The Mercy Rule (Dismas Hardy, Book 5) - Softcover

Lescroart, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440222826 ISBN 13: 9780440222828

Publisher: Dell, 1999

Synopsis

“A stylish whodunit . . . Lescroart [is] in his best form yet.”—People
 
Once Dismas Hardy was a cop. Now he spends his days in a lawyer’s suit, billing hours to a corporate client in a downtown San Francisco office. Hardy’s wife and kids like it that way. Then one client changes everything. 

Graham Russo, a former baseball star, is charged with murdering his dying father. Was it suicide, the last desperate act of a dying man? Was it murder? Or mercy?

Now, as a carnival of reporters, activists, cops, lovers, and families throng around the case, Dismas Hardy is going to trial with a client he doesn’t trust, a key witness he cannot believe, and a system that almost destroyed him once. For Dismas, this case will challenge everything he believes about the law, about his family, and about himself. Because a chilling truth is beginning to emerge about an old man’s lonely death. And what Dismas knows could put him next in line to die. . . .
 
Praise for The Mercy Rule
 
“Very entertaining . . . a large and emotionally sprawling novel.”—Chicago Tribune 
 
“As usual in a Lescroart novel, character dominates plot as the author proves, yet again, that resonant drama can be found in family.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“An edge-of-the-seat legal thriller that has it all—hot-button issues, deception, greed, corruption, and a labyrinthine plot that will keep you guessing until the very last page.”—Faye Kellerman

About this title

Review:

Dismas Hardy, the dart-playing, saloon-keeping lawyer who is one of John Lescroart's most consistently interesting and appealing heroes, faces a dilemma: if he can prove to a jury that Graham Russo helped his father Sal kill himself because the sick old man asked him to, a liberal San Francisco jury will probably vote to acquit Graham of first-degree murder. Hardy would love to plead manslaughter to escape the wrath of the state's attorney general who wants to nail Graham. However, despite the evidence against him, Graham insists he didn't do it. What is a lawyer to do, and who can he believe?

Although Lescroart leads the reader up and down a few blind alleys before the truth comes out, the mystery's not the thing here. It's the characters and their back stories that make this such a good read. Foremost among them is Graham, who washed out of pro baseball and walked out of a promising law career before finding the father who once deserted him long ago. The core of the story is Graham's relationship with Sal, who's losing his mind to Alzheimer's but may still be a threat to a federal judge who was once his closest friend. Then there's Sarah Evans, the homicide cop who falls in love with her suspect. For good measure, there are some changes in the lives of those characters who are familiar to readers from other Dismas Hardy adventures--Abe Glitsky, the half Jewish, half black cop; Drysdale, the D.A. who's been beaten in court by Dismas in previous outings; Frannie, Dismas's wife; Moses, his brother-in-law; and Dismas himself, who becomes more interesting every time Lescroart brings him back. While the pacing is langorous and the denouement not as tight as it might be, The Mercy Rule provides a complex and satisfying reading experience. --Jane Adams

From the Publisher:

Advance praise for The Mercy Rule:

"John Lescroart has written a thought-provoking and important novel. Well written, well plotted, well done. A winner!"
--Nelson DeMille

"An edge-of-the-seat legal thriller that has it all--hot-button issues, deception, greed, corruption, and a labyrinthine plot that will keep you guessing until the very last page."
--Faye Kellerman

"The Mercy Rule is that rare book--a superb novel and a superb thriller. It's the best legal thriller I've read in this decade. I dare anyone to read twenty pages and not be absolutely taken with it. Absolutely superior work."
--T. Jefferson Parker

"A masterpiece. Stacked with powerful and unforgettable characters, taut and suspenseful, The Mercy Rule is a brilliant and compelling courtroom drama."
--Karen Kijewski

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0440222826
• ISBN 13: 9780440222828
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 640