Wrongful Death: A Novel [Hardcover]

Robert Dugoni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2009

Just minutes after winning a $1.6 million wrongful-death verdict, attorney David Sloane confronts the one case that threatens to blemish his unbeaten record in the courtroom. Beverly Ford wants Sloane to sue the United States government and military in the mysterious death of her husband, James, a national guardsman killed in Iraq. While a decades-old military doctrine might make Ford's case impossible to win, Sloane, a former soldier himself, is compelled to find justice for the widow and her four children in what is certain to become the biggest challenge of his career.

With little hard evidence to go on, Sloane calls on his friend, reclusive former CIA agent turned private investigator Charles Jenkins, to track down the other men serving with Ford the night he died. Alarmingly, two of the four who returned home alive didn't stay that way for long, and though the mission's wheelchairbound commander now works for a civilian contractor, he refuses to talk. The final -- and youngest -- soldier is also the most elusive, but he's their only shot at discovering the truth -- if Sloane and Jenkins can keep him alive long enough to tell it.

Meanwhile, Sloane isn't the only one on a manhunt. As he propels his case into a federal courtroom, those seeking to hide the truth threaten Sloane's family, forcing his new wife Tina and stepson Jake into hiding, where they become the targets of a relentless killer. Now Sloane must race to uncover what really happened on that fatal mission, not only to bring justice to a family wronged but to keep himself and the people closest to him from becoming the next casualties....

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Dugoni's fast-paced second legal thriller to feature Seattle attorney David Sloane (after The Jury Master), the plaintiff's lawyer, who's won an astonishing 18 jury verdicts in a row, agrees to take on a wrongful-death claim with a strong emotional tug. Beverly Ford, the widow of a national guardsman killed during the second Iraq War, is convinced her husband perished as a result of inadequate body armor. Sloane soon learns that established case law makes the prospect of victory over the federal government practically impossible. When the lawyer discovers that other members of Ford's platoon have died under strange circumstances since returning to the U.S., he begins to suspect a conspiracy to conceal the truth. While Dugoni does a good job of conveying litigation tactics, predictable situations—Sloane's crusade endangers his wife and stepson—are a reminder that the author's forte is page-turning action, not imaginative plotting. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

David Sloane, the hotshot lawyer hero of Dugoni’s first novel, Jury Master (2006), returns. Now living in Seattle with his wife and stepson, he finds that his ability to win difficult cases has not diminished. When the widow of a man who died in Iraq asks him to take her case, Sloane can’t refuse, even though no one has ever successfully sued the U.S. government for wrongful death during a time of war and won. Facing impossible odds, Sloane starts to investigate, slowly unraveling a conspiracy that will threaten him and everyone he loves. Dugoni has improved dramatically since his first book, and this one is his best yet, mixing the suspense of a Grisham legal thriller with the political angle of a Baldacci. Dugoni is knocking on the A-list legal-thriller door and can be expected to gain entrance sooner rather than later. --Jeff Ayers

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; First Edition edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416591001
• ISBN-13: 978-1416591009
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A writer turned lawyer turned writer.
Robert Dugoni was born in Pocatello, Idaho and raised in Burlingame, California. Growing up the middle child in a family of ten siblings, Dugoni jokes that he didn't get much of a chance to talk, so he wrote. By the seventh grade he knew he wanted to be a writer.

Dugoni wrote his way to Stanford University, receiving writing awards along the way, and majored in communications/journalism and creative writing while working as a reporter for the Stanford Daily. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and worked briefly as a reporter in the Metro Office and the San Gabriel Valley Office of the Los Angeles Times.

Dugoni attended the UCLA law school and practiced law for 13 years in San Francisco. His longing to return to writing never wavered, however, and in 1999 he awoke one morning and made the decision to quit law and write novels. On the 4-year anniversary of his wedding day, he drove a u-haul trailer across the Oregon-Washington border and settled in Seattle to pursue his dreams.

For the next three years, Dugoni worked daily in an 8 foot by 8 foot windowless office in Pioneer Square to complete three novels, winning the 1999 and 2000 Pacific Northwest Writer's Conference Literary Contests.

Dugoni's first novel, The Jury Master, followed and became a New York Times bestseller. Deadly Pleasures mystery magazine chose The Jury Master as one of three "Best of the Best" debut novels of 2006 and the Seattle Times likened Dugoni to a young John Grisham, calling The Jury Master, "A riveting tale of murder, skullduggery and treachery at the highest level."

Dugoni's second novel, Damage Control, reached number 8 on several national independent bookseller's lists. Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal called Damage Control "a page turner" with "a fast moving plot and a few twists that will surprise even seasoned thriller readers."

Wrongful Death, Dugoni's second novel featuring Dugoni's popular protagonist, David Sloan, received critical acclaim. Kirkus called it, "An entertaining thriller about a hotshot lawyer with good guys to like, villains to hiss, and windmills to attack.." And Booklist wrote, "Mixing the suspense of a Grisham legal thriller with the political angle of a Baldacci. Dugoni is knocking on the A-list thriller door."

June 2010, Dugoni released his third in the David Sloane series, Bodily Harm, which the Providence Rhode Island Journal wrote branded Dugoni as "The undisputed king of the Legal Thriller."

Dugoni's fourth in the series, Murder One, will be released June 2011 and Publisher's Weekly has called it "the best yet in the series." Others are calling it a cross between Presumed Innocent and Basic Instinct.

In addition to writing novels, Dugoni teaches the craft of writing throughout the United States and has been a keynote speaker at many conferences and for many companies. For more on Dugoni and his novels, visit his website at www.robertdugonni.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nifty Tale, June 11, 2009

By 

Grandpa - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wrongful Death: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Here I am. It's 1:54 AM. I should have been asleep for three hours already; instead, I just finished reading "Wrongful Death". Couldn't put it down at the end. It was an enjoyable book to read, although it dealt with a soldier's death in Iraq. And a few more deaths along the way. It was a well-crafted novel that includes a likable and skilled lawyer, David Sloan, his capable friend Charles Jenkins. And throw in a strong widow, Beverly Ford, and several other characters that you'll know by the time the book draws to a close. It has a great plot twist near the end that one cannot anticipate, and it adds the final seasoning to the well-crafted book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very satisfying but frustrating novel, June 5, 2009

By 

Nagronsky "Nagronsky" (Skagit Valley, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wrongful Death: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Wrongful Death started rather slowly, but picked up such a head of steam I could not put it down. However, the subject of corrupt mega-defense contractors trying to get away with murder in Iraq frustrates me like crazy. I'd never read anything by Robert Dugoni before, but will certainly give him another try.
In addition, his Seattle area settings were almost flawlessly described, although his choice of the Burien Fred Meyer rather than Midway was a bit illogical, being as the characters were en route from Three Tree Point to Maple Valley. Oh, well, had to pick a nit somewhere!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fast-paced read with an anti-government theme, June 12, 2009

By 

Fred C. Mcclanahan "Agent-19" (Shreveport, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wrongful Death: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Much as some Michael Crichton novels express his opinion on current topics such as global warming, "Wrongful Death" expresses an obvious anti-government, anti-big business bias against the backdrop of a dead soldier's family wrongfully denied the benefits to which they were entitled. A fair number of words are spent following the attorney's wife and child around Mexico as they try to escape big-business thugs. It kept up the pace but they seemed more like filler to me. All in all - it's a worthy read especially if you like military and courtroom drama.