Joe Dillard - 02 - In Good Faith
Read Joe Dillard - 02 - In Good Faith Online
Authors: Scott Pratt
Tags: #Fiction, #Murder, #Legal Stories, #Public Prosecutors, #Lawyers
| In Good Faith | |
| Joe Dillard [2] | |
| Scott Pratt | |
| Penguin USA, Inc. (2009) | |
| Rating: | **** |
| Tags: | Legal Stories, Murder, Lawyers, Public Prosecutors, Fiction |
A family is slaughtered in rural Tennessee. Two goth teens stand accused of the murders, and now it's up to prosecutor Joe Dillard to convict them. A former defense attorney who spent way too much time defending people he knew were guilty, Joe is determined to win this case to atone for his past. But a young woman named Natasha, who apparently inspired the slayings, is walking around free because the boys are afraid to implicate her. Now, Joe must risk everything - including the safety of his family and his own good faith - to bring a guilty woman to justice.
Table of Contents
Six months later … Friday, May 15
Praise for
An Innocent Client
“Newcomer Scott Pratt brings a fresh voice to a crowded field in his stellar debut,
An Innocent Client
. Joe Dillard is the best defense lawyer in his small town in Tennessee. He’s also desperately trying to leave the practice of law. Tired of cutting deals for the guilty, Dillard hopes to end his career on a high note—by representing one innocent client. A murder at a local strip club may give him his chance. Artfully plotted, carefully nuanced and immensely readable,
An Innocent Client
is a terrific debut novel. Joe Dillard is an engaging, complex character who is worth rooting for. We will be hearing much more from Scott Pratt. Highly recommended.”
—Sheldon Siegel,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Judgment Day
“A well-crafted, compelling debut, and Scott Pratt is a talent to watch.”
—Jeff Abbott, national bestselling author of
Collision
“A smart, sophisticated legal thriller. Scott Pratt knows his stuff and it shows.”
—Alafair Burke, author of
Angel’s Tip
“The most impressive first novel I’ve read in years. Think Harlan Coben meets John Grisham. Scott Pratt has written an unputdownable legal thriller and I can’t wait to see what he does next.”
—Jason Starr, award-winning author of
The Follower
“I’ve read
An Innocent Client
and am truly stunned. It’s Scott Turow and Grisham on meth. The opening chapter is maybe the most compelling I’ve read in a decade.”
—Ken Bruen, Shamus Award-winning author of
Cross
“As polished and engrossing as any John Grisham or John Hart legal thriller, Scott Pratt’s stunning debut novel,
An Innocent Client
, sings with intrigue, crusty Tennessee characters, and gut-wrenching personal choices. To protagonist Joe Dillard’s wish for ‘just one innocent client,’ I’d say, ‘Watch what you ask for.’ To everyone else, I’d say ‘Go buy this book now.’ ”
—Louise Ure, Shamus Award-winning author of
The Fault Tree
ALSO BY SCOTT PRATT
An Innocent Client
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First published by Onyx, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, June 2009
Copyright © Scott Pratt, 2009
All rights reserved
eISBN : 978-1-101-05271-6
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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In Good Faith
is lovingly dedicated
to my campfire girl.
PART I
Wednesday, August 27
Eight men and four women. A dozen citizens filing slowly past the defense and prosecution tables beneath the stern scrutiny of a white-haired judge. All wore the dazed look of people who’ve been forced to sit for days in a place they’d never been, listen to the words of men and women they’d never seen, and pass judgment on a fellow human being.
The gallery was sadly bereft of spectators. Misty Bell, a young female newspaper reporter with short chestnut hair and curious hazel eyes, sat dutifully holding her notebook on the front row to my left. Two seats to her right sat the victim’s son, an overweight, sad-looking man in his sixties with sagging jowls and receding gray hair that curled around his ears like smoke from a smoldering cotton ball. Aside from those two and me—I was sitting in the center of the back row—the gallery was empty.
The defendant, a wiry man named Billy Dockery, stood next to his lawyer at the defense table as the jury filed past. Dockery was gangly and in his mid-thirties. His dark hair snaked past his shoulders, framing a flat face that had maintained a perpetual smirk throughout the two-day trial. He wore civilized clothing—a dark gray suit, white shirt, and navy blue tie—but I knew he was anything but civilized. Beneath the veneer was a cruel and dangerous sociopath.