From a writer and trial judge poised to join the ranks of Scott Turow and Lisa Scottoline, Perjury is a fast-paced courtroom drama about lies, sexual abuse, and the conflict between law and justice.
Jack Brenner, a burned-out public de-fender from Chicago, has left lying clients and political maneuvering behind to take on the more lucrative, predictable routine of a civil lawyer in a small Michigan town. But when the court assigns him to defend a woman accused of perjury, he is swept back into the labyrinth of the criminal justice systemβand into a nest of small-town politics, greed, and revenge.
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
His client, Davey Alden, has admitted she lied on the stand, fabricating the incidents when she claimed her husband Joel Alden sexually abused their young daughter. Outraged by Davey's deceit, the town and the legal system have shifted their sympathies to her husband, one of the most powerful men in the county. A quick, open-and-shut trial is expected.
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
Brenner faces a vengeful prosecutor, a political judge, hostility from the press, and overwhelming evidence and public opinion against Davey. Fueled by his growing attraction to his seductive client, Jack Brenner has a case he cannot win and must not loseβfor if Davey is convicted, not only will she face time in jail, but her daughter will be surrendered to Joel's custody. And Brenner has reason to believe that even if Davey is guilty of perjury, Joel is far from innocent.
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
Stan Latreille tells a riveting tale of the law as it is practiced behind the closed doors of a judge's chambers and in the public eyeβhow guilt and innocence, means and ends, morality and justice are served, and failed, by the law.