Justice For None: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Gene Hackman (Author), Daniel Lenihan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

The year is 1929, just before the Depression. Vermilion, Illinois is a prosperous small town where World War I veteran Boyd Calvin lives. Still haunted by his experiences in the war, Boyd struggles to find a place for himself. He drives a trolley and lives hand-to-mouth in a flophouse. But when Boyd stumbles upon the scene of his wife's brutal killing, he loses his nerve and runs, only to be captured and jailed for murder…
In prison, he meets and befriends George, a black convict accused of raping a white woman. Narrowly escaping a crowd's attempt to lynch them, the men flee for their lives, hiding together before making their way to the anonymity of Chicago and day labor paid in cash. But Boyd soon discovers the fugitive's underworld is not for him and decides to return to Vermilion and surrender to his fate.

What he doesn't expect to find is a small group of supporters who believe in his innocence and convince Boyd to fight for the justice that has eluded him. As the country stumbles toward collapse, a dramatic trial unfolds as a man's fate hangs in the balance…

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This second outing by coauthors Hackman and Lenihan (Wake of the Perdido Star) centers on Boyd Calvin, a 28-year-old shell-shocked World War I veteran. In 1929, Calvin stops by his ex-wife's home and finds her dead in a pool of blood, while her current boyfriend peruses a Bible in the kitchen. More shots ring out, and the lover is dead. Calvin is seen fleeing the scene, the only suspect. But the question of Calvin's guilt or innocence isn't really the point of the novel, which serves primarily to air the authors' opinions on race, class and the treatment of military veterans in America. When Calvin is initially apprehended, he lands in a jail cell next to George, a black man who's been unjustly charged with—yep, you guessed it—raping a white woman. The two become friends and fugitives together. Calvin shovels guts in a Chicago slaughterhouse and, with the help of George, briefly enters the world of early-20th-century black America and then dabbles in bootlegging. Once Calvin's travels exhaust the authors' apparent interest in exploring the social history of greater Chicago, Calvin turns himself in to the authorities to stand trial. Despite a few compelling scenes, the novel lacks focus and a unified vision, making for a tedious and poorly organized read.
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

In their first novel, Wake of the Perdido Star (1999), actor Hackman and coauthor Lenihan combined historical and adventure fiction. In their second collaboration, they mix historical fiction with elements of the murder mystery. As in the previous book, readers must overlook the clumsy prose style ("The sun had climbed to its 9:00 A.M. reserved spot in the sky") in order to appreciate the suspenseful story. Young Boyd Calvin, living in a small town in Illinois in the late 1920s, attempts to put his life and marriage back together after his convalescence in a hospital, where he spent time for mental strain incurred as a doughboy in the Great War. But one night, Boyd's estranged wife is shot dead, and circumstances point to him as the doer of the deed. In jail he gets acquainted with a black man accused of raping a white woman. Add into the equation a woman reporter for a Chicago newspaper who is in town to investigate the murder, and the formula for an exciting yarn springs into place. The authors show a good understanding of locale and time period, and Boyd is portrayed with enough depth to make readers care about him. Brad Hooper
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

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312995172
• ISBN-13: 978-0312995171
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,632,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing and stirring sophomore effort, May 29, 2004

By 

Jon Eric Davidson (Redmond, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Justice For None: A Novel (Hardcover)

In their first foray into the realm of fiction, Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan created "Wake of the Perdido Star", a novel that I believed to be one of the best seafaring novels of recent memory. It made me very eager for future efforts from this tandem. While it has been several years, the wait was well worth it. Their sophomore effort, "Justice for None", is a dramatic departure from their first work, but is a very enjoyable read.

I was frankly quite surprised that Mr. Hackman and Mr. Lenihan would release a novel that is of an entirely different subject and historical era from their first one. It is something that, I believe, most authors have not pulled off well, and in doing so, have alienated much of their fan base. However, Mr. Hackman and Mr. Lenihan proved to be the exception to this pattern.

"Justice for None" is set in the small Illinois town of Vermilion on the eve of the Great Depression. The story involves Boyd Calvin, a struggling World War I veteran who gets caught up in the murder of his estranged wife, which leads to a pair of runs from justice before a climactic trial to prove his innocence.

The Boyd Calvin character is developed very well, and proves to be an interesting focal point for this story. The authors created someone who elicits in the reader an internal conflict. On the one hand, he is a sympathetic character as he struggles with his dark history in the war, the reconciliation with his wife, and his fight against a justice system in which the odds are wholly against him. On the other, he is almost repulsive, as he consistently resists authority and pushes away those who are trying their hardest to help him. This character development works very well, and is somewhat rare to find in these types of stories. It holds your interest and keeps you locked into the plot.

The plot itself is also intriguing, though it is perhaps more of a part of a broader view of this pre-Depression, Midwest society. It seems almost underdeveloped in some places, and was less of a driver in advancing the story. Rather, it supplemented the character elements and external events, such as the impending stock market crash, race relations, and small town life. While this would seemingly be a liability, Mr. Hackman and Mr. Lenihan made it work. The prose is descriptive yet sparse, which paints a very vivid picture, keeps the reader interested, and also serves to drive the plot at a rapid pace.

I also give credit to Mr. Hackman and Mr. Lenihan for the story development. Novels like this usually have a pretty standard ending that the reader knows at the outset. So, there is usually a "surprise" ending, which sometimes works but more often is picked up by the attentive reader well in advance. In "Justice for None", the authors somehow developed a storyline that was unexpected in terms of how the climactic moment would unfold. Then on top of that, they advanced the story to a wholly satisfying conclusion that had an element of surprise that was also not anticipated. What made the ending so good is that while it was a surprise, it was also rather subdued, which actually served to emphasize the impact even more.

So often in reviews - my own included - there is the tendency to rate something in comparison to the authors' previous work. I tried very diligently to avoid doing so here, because of the stark difference between "Justice for None" and "Wake of the Perdido Star". If I were to rate this based on a comparison, I probably would rate this as 4 stars. However, taken as a stand-alone novel - which is more fair and representative of the work - it does merit a rating of a full 5 stars.

Once again, the work of Mr. Hackman and Mr. Lenihan has apppealed to me as a reader, and I am once again looking forward to their next work. Hopefully, it will not be as long a wait, but I am eager to find out what they come up with next.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great read!, June 24, 2004

By 

janetlhamm (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Justice For None: A Novel (Hardcover)

The atmosphere the authors created swept me back in time to the places and experiences of my youth in Illinois. Justice for None vividly and accurately describes post-World War I Mid-America and combines it with suspense to make a powerful novel. I was totally absorbed by this book and enjoyed it thoroughly.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good, solid read, August 31, 2004

By 

Andre Heeger (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Justice For None: A Novel (Hardcover)

I won't go into the storyline - you can read about that above. Just one thing: Don't listen to the critics. This is truely a good book.
I'm very glad I bought it and I'm also sure I'll enjoy a second read. If you like thrillers, adventure stories with solid characters, I suggest you read both the authors' books. All the talk about too many cliches, wobbling storyline - foget about it. Just read it. You won't be disappointed. Promised.