Synopses & Reviews
John Lescroart, the "master" (
People) of the legal thriller, delivers a brilliantly suspenseful novel of deadly secrets, privileged youth, and uncertain justice...
To the outside world, it looks like Dismas Hardy is finally on top. A managing partner at his thriving, newly reorganized law firm, he's a rainmaker and fix-it guy for clients leery of taking their chances in a courtroom. But what the world sees is a mirage. For beneath the surface bravado and the lucrative deal-making, Hardy has lost his faith in the law.
Now Hardy's young associate Amy Wu, suddenly rootless and grieving over the recent death of her father, brings the firm a high-profile and challenging case: Andrew Bartlett, the seventeen-year-old son of a prominent San Francisco family, has been arrested for the double slaying of his girlfriend and his English teacher. The D.A. wants to try him as an adult, but Wu cuts a deal to keep him in juvenile court a deal that she's forced to break.
Overwhelmed by the mounting evidence against their client, and hoping to salvage his firm's reputation in the face of the D.A.'s righteous wrath, Hardy sits second chair with Wu in Bartlett's defense.
As the Bartlett case moves swiftly to trial, Hardy is unable to turn to his old friend Abe Glitsky for help. Newly promoted to Deputy Chief of the Investigations Bureau, Glitsky has problems of his own when San Francisco is seized by a wave of violence. With fear and anxiety building, all eyes in the panicked city fix on an embattled Glitsky, who must somehow stop the criminal upsurge while being second-guessed and hounded by a hostile media.
The city around them on the verge of panic, Hardy's search for the truth takes him and Amy Wu down a path that becomes more perilous with each step. With very little belief in his young client's innocence, and even less in the legal system, Hardy has to first conquer his own demons if he is to clear his client...and save himself.
Emotionally powerful and exquisitely suspenseful, The Second Chair showcases John Lescroart as an author of "brilliant courtroom drama" (The Washington Post), writing at the height of his powers.
Review
"[A]s usual with Lescroart...a sociological take on the justice system every motive is carefully nuanced, every player rooted in social reality excelled only by Scott Turow." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Under Lescroart's assured hand, this perfectly paced tale of legal procedure and big-city politics keeps us turning pages even when it's time to turn in at night." Keir Graff, Booklist
Review
"Lescroart gives his ever-growing readership another spellbinder to savor." Library Journal
Synopsis
The First Law, John Lescroart's previous novel, was an instant coast-to-coast bestseller and debuted at #4 on the New York Times list.
Synopsis
The master of the legal thriller delivers a brilliantly suspenseful novel of deadly secrets, privileged youth, and uncertain justice...
Dismas Hardy is finally on top: As a managing partner at his thriving, newly reorganized law firm, he's a rainmaker and fix-it guy for clients leery of taking their chances in a courtroom. Now Hardy's up-and-coming associate, Amy Wu, brings him a high-profile case: Andrew Bartlett, the seventeen-year-old son of a prominent San Francisco family, has been arrested for the double slaying of his girlfriend and his English teacher. The D.A. wants to try him as an adult. Determined to get the case into juvenile court and overwhelmed by the mounting evidence against her client, Wu asks Hardy to sit second chair for her in Bartlett's defense.
As the Bartlett case moves swiftly to trial, another series of murders grip the city. An unseen killer seems to be shooting citizens wantonly, and as fear and anxiety build around The Executioner (as he is quickly dubbed in the ensuing media frenzy), Abe Glitsky, the newly promoted deputy chief of the Investigations Bureau, leads the desperate hunt to stop him.
With the city on the verge of panic, Hardy and Glitsky are locked in a race against time-to save a client and to catch a murderer. But nothing is what it seems, and as both men's cases twist and turn to their shocking conclusions, the very foundations of San Francisco's legal system will be shaken to the core.
About the Author
John Lescroart is the bestselling author of fourteen previous novels, including The First Law, The Oath, The Hearing, Nothing but the Truth, and The Thirteenth Juror.