Jury of One [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

David Ellis (Author), Sandra Burr (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2004

In Jury of One, Shelly Trotter, an able and determined lawyer and a children’s rights advocate, is thrust into a world in which she’s completely unschooled — the criminal court. Her client is a seventeen-year-old accused of killing a policeman, and she begins to suspect that he may have been involved in an undercover operation to entrap dirty cops, though his role in the scheme remains unclear. Was he the target or the bait—and what does the prosecution really have against him? Then comes the shocker: Shelly fears that she has a connection to this boy, something she has kept secret for years, knowledge that she has hidden from her family and friends for most of her adult life. And as the evidence against the boy mounts, she finds that nothing — not legal ethics, not a statewide political campaign that could swing in the balance—will stop her from keeping him off death row. For with this client, she is truly a jury of one.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar Award-winner Ellis (Life Sentence; Line of Vision) chooses a protagonist common to a number of recent legal thrillers: the idealistic, semi-loner nonprofit lawyer with a dark secret. Michelle "Shelly" Trotter is working for the Children's Advocacy Project when she is summoned by a former client, 17-year-old Alex Baniewicz, whom she once represented in a high school disciplinary hearing. This time Alex isn't going to get off with an in-school suspension; he's accused of killing a Chicago cop. Even though Shelly has little experience in criminal court, she tears into the case with pit bull intensity. She waits too long before she asks Alex if he actually did the deed, but when she does, he admits to the killing, complicating his already impossible defense. Shelly has other difficulties as well: she has a troubled relationship with her father, the governor of the state; she's still suffering from the effects of being raped and impregnated as a teenager; her apartment is broken into and she's threatened with death; and the police on the Chicago force are making it quite clear how they feel about cop-killer defense lawyers. Unfortunately, Shelly is not the most likable of heroines, and the prose is lackluster, but Ellis makes up for much of this with a steady stream of twists and complications. Once Shelly is on her feet in front of a jury, the novel picks up speed, and a stunning Perry Mason-style courtroom shocker will knock readers right out of their seats. After they pick themselves up off the floor, the ensuing fast and furious revelations will have them flying through the final pages.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A boy runs down an alley; a cop gives chase; a shot is fired. As in his last two acclaimed legal thrillers, Ellis baits a mean hook, but not all of what follows is so easy to swallow. Gutsy Shelly Trotter is retained as counsel by Alex, accused cop killer, and a swift succession of coincidences culminates in the stunning revelation that Shelly's client is her own son, born of the very rape that inspired her life's mission of rescuing doomed youth. Readers who hang on through this contrived and sluggish initial discovery phase will be rewarded as Ellis plays out more line in a sinuous pretrial sequence of shifting scenarios involving a federal sting operation, drug-dealing gangsters, and Alex's curious relationship with Ronnie, his gifted foster brother. The gladiatorial trial sequences are detailed and riveting, and Shelly gets legal advice and a bit of frisky sex on the side with a high-powered attorney. Although Ellis' work is not quite as credible as Turow or Sheldon Siegel, his misdirection and plot twists will please fans of Bernhardt, O'Shaughnessy, or Margolin. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed; Unabridged library edition (March 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159086770X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590867709
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 4.8 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,282,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A COMPLEX AND COMPELLING THRILLER = FINE LISTENING, March 23, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jury of One (Audio Cassette)

Accomplished audio book reader Sandra Burr always suits her voice to the story, whether it be comedy, drama or romance. She can be old, young, happy, frightened, all with equal skill. Once more she vocally captures the essence of a protagonist in this courtroom thriller.

Shelley Trotter is a fine lawyer with a troubled past. She's a child's rights advocate/activist. When Alex, a former client of hers in the Children's Advocacy Project, is accused of murder she immediately stands to defend the 17-year-old. So great is her desire to prove the boy innocent that she overlooks asking some very important questions.

Her mind set is also affected by her past - as a young girl she was a rape victim, and became pregnant. In addition, her relationship with her father, the governor, is a bit tenuous.
Quite obviously Shelley's legal training and experience has not prepared her for the battle she faces in criminal court, especially when Alex is accused of killing a policeman.

Author Ellis weaves these threads together to form a complex and compelling thriller. No wonder he's an Edgar winner!

- Gail Cooke

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outsanding-a work that can be read on many levels, March 30, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jury of One (Hardcover)

In a Midwestern city, attorney Shelly Trotter works for the Child Advocacy Project by representing troubled students in court. Because she has never worked a capital case, Shelly asks Paul Riley to defend Alex Baniewicz, accused of killing police officer Raymond Miroballi. Paul prefers Shelly lead the defense, which she reluctantly agrees to do.

Already having doubts that she can provide an adequate defense, Shelly learns that Baniewicz may be the son she gave up for adoption following a rape. Made public that revelation could destroy her conservative father's reelection for state governor. The case turns even more complex when federal agents inform Shelly that Alex was working undercover for them trying to find evidence that martyred heroic cop Miroballi sold drugs. As she continues to develop the defense, Shelly investigates the link between her client and a vicious gang of reported drug dealers, the Cannibals. Her probe leads to Alex's friend Ronnie Masters, who not only may be a cop killer, but seems more likely the infant that she gave away.

The twists in this incredible superb legal thriller are amazing (there are plenty more to come than what was described above) yet each one feels right though the megatons are at hydrogen bomb level revelations. That along with a solid cast makes for a terrific terse tale that will make David Ellis a household name. Even the street punks come across as real making a JURY OF ONE the must sub-genre read of the year so far.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Courtroom Drama, August 8, 2010

By 

J. B. Perkins "J.B. Perkins" (Albany, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jury of One (Hardcover)

If you've ever read David Ellis before you know he is an excellent writer. In Jury of One he tells a fantastic story about Shelly Trotter, a lawyer, who defends a young man, she knows from helping him out previously, from a murder charge. The story of this young man becomes increasingly more complicated and interesting as the plot builds. During the trial many new things are discovered. Although throughout the book I knew there was something significant going on, I really didn't guess what it was and was quite surprised when the last critical piece of information was revealed. It reads quickly and you will never lose your attention and interest from the beginning to end. I also loved that he brought in a couple of characters from past books. If you like legal thrillers, you'll love this!