A Certain Justice [Import] [Hardcover]

John T. Lescroart (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 373 pages
• Publisher: Donald I. Fine, Inc.; 1ST edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747215863
• ISBN-13: 978-0747215868
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,051,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Never a dull moment, July 31, 2006

By 

Douglas De Bono - Author of No Safe Harbor (Minnetonka, mn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Certain Justice (Abe Glitsky) (Paperback)

A senseless carjacking/murder by a black gang banger begets a mob lynching of a black lawyer and the city on the bay explodes into a race riot.

Against this violent background John Lescroart unleashes a cast of unforgetable characters.

Kevin Shea - the good Samaritan who tries to stop the lynching and is made to look like evil incarnate.

Loretta Wager - the over ambitious US senator looking for a quick ride to re-election and beyond.

Abe Glitski - a man battling his own demons and a political tidal wave threatening to swamp.

Wes Farell - a disenchanted lawyer trying to drink himself to death and fotget the law.

It is all here and more in another winner.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hot & Cold, June 1, 2003

By 

EDGAR RAMSPECK "alfonsinho" (East Hartford, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Certain Justice (Abe Glitsky) (Mass Market Paperback)

The first quarter of the book is excellent, the last quarter pretty good. The other half is where I found myself skimming the pages for relevant and interesting material but didn't find much.
Perhaps I expected too much after this good start. Social issues underlying the story are relevant and well presented in my view.
Read it, just get over the rather boring part without quitting.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Wrong Man, March 2, 2006

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Certain Justice (Abe Glitsky) (Mass Market Paperback)

The innocent man wrongly accused: it's a story idea strong enough that Alfred Hitchcock made many of his movies based on it. In John Lescroart's A Certain Justice, we get a different take on this theme; although this is well-traveled ground, Lescroart is creative enough to add a couple new things and make an entertaining page-turner.

In San Francisco, after a white man is brutally killed during a carjacking, a black man is arrested. Although it is almost certain he is the killer, he is released for lack of conclusive evidence. During a wake for the CPA, the anger at the suspect's release, fueled by plenty of alcohol, creates a mob mentality that turns on an innocent black man. The leaders of the mob attempt to lynch him.

Kevin Shea tries to intervene, getting out his pocket knife and trying to free the man from the rope around his neck. He fails, the man dies, and an unfortunately timed photo makes him look like a killer. The nature of the hate crime sparks riots and soon Shea is a wanted man. While Lieutenant Abe Glitzky tries to investigate - and has his doubts about Shea's guilt - many others have already tarred him as a brutal killer. Certain politicians - including a U.S. Senator and the District Attorney - have spoken so certainly of Shea's guilt that they will not allow the possibility of his innocence: to do so could injure their own reputations and careers.

At times a crime novel, at times a political one, this story generally succeeds well, although I think occasionally some of the characters are a bit over-the-top. If Lescroart has a statement to make, it is a condemnation of people in responsibility who create or promote agitation for their own personal gains. But, any political statements are actually secondary; the main purpose of this novel is to entertain, and Lescroart has put together a good enough story to merit a high four stars. As a thriller, this is a success.