The Prosecution [Mass Market Paperback]

D.W. Buffa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2001

A superstar defense attorney, Joseph Antonelli has made his reputation by winning at any cost, watching the wheels of justice turn, outguessing every turn and every lurch. Now he’s come out of retirement to win again. Only this time his job is not to defend, it is to prosecute–to send a deputy district attorney to death row for the crime of murder for hire. But in a torrid case of violence, adultery, and betrayal, lies compound lies, truths defy belief, and finally, one murder leads to another. Suddenly Antonelli knows that in this case the wheels of justice are warped by money and power. And putting the right person away isn’t just a matter of law, it’s a matter of survival. . . .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you liked D.W. Buffa's debut legal thriller The Defense, you should love this sequel. It's virtually the same blend of courtroom razzle-dazzle and backstage manipulation, beautifully written, and studded with deep philosophical thoughts. Joe Antonelli, the ace Portland, Oregon, defense attorney who could get even the most guilty of villains off the hook, has been so shattered by the events of the first book that he's retired, sitting in the house he inherited and reading lots of classic literature. Then his best friend, Judge Horace Woolner, arm-twists him into coming back to work--this time as a special prosecutor, investigating the distinct possibility that the city's deputy district attorney hired a man to kill his wife. The case, of course, is fraught with political overtones. And no sooner has Joe done this dirty job than another disturbing case pops up for him to handle: Judge Woolner's wife is charged with shooting a man who might have been her lover.

Buffa, a former professor of political theory and Portland criminal lawyer, is also a world-class writer who knows how to plant vital evidence and then snatch it away or turn it on its head. He also is sly enough to realize that Antonelli might become a bit of a prig if left unchecked, so he drops in the occasional little jest among the deep thoughts from time to time. In an elevator, Joe quotes a line from Thomas Hobbes to Judge Woolner:

"Life is 'a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.'" "Ceaseth," Horace repeated, laughing at the way it sounded. "You have to understand," I said, as the elevator door slid open, "in the seventeenth century everyone talked with a lisp."

--Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Buffa's debut novel, The Defense, earned accolades for its multilayered plot, careful writing and philosophical musings about guilt and innocence. This sequel attempts to combine those same elements, with less satisfactory results. Once again, Portland's crackerjack defense attorney Joseph Antonelli is selected for a formidable taskAthis time, to act as special prosecutor investigating the murder of Nancy Goodwin, wife of Chief Deputy D.A. Marshall Goodwin. A grungy sociopath named Travis Quentin admits to having slashed Nancy's throat, but claims he was hired by Goodwin and his new wife, the "shapely and infinitely desirable" Assistant D.A. Kristin Maxfield. All Antonelli has to work with is the problematic Quentin's uncorroborated testimony; nevertheless, for reasons not entirely clear, Antonelli brings Goodwin to trial. Minutes after the verdict on Goodwin is revealed, Antonelli learns that Judge Horace Woolner's wife has been charged with the murder of her putative lover, the rich, sexually ambiguous and powerful Russell Gray. Antonelli automatically goes to bat for the accused woman, but Buffa hasn't developed the Goodwin plot sufficiently to abandon it just yet. Even if readers accept Antonelli's telephone-booth transformations from defense attorney to ethical hero/special prosecutor, they may be skeptical of the one-dimensional evil of everyone else in Portland's power circles and their unlikely off-the-record confabs with Antonelli. The many weaknesses in plot and character are not disguised by the pretentious, and sometimes downright silly, academic asides. Author tour. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (October 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449006905
• ISBN-13: 978-0449006900
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,106,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DW Buffa was born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area. After graduation from Michigan State University, he studied under Leo Strauss, Joseph Cropsey and Hans J. Morgenthau at the University of Chicago where he earned both an M.A. and a Ph. D. in political science. He received his J.D. degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Buffa was a criminal defense attorney for 10 years and his seven Joseph Antonelli novels strive to reflect, from his own experience, what a courtroom lawyer does, the way he (or she) thinks, and the way he feels about what he does.

Buffa had been writing for pleasure for many years when Henry Holt and Co. decided to publish his first novel, The Defense, in 1997. The week it was published, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, the literary critic of the New York Times, called The Defense 'an accomplished first novel' which 'leaves you wanting to go back to the beginning and read it over again.'

The Defense was followed by The Prosecution and then The Judgment, which was one of the five books nominated in 2002 for the Edgar Award as best novel of the year. While the first three novels are set in Portland, the author's fourth novel, The Legacy, takes place in San Francisco and is as much a political as it is legal thriller. Star Witness tells the story of Stanley Roth, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, who is charged with murder of his famous movie star wife.

Breach of Trust, published in 2004, was considered by one critic as "one of the few books that fifty years from now will really matter." It offers readers a scintillating look at Washington politics. Buffa's seventh Joseph Antonelli novel, Trial by Fire, was released in 2005; in this new book, the focus is on the media and the role that television "Talking heads" increasingly play in very high profile criminal cases. Publishers Weekly says of Trial by Fire, "In this intelligent, gripping legal thriller...fast moving dialogue and fine sense of characterization keep the reader hanging on for the ride."

D.W. Buffa lives in Northern California. You can visit his Official Website at dwbuffa.net if you'd like to correspond with him through email.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Writer, July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Prosecution: A Legal Thriller (Hardcover)

D. Buffa's book, "The Defense" was outstanding, as is "The Prosecution". I like his writing style. There's not an "F" word in every paragraph, and he seems not to waste a sentence. It's fiction, and the shortcomings I overlooked. This guy is a good writer, and has my attention.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A winning blend of cynicism and idealism, September 12, 2007

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prosecution (Mass Market Paperback)

D. W. Buffa's 1997 debut, the critically acclaimed THE DEFENSE, introduced Joseph Antonelli, a brilliant, arrogant defense attorney driven to win at all costs. In that novel, Antonelli summed up his legal career by saying, "I never lost a case I should have one, and I won nearly all the cases I should have lost." Antonelli rode high until his mentor, Judge Leopold Rifkin, asked him to defend Johnny Morel, a loathsome man charged with raping his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. Although he knew Morel was unquestionably guilty, Antonelli nevertheless used his legal prowess to win an acquittal. Morel and his ex-wife were later killed, and Judge Rifkin was wrongfully accused of the murders. Emotionally involved in a case to an unprecedented degree, Antonelli suborned a witness to clear the Judge. Rifkin walked out of court a free man, but later committed suicide. Besides losing his best friend, Antonelli later discovered he had been manipulated from the start, a pawn in a much larger game.

As THE PROSECUTION begins, Antonelli has been retired from the practice of law for over a year. Depressed by his perceived failure to save Rifkin, he spends his days studying philosophical texts the Judge willed him, emerging from his self-imposed exile only to visit close friends like Judge Horace Woolner and his wife Alma. Antonelli reluctantly returns to the law when Woolner, reacting to evidence that assistant DA Marshall Goodwin may have hired a hitman to kill his wife, convinces him to act in the capacity of special prosecutor. Satisfying himself that Goodwin is guilty, Antonelli relentlessly pursues and secures a conviction against the apparently sociopathic assistant DA, reestablishing himself as a major player in his profession. Flushed with victory, Antonelli resumes his practice.

Things, however, are not as clear cut as they seem. First, Antonelli receives information that casts doubt on Goodwin's guilt. Then, he is distracted by a new case when Alma Woolner is accused of killing socialite Russell Gray, with whom she was rumored to be having an affair. As the stakes increase, Antonelli again finds himself at the center of intrigue, forced to question his own loyalty, morals, and profession; his search for the truth will either destroy him or set him free.

At 277 pages, THE PROSECUTION is somewhat lean, but still substantial. Having considered questions of law from one side of the courtroom in THE DEFENSE, Buffa turns the tables, using Antonelli's change in perspective to examine complex issues of law and morality. There's no skimping on drama, however--numerous plot twists keep Antonelli and readers guessing until the book's bittersweet finale.

Buffa's clean, straightforward prose, and "damn-the-torpedoes" style of storytelling combine to create a vivid tale with a high degree of immediacy. The story is also well served by Antonelli's first person narrtion. Because of his extreme candor, it's easy to sympathize with his personal and professional struggles. Although extraordinarily intelligent, he's human and makes mistakes. Although he usually wins, his victories have their costs.

Cynical and knowing, yet idealistic and hopeful, THE PROSECUTION poses many difficult questions. Unfortunately, as Joseph Antonelli's experiences ultimately reveal, there are no easy answers to these questions, just shades of the truth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for a legal thriller, January 29, 2003

By 

death metal and black metal "death metal and ... (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prosecution (Mass Market Paperback)

This genre is generally braindead, but D.W. Buffa's "The Prosecution" makes the best of a bad hand by playing up the full intensity of courtroom drama, making the events and consequences of a criminal trial alive and threatening to the reader.

While throughout the book intensity is banked by the character's inherent stability and need for clear-cut mandates, during the trial sequences we see the traditional murder mystery hero trade dodging bullets and fisticuffs for outwitting a number of traps only obvious to those who spend time in courtrooms. In this the book comes alive.

The rest is fairly predictable, but executed with good editing (tight text) and reasonable expectation transferred to the reader. Characters outside the main three are mostly plastic stick figures who wander by and wave plot objects, and the frame-of-focus of the lead character limits scenery, background, setting to minimalist devices. Despite these genre-limitations, however, this book remains an entertaining read.

Warning: politics of racial pity afoot in choice of characters and dilemmas. It wasn't to my taste. Black people don't need pity, and white people don't need to get caught up in giving pity to others and being morosely self-critical.