Military Bookshelf: Paperback Corner

Military.com - Tom Miller

An Innocent Client, by Scott Pratt.  Onyx, $7.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-451-41265-2

Most rookie writers dream that their debut novel will be published between hard covers by a marquee house.  They do not—at least not in the beginning—spend much time fantasizing about soft covers and secondary imprints.  

The latter, of course, is Scott Pratt's fate.  But, in this case, don't be fooled.  An Innocent Client is a polished and intelligent legal thriller that belies the author's rookie status and its flimsy covers. 

A former practicing lawyer in Tennessee, Pratt draws on his experience to skewer the justice system in modern America—a system that his attorney-hero Joe Dillard dismisses as a "bizarre world of lies and deceit" and "a sick game."  

Dillard, a criminal defense attorney in rural northeast Tennessee, has just turned forty and is fed up with his role in a dishonest system.  When his daughter—a high school senior—graduates, he plans to quit.  Until that happy day, he dreams of having just one innocent client before he gets out.  Sometimes, as he's about to discover, it pays to be careful what you wish for.

When a traveling preacher turns up dead—and minus his penis—in his room at the Budget Inn, the cops arrest Angel Christian, a waitress at a local strip club, for the murder.  It seems that the preacher spent the evening at the club and accosted Angel.  It also seems that a hair found on the dead preacher matches Angel's DNA. 

Of course, the hair could have found its way onto the preacher's clothes at the strip club.  Otherwise, there's no evidence against Angel.  Dillard thinks that he's finally found his innocent client. 

Maybe.  Maybe not.  Anyway, things suddenly go from bad to worse for Dillard.  The dead preacher's son tries to kill him.  His junkie sister Sarah steals and wrecks his daughter's car.  His mom dies.  The local district attorney is corrupt, and the judge assigned to the case hates him. 

Irreverent and authentic, An Innocent Client is an auspicious debut.  Between any covers.

Quotable:

"I'd never seen prison time do anyone any good."

"The American legal system would do itself a great service if it could somehow execute half the sitting judges in this country and start all over again."
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The Shadow Walker, by Michael Walters.  Berkley Prime Crime, $14 (344p) ISBN 978-0-425-22233-1

Here's something exotic for mystery fans: a police procedural set on the barren steppes of Mongolia—birthplace of one of history's most famous warriors, Genghis Khan. 

The Shadow Walker is the first in a projected series featuring a former policeman named Nergui who now works for State Security.  Author Walters is a former British businessman and consultant who has spent considerable time in Mongolia since it emerged from the Soviet shadow in the 1990s. 

Nergui makes for an interesting hero: Western-educated (Harvard and the London Business School) but fiercely nationalistic and scrupulously honest in a society that's "making its painful way into the free-enterprise world." 

When mutilated bodies—including that of a British geologist—begin to turn up in Ulan Baatar, the capital, the Security Minister orders Nergui to take over the case.  Nergui is soon joined in his investigation by a British cop, Chief Inspector Drew McLeish, who's sent out from London to help. 

The more Nergui and McLeish dig, the more bizarre the case becomes.  The clues seem to point to the country's mining industry and the competing interests of foreign mining companies.  As bodies pile up, Nergui and McLeish don't know if they're investigating a brutal serial killer, a mafia feud, or both.  And, when McLeish is kidnapped, Nergui has added incentive to solve the mystery.  And, quickly.

With exotic locations, colorful characters, and fast-paced action, Walters makes an auspicious debut in what should prove a highly-popular series.  

Quotable:

"We are a nation of warriors, not chefs."
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Double Vision, by Pat Barker.  Picador, $14 (258p) ISBN 0-312-424108

Barker has written extensively on the impact of World War I on her native England.  Here, she switches gears to explore the impact of violence in a post-9/11 world.

Set in the border country of northern England, Double Vision introduces the reader to a cast of characters dealing with personal demons. 

There's Kate Frobisher, a talented sculptor whose photographer husband Ben was killed by a sniper in Afghanistan.  Trying to escape in her work, she accepts a prestigious commission for a monumental Jesus statue.  To assist with the heavy lifting, she employs an enigmatic young gardener, Peter Wingrave.

Kate's rural neighbors include Robert and Beth Sharkey.  Robert is a physician; Beth an administrator.  Neither is happy in the marriage.  They employ the local Vicar's 19-year-old daughter Justine as au pair for their young son.  

Into this mix arrives Robert's brother Stephen from London.  A war correspondent and friend of Ben Frobisher with whom he worked in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan, Stephen is suffering from post-traumatic stress and a failed marriage.  He settles into his brother's guest cottage to try to finish writing a book about "the way wars are represented."

Soon enough, Stephen and Justine are having an affair and Kate begins to suspect that Peter harbors a dark secret. 

Barker has crafted a melancholy character study that, like life, gives up its secrets grudgingly. 

Quotable:

"Images never explain anything and often, even unintentionally, mislead."

"People with limited intelligence and low impulse control come up with some pretty disastrous solutions to problems."

"Housework was much more reliably satisfying than art."

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Copyright 2010 by Tom Miller