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Justice at Risk: A Benjamin Justice Mystery (Benjamin Justice Mysteries)
 
 
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Justice at Risk: A Benjamin Justice Mystery (Benjamin Justice Mysteries) [Hardcover]

John Morgan Wilson (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)


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Book Description

Benjamin Justice Mysteries July 20, 1999
The latest dark and dangerous episode in John Morgan Wilson's award-winning series.

Benjamin Justice, once a celebrated journalist, then discredited and disowned by his profession, has just turned forty, and surprisingly, things are looking up. He's started to get a few writing assignments, he's stopped drinking and started working out, and he's just been introduced to a whole new career. However, as Justice would be the first to suggest, now is the time to watch out for the sucker punch.

Hired to write one of the most sensitive and controversial episodes in a documentary television series on AIDS, Justice falls into instant lust for his associate producer, an Adonis-like straight young man half his age. Together they go off in search of the episode's producer, who has not been seen or heard from in almost a week. When they arrive at his motel, he's still not to be found, but the room has been trashed, and there's blood on the mattress.

The violence is soon linked to a fifteen-year-old bias crime, a corrupt and powerful police official, and a dangerously twisted member of the gay underworld who provides the connection between past and present. In his search for the truth, Justice is lured into an amoral and desperate world where one false move can result in mortal consequences that cannot be reversed.

Justice at Risk is Wilson's darkest, most complex, and most disturbing novel to date. Not to be missed, it is a book that provides an illuminating window onto a scary place that will leave readers shaken, sobered, and much wiser.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A recovering alcoholic and disgraced journalist (for faking a story that won a Pulitzer), Benjamin Justice (Revision of Justice), who's just turned 40, doesn't enjoy the brightest prospects. But now his good friend Alexandra Templeton, a fast-rising reporter at the Los Angeles Sun, is offering to introduce him to a handsome UCLA anthropology professor, Oree Joffrien. When Joffrien, in turn, offers to introduce Justice to his close friend, documentary film producer Cecile Chang in order to work on the script for a series about AIDS, the ever-skeptical Justice refuses to leap at the chance. As soon as he meets "Adonis like" associate producer Peter Graff, however, he decides to sign on. Graff has been working on his own for nearly a week, because the series' director, Tom Callahan, has disappeared without a word. The impending production deadline prompts Justice and Graff to search for Callahan. They find the director's apartment abandoned, with traces of blood and signs of a struggle in the bedroom. The next day, Callahan's body turns up severely mutilated in an area of L.A. known for homosexual cruising. At first glance, the killing looks like another case of homophobia taken to horrific extremesAbut what about the puzzling connection between Callahan's murder and the death of another documentary filmmaker, Brian Mittelman? The two murders are soon linked to a police cover-up involving a brutality case that predates the infamous Rodney King incident, and Justice finds himself entangled in a web of political corruption that reaches into the gay S&M underworld (the novel crescendos with gruesome scenes of sex and violence). A startlingly complex and refreshingly sophisticated mystery, Wilson's third book tackles real-life issues with just the right combination of urbanity and hard-boiled sleuthing. Agent, Alice Martell. (July.) FYI: Simple Justice, which began this series, won the 1997 Edgar for Best First Novel.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

So what if the electronic media are driving Benjamin Justice's old newspaper colleagues to compromise and bankruptcy? Justice, the disgraced Los Angeles Times reporter who had to give back his Pulitzer, is drawing a paycheck again. Television producer Cecile Chang has hired him to replace floundering videotape editor Tommy Callahan as the writer of a segment of her AIDS series for PBS. But the whiff of mortality, never far from Justice's first two cases (Revision of Justice, 1998, etc.), fills the airwaves. Tommy Callahan is found tortured and tossed into a shallow grave; the documentary Justice has inherited from him on unprotected gay sex can't help reminding Justice of all the friends he's lost before turning 40; even the two men he's met come with warnings prominently displayed. Oree Joffriend, UCLA anthropology prof, a great interview source, seems unnervingly wary, and Peter Graff, the straight young associate producer Justice effortlessly seduces, is still loyal to his girlfriend. When Melissa Zeigler, a second murder victims fianc, links the crimes to an ancient gay-bashing by the LAPD, Justice knows he's treading on thin ice. But he can't imagine the frightful toll his investigation of AIDS will end up taking on him and the people he loves most. Justice is as infuriatingly oracular as ever, but Wilson handles the complex, ambitious plot with resonance and maturity even as he hits the obligatory emotional high spots. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (July 20, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385491166
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385491167
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,473,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Mystery, August 16, 2001
By 
William O'Connor "Billsclancy" (LONG ISLAND CITY, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Intrigued after reading the previous reviews, I went and purchased this book first, even though I believe it is the 3rd of the series. I won't go into the plot but I will say that the author develops his characters in such a way that you feel as if you really know and care about what happens. Excellent pace to the story. Had me turning pages to find out what happened next. Enjoyed it so much I went and bought 2 of the other novels in the series. Recommended.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read from cover to cover, September 29, 1999
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This review is from: Justice at Risk: A Benjamin Justice Mystery (Benjamin Justice Mysteries) (Hardcover)
There is something about the character of Benjamin Justice that instantly captures the reader's attention and affections. His somewhat dark and brooding exterior, masks a fragility and sensitivity that he is less and less able to control. Benjamin Justice, at his core, exemplifies a gay "everyman" -- there is something about his life that resonates with each of our own life experiences.

This highly sympathetic and likeable character married to an incredibly engaging and fast-moving plot results in a wonderful read. Wilson weaves mystery, romance and self-discovery together in a highly intricate and successful manner. I can't wait for the next volume.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Wilson is a risk-taker!, January 12, 2004
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If you are looking for a nice mystery where everything gets worked out almost mathematically in the end, this book is not for you. If, however, you are prepared to be blown away by a story that stetches the very limits of the mystery genre, then this one's for you. Mr. Wilson creates larger-than-life characters, many of whom you will care about desperately. And all the good guys don't win in the end. Sound like life? The novel ends with important questions not answered. Perhaps we'll get those answers in the next in this series if we find out whether or not Benjamin Justice is at risk.

Mr. Wilson, through the main character and narrator, Ben Justice, grapples with difficult subjects: corruption in the LA Police Department--there are references to the Rodney King debacle--corruption in the newspaper media, the insanity of "barebacking." Along with Justice, we meet again Harry and Templeton as well as Justice's older landlords. (Actually they're touring Europe on a sort of second honeymoon while Justice looks after their animals and housesits for them.)

Wilson secondarily has almost written a travelogue for a great part of Los Angeles. I got a better feel for this city from him than I have gotten from other "serious" travel writers.

Early in the novel, Ben stops at a mystery bookstore to buy the last copy of Walter Mosley's GONE FISHIN', as Wilson once again pays tribute to another fine California mystery writer.

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First Sentence:
"A COOL SPRING RAIN fell throughout the afternoon, cleansing the city, and when the skies cleared at dusk, the streets glistened and sparkled in the changing light." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bareback sex, videotape editor, editing bays, research room
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tommy Callahan, Cecile Chang, Los Angeles, Taylor Fairchild, Charlie Gitt, Rose Fairchild, Peter Graff, Winston Tsao-Ping, Oree Joffrien, Melissa Zeigler, Byron Mittelman, Sergeant Montego, Jacob Kosterman, Roger Lawson, Miss Zeigler, Felix Montego, New Image Productions, Documentary Channel, Daryl Gates, Pearl Tsao-Ping, Powder Room, Reptile Den, Sunset Boulevard, Charlie Girt, African American
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