The Fall by John Lescoart

The Fall is John Lescroart’s latest in his Dismas Hardy/ Abe Glitsky legal thriller series.  The series has been so successful for so long that Diz and Abe are now in their sixties and the second generation is coming on board.  Hardy’s adopted daughter Rebecca, aka The Beck, has graduated from law school and has joined Hardy’s law firm.  The Beck’s first big murder trial falls in her lap soon after she passes the bar.  Anlya Paulson, a seventeen year old African American foster child falls to her death from a pedestrian bridge in downtown San Francisco.  A mayoral want-to-be has been vocal about the disproportionately high unsolved murder rate of African American victims, placing the blame on the police department and the district attorney.  So Devin Juhle, Chief of Homicide and Wes Farrell, District Attorney are keen to solve Anlya’s murder posthaste.

 

Greg Treadway, an all around do-gooder, teaches seventh grade in an underprivileged San Francisco neighborhood for Teach for America and volunteers at CASA, court-appointed special advocate program for foster kids.  Anlya’s twin brother, Max is an advocate of Greg’s under the CASA program.  Greg knows Anlya through Max.  Treadway coincidently is in the Little Shamrock, a bar co-owned by Hardy when news of Anlya’s violent death comes on the TV.  Greg appears shocked and tells Hardy and The Beck that he knows the girl and had seen her the night of her death.  The lawyers counsel Greg to call the police and two detectives meet him at the bar for an interview.  Treadway describes his involvement with Anlya as platonic and as a friend and mentor.  In his interview he fails to mention the argument he and Anlya had at the restaurant that night and quickly is pegged as the primary suspect in her murder.

The Beck feels guilty for not specifically advising Greg to tell the whole truth to the detectives, even though he wasn’t her client at the time.  She agrees to represent Greg believing the police would soon find a better suspect… but they never do.  Under political pressure to solve the case quickly, the DA calls the grand jury and Greg is arrested.  Thinking they found the killer, the police stop investigating.  But Anlya lead a troubled life in her short seventeen years and was associated with many dangerous people.  Several of the girls at the foster home where she most recently lived were involved in a prostitution ring.  Anlya had stayed out of the life and encouraged the other girls to stay away much to the ire of a short tempered pimp.  Anlya had also been raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was fourteen.  This creep had been incarcerated for another crime but managed to escape, change his identity and was currently living on the streets near Anlya.  So as the trial begins, The Beck has several alternative theories but nothing specific enough to free her client.  As the prosecuting attorney presents his case, Wyatt Hunt, the Hardy firm’s PI is still trying to solve Anlya’s murder or at least find some plausible alternative suspect to save Greg Treadway from a conviction.  Abe Glitsky, now an investigator for the DA’s office and Hardy’s best friend, played a role in investigating Anlya’s death but has moved on to other cases supposedly unrelated to Anlya’s murder… supposedly.

Lescroart’s novels are always interestingly complex and The Fall is no exception.  His characters are so intertwined it’s a challenge to tell friend from foe.  Hardy is a defense attorney whose best friend, Abe Glitsky is the former chief of detectives who now works for the DA.  The DA is Hardy’s former partner and Hardy’s wife is the DA’s administrative assistant.  Often on opposing sides, these people’s personal relationships have endured many tests.  It’s fun to witness their personal interactions when they are at odds professionally.  The plot too is multifaceted and complex.  The clients, witnesses, and their acquaintances are often connected in surprising ways and are many times not who they appear to be.  One would expect plausibility to suffer in this environment but Lescroart pulls it off credibly and masterfully.  The Fall is one of his best yet.

Thanks to Net Galley for an advance look at one of my favorite author’s latest work.