Justice Deferred [Hardcover]

Len Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2002

This is a haunting novel inspired by the incredible and bizarre events surrounding the disappearance of a son, and the courage of a father who was looking for closure but found a cause.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Revenge becomes a dish best served with plenty of legal scheming in Williams's fast-paced debut novel, as an escaped ex-con goes to amazing lengths to nail the two cops who use Alabama's third-strike rule to engineer an unjust life sentence. Billy Ray Billings is a Mobile native with a rough family background who drifts into a life of petty crime. His initial success leads to a brief period on easy street, but a short prison stint serves as a temporary deterrent. Then he gets back in with the wrong crowd, and when the police bust him again and fraudulently tack on another charge after the arrest, he finds himself facing life in prison. Billy Ray is rescued in prison by an inmate named Leonard who steers him into a clandestine education program, and as he builds his academic r‚sum‚, the ambitious Billy Ray uses the prison chaplain to engineer an unlikely escape. He moves to Jackson, Miss., and becomes Harry Brown, going to work for a dry cleaner and then earning a law degree while writing court-oriented profiles for the local paper. Life seems complete and satisfying when he starts a relationship with a local woman, but he can't resist the opportunity to seek out an old crooked colleague and devise an incredibly complex, clever plan to take down the two cops who framed him. Williams gets bogged down a bit in the details of the trial that follows, and his prose can be sloppy, but the combination of dialogue-driven scenes and surprising plot twists is downright addictive. It's rare for a first-time author to master two genres, but this novel works as both prison fiction and legal thriller.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An enthralling page-turner whose story rings all too true. (Nadine Strossen, President, American Civil Liberties Union and Professor, New York Law School) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers; 1st edition (October 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566492696
• ISBN-13: 978-1566492690
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,496,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating prison epic/legal thriller, May 30, 2003

By 

Stacy Alesi "I am the BookBitch" (www.bookbitch.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Justice Deferred (Hardcover)

First novel inspired by the real life events experienced by the author. Williams is the former CEO of Coca-Cola New Zealand, among other companies, and his son was kidnapped. A prison inmate, in for life on the three strike rule for theft, claimed he had killed the boy and offered to show Williams the grave. It turned out to be a bogus claim being used as an escape attempt, and Williams was horrified by the implications of the three strike law putting a man in prison for life for a nonviolent crime like robbery. He turned that story into this fascinating prison epic/legal thriller. Billy Ray Billings is a cracker from Mobile, Alabama and for the first half of the book we follow his life, starting with reform school and ending with life in prison for stealing small appliances. But the life sentence never should have been given - it was forced by the way the local cops were handling their cases to make their conviction rate look good. Enter Harry Brown, lawyer and free lance crime reporter for the local newspaper, who's interest in this case is quite personal. The rest of the book deals with the legal maneuverings to get those life sentences overturned and have justice prevail. Williams draws the reader in from the first page and doesn't let go - even after the last page, these characters will stay with you.  

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars entertaining, fast-paced, December 31, 2009

By 

ed (new jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Justice Deferred (Paperback)

This was a good book, just not a great one (an above reviewer astutely noticed that it isn't fine literature). Billy Ray, a small-time thief who has a knack for hanging out with the wrong crowd, keeps getting himself into trouble. Some crooked cops twist the three-strike law to suit their purposes (and careers), and Billy Ray finds himself behind bars for life. Sweet revenge follows, while Bily Ray rehabilitates and educates himself. The plot is engaging (I liked the prison escape scene best) and fast-moving. As a thriller the novel works great and in fact excels; the revenge angle echoes "The Count of Monte Cristo". As a legal thriller it falls a little short. The writing is too terse and often the events described are implausible--it doesn't have John Grisham's stamp of authenticity, in my opinion.

Bottom line: good effort from a first time novelist. If you like crime thrillers, check this book out. If you're into legal thrillers, I would suggest John Grisham's work instead. This book is straightforward and superficial--if you're trying to enrich your life or discover a mind-boggling epiphany, then this isn't the book for you--try some good literature instead, like "The Brothers Karamazov."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction - yet too close to the real thing, December 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Justice Deferred (Hardcover)

Len William's first published novel takes apart the "three strikes" law being enforced at this moment in a number of states in the US. He weaves a fictional story (interwoven with some realities in the author's own life) that throws into question this legislation that at face value sounds reasonable and prudent, but in practice can be manipulated by our legal system and law enforcement agencies to entrap individuals whose crimes become overshadowed by the injustice of the punishment meted out to them.

Life in prison without parole (after committing and being convicted of a third felony) is the focus of this book. The words flows easily over the mind and the characters come across as very real, but flawed humans, doing dumb things - yet there is hope. The story makes us consider how justice is sometimes doled out in the US of A, or at least taps into that wary streak in us that says all is not well with our legal system.

I can see this book being made into a movie. It looks familiar, engages the mind, moves quickly, and appeals to those rooting for the underdog when the game is so obviously rigged.