Ben Kincaid believes that the class action suit he has just taken on is a suicide mission but he can't forget the innocent children whose untimely deaths cry out for justice. The Blaylock Corporation is charged with dumping toxic chemicals into the community's drinking water. Facing off against Kincaid's small staff is Tulsa's largest law firm and the firm's top gun, not to mention a hot-headed judge with a notorious soft spot for big business. As Ben prepares for legal battle, a group of Blaylock employees are fighting for their lives against a sadistic killer. With each gruesome murder, a terrifying connection is drawn between Ben's quest for justice and another man's relentless hunt for the spoils of his own private - and very dirty - war.
"Thrillingly interwoven plots are Bernhardt's forte." (Booklist)
Ninth in Bernhardt's popular series (Primary Justice; Perfect Justice) starring crusading Tulsa attorney Ben Kincaid, this thriller mines the same territory covered by the film A Civil Action and Jonathan Harr's bestseller on which it was based. Kincaid appears in the John Travolta role, representing a group of suburban families whose children have died of leukemia, apparently from drinking well water polluted by toxic waste from the greedy Blaylock Industrial Machinery Corporation. Blaylock is predictably represented by an unscrupulous, high-powered attorney who knows all about his client's culpability, but chooses to rely on his personal relationship with a corrupt judge to derail justice. Kincaid, who has no vices and apparently no sex drive, is beset with increasing financial woes and relies professionally on his trusty and lovely assistant, law student Christina McCall, a woman so fashion-conscious that she goes yachting in spike heels. The counterplot involves an intrepid serial killer who is systematically torturing and murdering people who serve many different functions at the Blaylock plant; the killer is attempting to secure some "merchandise," although as the conspiracy unravels it's not entirely clear why these murders are necessary. Justice winds up prevailing, but it isn't exactly "silent"; rather, the verdict is delivered with a loud bang. The parallel plots only touch when the author forces them together at the end, and the connection is, at best, strained coincidence. In spite of Bernhardt's clear homage to Harr's book and the film, this novel does offer some fresh, often witty dialogue, but is overall a derivative effort from a talented writer. 5-city author tour. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Attorney-turned-author Bernhardt's 15th entry in his "Justice" series deals with a lawsuit brought against a powerful company charged with dumping toxic chemicals that contaminate a small Oklahoma town's drinking water. Ben Kincaid's challenge is to link the deaths of 11 children to the company's actions while attempting to foil the courtroom tactics of big-time attorney Charlton Colby. Like Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, Bernhardt's story is inspired by a 1981 suit brought by the families of eight leukemia victims against a corporation that dumped industrial solvent into the Woburn, MA, water table. Counterbalanced with this controversial plot is detective Mike Morelli's search for a particularly sadistic serial killer and Ben's personal quest to locate his elderly landlady's long-estranged son before she dies. As usual, Bernhardt keeps his readers coming back for more while also enlightening them about the relationship between big business and the legal system. ---Nancy McNicol, Hagaman Memorial Lib., East Haven, CT Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I love my job. Even on the worst day when I can't seem to put together a coherent sentence, I am grateful for having been given this magnificent opportunity to participate in the literary exchange of ideas. My mother says I was telling people I wanted to be a writer when I was seven. I know that seems incredible, but she's my mom, so we have to believe her. I never missed an opportunity to visit the library, which was blissfully near my home, and the librarians there took a great interest in this nerdy, shy, bespectacled kid who kept reappearing almost every day. They encouraged me to read widely and to read the best of everything, and that is exactly what I did and have continued to do all my life.
I sent off my first submission when I was eleven, to Highlights Magazine. This was a poem of which I was particularly proud concerning the Oklahoma Land Run. They turned me down. Yes, that was my first rejection letter. Over the next twenty years, I collected over 400 more of them. No, I'm not exaggerating. I still have them. Every last one. There was a reason, I realize now, why all those compositions were being rejected. They weren't very good. But they improved over time. I didn't know it, but during the entire torturous process of submission and rejection, I was learning how to write.
I finally had my first novel published (by Ballantine, a division of Random House) when I was thirty-one. To some, this may seem an early age to publish, but if you clock it from my first rejection, it took twenty years. That was a great year--my first son, Harry, was born in August, and my first book, Primary Justice, was born in December. The book surprised everyone and the follow-up did even better and before I even realized it I had accomplished my goal--I was a real honest-to-gosh writer. I've been writing ever since. I've written more than twenty novels, edited two anthologies, done two books for children, and published numerous stories, essays, puzzles, and poems. I have three children now, and this job allows me to be present when they come home from school and available when they need me during the day, which is a blessing I could not have anticipated back when I was a seven-year old gazing dreamily at author photos on dust jackets, wishing I could see myself there.
My goals for the future are to continue to learn, to grow, to find new ways of doing my work and doing it better. I think the current interest in thrillers provides a marvelous opportunity to spin bigger and more exciting stories. I've learned that I enjoy teaching, which has led to the William Bernhardt Writing Programs and The Fundamentals of Fiction DVDs, as well as many speaking and teaching engagements throughout the year. My interest in mentoring aspiring writers led me to start the Small-Group Seminars and Master Classes, which allow me to teach my favorite subject all across the nation. And in my personal life, my goal is I to be the best parent possible to Harry, Alice, and Ralph, and the best possible partner to my wife, Marcia. I'm very excited about the future--my personal life with these extraordinary people, and my professional life, creating new stories for you wonderful people who still understand the importance of storytelling and the written word. ------- William Bernhardt is the author of more than twenty novels, including Primary Justice, Murder One, Criminal Intent, Death Row, Capitol Murder, Capitol Threat, Capitol Conspiracy, and Nemesis. He is one of fewer than a dozen recipients of the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." He is also one of the country's most popular writing instructors, teaching at various conferences throughout the year. A former trial attorney, Bernhardt has received several awards for his public service. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Marcia, and their children.
What do a firey bus accident following a company party, a gunman holding hostage a college classroom, a mass murder who tortures to death his victims in the most cruel ways, and eleven children dead from Luekemia have in Common? That is what Ben Kincaid and Staff discover in "Silent Justice". Ben knows that to fight one of Tulsa's finest law firms reprsenting the H.P. Blaylock Industrial Machinery Corporation will bring only bills, bills and more bills. It's not the smart thing to do nor the safe thing to do, but after peering into those eleven sets of eyes in photographs shown to him by the childrens parents, Ben knew it was the only thing he could do. His small law firm might be bankrupted by the effort, but he had to try to get justice for the young victims. Meanwhile, Ben's former brother-in-law and friend, Mike Loving has an unbelievable serial murder case on his hands. Cruel torture appears to be the only common thread between victims until Mike discovers that all the victims worked together and even played together at one point. From there Mike and Ben working separately ultimately end up involved with the same case. The reader is kept guessing until the very exciting and suspenseful ending. Great Courtroom drama, suspense and mystery make this a must read. Definately one of the best!
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Ben Kincaid takes a break from his usual criminal law activity to take on a civil case. Aided by his trustworthy support staff, including his girl friend (if not girlfriend) Christina, Ben battles the evil forces of big business accused of polluting well water that causes an outbreak of leukemia in a small Tulsa suburban community. The pieces of the story take time to come together, including reasons for including apparently dissimilar incidents which took place months and years before the novel's main action. In addition to the civil action, there are several murders related to Ben's case, although he does not make the connection until late in the plot. Bernhardt keeps the action moving, interspersing the usual Ben Kinkaid humor. The courtroom scenes may not resemble real-life litigation, but the reader remains interested in the precedings, and nervously waits with Ben for the verdict. Silent Justice is the flipside of A Civil Action, and a far easier read.
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