Joshua Jin is an assistant district attorney whose life is in crisis after the death of his teenaged daughter and the breakup of his marriage. Now he has been handed an impossible case involving the savage rape of a thirteen-year-old girl who refuses to talk. The ex-con charged with the crime was arrested on a hunch. The problem? There is no physical evidence. Jin's orders are simple: pitch a sound bite, dump the case, and save his boss the Chinatown vote during a politically charged election year. But Jin refuses to drop the case; even after he discovers that the opposing attorney is a brilliant, high-priced lawyer - and his one-time lover - who wants nothing more than to crush Jin in the courtroom. First, however, he must win the confidence of Rachel Farr, his stone-silent client, a distant, troubled teenager who trusts no one. But when Rachel recounts her brutal attack, Jin is spurred into action, throwing his heart and soul into a case that is far more explosive than he had ever imagined.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Joshua Jin is one of the more interesting protagonists to come along in mystery fiction for quite a while. The Sacramento Chinese American D.A.'s professional life has fallen apart following the death of his daughter and the departure of his wife. So mired in grief that he dissolves in tears while trying a man for murder, he's exiled to an out-of-the-way department where he's handed a politically charged Chinatown child rape case and told to make it go away. It shouldn't be hard, because there's no physical evidence, and the victim, a 13-year-old girl, won't name the man police know was responsible. Further, the perpetrator is represented by a brilliant criminal defense lawyer who happens to be the woman Jin jilted for his soon-to-be-ex wife. But Jin realizes that his personal salvation depends on fighting a system that would ignore a little girl's pain.
This gripping courtroom drama ranks with the best of Scott Turow in its brilliant depiction of the inner reaches of the human soul; the final pages throw a curve that you won't see coming. Lee's voice in this second novel (after China Boy) is confident, sure, and passionate, and his characters memorable and resonant. This is a novel with great heart, and Lee is a writer to watch. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
His young daughter dead of a heart defect, his beautiful wife gone, his career at the Sacramento DA's office on the rocks, Joshua Jin?the hero of this wooden thriller?has lost nearly everything. All that's left is the one case dumped on his desk, the Chinatown rape of a 13-year-old Anglo girl named Rachel, who refuses to talk or to provide physical evidence of her assault. Jin realizes the case is a loser, just a way for the DA to send a Chinese-American lawman into Chinatown right before an election, but he refuses to drop it, despite suspiciously vehement orders from upstairs. Rachel's rape evokes too many memories of his beloved daughter; besides, counsel for the suspect is Stacy August, his dangerously gorgeous ex-girlfriend. Former deputy DA Lee (Tiger's Tail) has concocted a rich premise here, mixing together Chinese life and American legal practice, political realities and private grief. He obviously knows his way around a courtroom: Jin's efforts to select, then romance, the jury read like a primer on trial practice. But the labored plot is slow to develop, and, when it does, Lee provides constant recaps, underestimating the reader's ability to follow the action. His stock characters (one foul-mouthed detective with a heart of gold, one computer-geek law intern, one femme fatale, etc.) talk and think in notably awkward noir-ese ("I tried not to like her too much, but her words were bread crumbs to a deeper sense of self"). The resolution, implicating far too many characters on both sides of the law, goes down like a two-ton wonton. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An "Abuse" Legal Thriller With Surprises Aplenty,
By
This review is from: No Physical Evidence (Hardcover)
Chinese American Writer Gus Lee explores an important area of criminal abuse in this new legal thriller. But Lee, author of four fine novels, experienced deputy district attorney, Army judge advocate, FBI trainer, and executive of the California state bar forgot to review his notes on how the system works. Lawyers and politicians will probably hate this drama. Readers will turn the last page knowing the law is not handled this way, yet will appreciate his passion for what is right, and his love for children and family. His window into the human soul saves this tangled story. A little polish would have helped as Lee creates great sentences in difficult paragraphs and confusing chapters.This book is engrossing despite its flaws. Josh Jin's career and his personal life are slipping away due to his emotional collapse caused by the death of a daughter. Resulting mistakes caused him to lose respect and position. Jin is forced into a case in which he finds himself conflicted from grief, loss of status, ugly politics and morals, cultures, and outrage. A 13-year old rape victim refuses to talk. There is no physical evidence. He has nobody's confidence and no professional support. The accused ex-con may not be the one. Worse, his legal adversary is a powerful ex-girlfriend he once jilted who knows how to pull his chain. He cries in court and colleagues think he is without hope. Jin struggles back from the edge while pulling another from disaster. The reader learns a bit about the Chinese-American culture and very real child sexual abuse, accurately rendered. As the story unfolds, there are surprises aplenty. This BOMC alternate is awkward but remains a page turner. It is a complex crime story based on what is really happening, though a bit overplotted. A tale of lives in crises, untidy politics, horrifying crime, sleazy judges, shoddy legal work, messy lives, committment and personal salvation. Lee toys with the reader right up to the last few words. This is a book of passion dotted with clever observations and characters that resonate. Readers will think about this book for a long time despite it's rather unbelievable legal, political core. Gus Lee could do better and has done so(Honor and Duty) than this sometimes confusing book, but "No Physical Evidence" remains a worthwhile read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly superior legal thriller.,
By A Customer
This review is from: No Physical Evidence (Hardcover)
A complicated moral man wrestles honorably with the unpredictable complexities of evil, and the plot is great, and somehow you can't put the book down. Gus Lee reminds me of Scott Turow. The style is different, Lee's spare and vivid and Turow's discursive and courtly, but the moral center holds with both, and the superior writer's touch. I hope Gus Lee is hard at work on the next one, because this guy is really, really, really good.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heartfelt and emotional--courtroom drama at its finest.,
By A Customer
This review is from: No Physical Evidence (Hardcover)
Joshua Jin is a brilliant prosecutor with a heart trying to recover from the loss of his young daughter, an emotional trauma that threatens both his personal life and his career. The case he takes on, proving the horrific rape of a 13 year-old girl without the aid of physical evidence, is not only extremely difficult from a legal standpoint, it is politically unsound for a career already in jeopardy. Josh's deep compassion for the girl underscores a brilliant, passionate performance in which both the helpless victim and the downtrodden prosecutor may be vindicated. Filled with well-developed characters and an ever-changing plot that tugs at the emotions, this finely-spun story keeps the reader turning pages to its exciting conclusion.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
