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Avery Jackson is a judge who, after making an unpopular ruling on a case, lost the last election and is now a law professor at a local university. Following class one morning he walks into a Rotary luncheon meeting and, before 150 civic leaders and the media, shoots and kills the newly-elected sheriff. He is surprised when he finds himself in jail for he remembers nothing of the killing. The public defender dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after he begins to prepare Jackson's defense and a former public defender, now in private practice, takes over the case. Following the Hinckley case, insanity defenses are difficult to win, meaning that Jackson's new lawyer, Jack Maine, is forced to have psychologists dig even deeper into Jackson's mind for clues and uncover a programmed killer. Their findings put the lives of everyone connected with the investigation at risk. While preparing for the Jackson trial, Jack is given yet another seemingly unwinnable case when the court reporter girlfriend of the former public defender is charged with his murder from an overdose of pure heroin. Though she was the one who dialed 911, when the police arrive they find she has pure heroin, a single-edged razor, and straw in her purse. The investigations uncover high-stake drug trafficking and lead to a web of corruption in state and local politics, international racketeering, rogue police, the mafia, and mind control experiments conducted by the CIA during the Vietnam War. You have to wonder if all this could have happened. If essentially true-to-life in its details, it is horrible. If just fiction, well, it sure makes a suspenseful story. Using information released under the Freedom Of Information Act regarding the CIA mind control experiments of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and his experience as a trial lawyer and forensic psychologist, John Dicke has created one of the most astonishing, and chilling courtroom dramas in print. Some scenes literally took my breath away. I felt I was sitting on pins and needles all the time while I was reading it.
Reviewed by Ginger K. W. Stratton, May 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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