Sworn to defend [Hardcover]

Carolyn Wheat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Carolyn Wheat has been praised as "a strong, smart writer" (New York Times) and "a natural storyteller" (Kirkus Reviews). In Wheat's newest legal thriller, Brooklyn lawyer Cass Jameson finally has an innocent client. But she later finds out that Keith Jernigan is guilty of a crime far worse than the robbery she proved he didn't commit--he permanently disfigured his former girlfriend by throwing corrosive acid in her face. Cass receives information indicating that Keith's ex framed him in the robbery--and that Keith is out for revenge. Meanwhile, Cass is threatened by the husband of a woman she is representing in a divorce case, and she soon realizes she is in danger of losing her career--and possibly her life. In order to protect herself, Cass must investigate two people--the husband of her new client, and the man she had sworn to defend...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Of all the legal eagles nesting in the thriller trees these days, Carolyn Wheat is definitely the one with the brightest feathers. Her dialogue-- in and out of court--crackles with focused energy, and her obvious knowledge of and respect for the trappings of the law immediately add verisimilitude. "If the Appellate Division, First Department, courthouse in Manhattan, where I'd taken my oath as a lawyer, was a Gothic cathedral of the law, then the Second Department was a Protestant meetinghouse," she has her alter ego, Cass Jameson, say as she approaches that Brooklyn edifice to plead a case. "Its austere lines and jewel-box proportions were in sharp contrast to the ornate, overblown style of its Manhattan counterpart, with its stained-glass dome and overpowering wood-and-brass ornamentation. This courthouse was equally dignified, but without the florid Gilded Age excess. The cloakroom didn't boast long brass pegs on which 19th Century lawyers once placed their beaver hats while addressing the court." Cass is in the building that day to defend an apparently framed client. She succeeds, unfortunately--and Keith Jernigan turns out to be a stalker who directs his dangerous attention toward Cass. But Cass's problems don't end with Jernigan. There's also a very nasty drama critic upset over Cass's handling of his wife's divorce case, and a troubled cop with a mysterious agenda. If you like your legal thrillers fresh, feisty, and grounded in reality, harvest this latest Wheat. Past crops in paperback: Troubled Waters, Where Nobody Dies, Mean Streak, Fresh Kills. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest adventure, Brooklyn criminal lawyer Cass Jameson (last seen in Troubled Waters, 1997) gains a reversal of the conviction of Keith Jernigan, a client she believes blameless, and then discovers that he may be responsible for a worse crime than the one for which he was convicted. In this complex page-turner, Cass is drawn unwillingly into a battle between her tenant, photographer Nellis Cartwright, and Nellis's ex-husband, Grant Eddington, a collector of Japanese art. Nellis wants to renegotiate the divorce settlement, accusing her lawyer, a friend of Cass's, of malpractice. Grant says Nellis stole some of his most valuable pieces. Cass receives anonymous threats, and someone hacks into her business computer. So, after Nellis is shot in Cass's office, Cass sensibly fears that she herself was the target. Meanwhile, Keith's friendship with the son of Cass's secretary lands the boy in jail. Suspicious of Keith, Cass and a friendly cop, Liam Gallagher, investigate her client's background, leading from the Crown Heights Hasidic community to a shabby artists' colony. In a terrifying climax, Cass is almost murdered by a surprising enemy and then is institutionalized in Bellevue. Her old friend Detective Leroy Button appears suddenly and, like a deux ex machina, clears up all problems in three pages, providing an abrupt and disconcerting end to this fast-paced novel.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 313 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425163032
• ISBN-13: 978-0425163030
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,614,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fascinating legal thrillerby the great Ms.Wheat, June 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sworn to defend (Hardcover)

At the Appellate level, Brooklyn attorney Cass Jamison proves that her client Keith Jernigan could not have committed the robbery that he was previously convicted of, thus obtaining freedom for the innocent man. Subsequently, Cass gets embroiled in a divorce case when her tenant Nellis Cartwright wants her previous settlement with her former spouse, Grant Eddongton, re-negotiated because she insists her attorney, a friend of Cass, botched up the case.

Keith reappears in Cass' life when the son of her secretary is arrested after forming a friendship with the man. Cass suspects that Keith had something to do with the arrest and begins to investigate the man. She learns that though he was framed for the robbery count that she got him acquitted on, he threw acid into the face of a former girlfriend. When Nellis is shot in her office, Cass thinks that she might have been the intended target and wonders if she is again going to on guard until she gets some answers.

SWORN TO DEFEND is a great 250 page mystery novel that fans will swear is one of the best fictions pieces of the year due to an intriguing twist on the story line in which the client is innocent of the charges, but culpable for a more devastating crime. However, the final few pages seem as if Carolyn Wheat needed an upbeat-like ending for a climax, which thankfully fails to take away from a greatand fast-paced tour of Brooklyn that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Fans of urban legal procedurals need to read this novel and Cass' previous two stories (DEAD MAN'S THOUGHTS and MEAN STREAK) for some of the best the crime genre has to offer.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable and fast paced mystery., January 12, 2007

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sworn to defend (Hardcover)

Brooklyn lawyer Cass Jameson gets Keith Jernigan out of jail and scheduled for a new trial. However, she begins to question whether, although innocent of the crime he was jailed for, he may be guilty of more serious crimes, and a present danger to women - including her. However, this is only the start of the serious problems Ms. Jameson will shortly face.

This a face-paced story with new twists, plot developments, and surprises in every chapter. The novel is hard to put down, and as you approach its end, it's almost impossible to do so. The solution of the mysteries, there are some minor subplots, may prove surprising, and the quite sudden and unexpected resolution of Kate's nightmarish problems may remind one a bit of the sudden resolution in the last paragraph of Poe's "Pit and the Pendulum"

Along the way, one learns a bit about Japanese antiques (netsuke, sagemono collections, choba dansu, etc.), darkroom techniques (now disappearing in these days of digital photography), and the religious practices of New York's Crown Heights Hasidic Community

If you like to be kept completely in the dark about later plot issues, please skip the next paragraph until after you read the book, and go directly to the conclusion below. However, if you don't mind some minor discussion of plot issues, or you have already read the book and are looking at other reviews - read on.

With this mystery there are some minor discrepancies, e.g., at the end of Chapter 19 Cass tells us that she is looking at a photograph, not at the image, but at the angle it was taken. As an avid photographer, Ms. Jameson should certainly have been able to distinguish the differences in perspective and depth of field between a wide-angle and telephoto lens. This novel clearly demonstrates Ms. Wheat's superb ability as a story teller and writer, while it concurrently reveals a slight weakness in developing a flawless mystery resolution.

In conclusion, this is an interesting action-filled story whose twenty-five chapters will keep your attention from start to finish, which, in spite of some minor weaknesses, is highly recommended.