-6
Page Count: 366
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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