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Summary
Author Notes
Jay Brandon is an attorney and author. He was born in Texas in 1953. Brandon received a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Brandon has served with the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Baxter County District Attorney's Office, and the San Antonio Court of Appeals during his legal career. He practices law in San Antonio, Texas.
Brandon's novel, Loose Among the Lambs, was a main selection of the Literary Guild. Another novel, Fade the Heat, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel of the Year. Booklist magazine gave his novel, Deadbolt, an Editor's Choice award. An article he wrote about the judicial races in San Antonio won a Gavel Award from the State Bar Association in 1994.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mark Blackwell has been district attorney of a Texas city for only a few months, but already a crisis threatens to ruin his career. His son has been framed for a vicious rape, and the prosecutor's office must decide how to proceed. The cynical district attorney must use his political connections and everything he knows about exploiting the system in order to exonerate his son--even if he is actually guilty. Brandon's fourth novel (after Predator's Waltz ) will inevitably be compared to Presumed Innocent ; in fact, the similarities are striking. But although attorney Brandon worked as a Texas prosecutor, he never quite manages to bring backstage political machinations alive, and his protagonist too often explains the legal system rather than living it. The book is bogged down by internal monologues and stiff dialogue; some of the subplots, like Blackwell's relationship with his brilliant assistant, lead nowhere. But in this genre, the plot's the thing, and here the corruption-tinged story makes up for the other faults. Surprising twists and heart-in-the-mouth trial scenes will satisfy lovers of crime and courtroom thrillers. Major ad/promo; movie rights to Amblin Entertainment. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Newly elected San Antonio D.A. Mark Blackwell gets put on the spot when his son David goes on trial for rape--in this steamroller from the author of Predator's Waltz (1989). Mark can't believe David, a smart, successful computer executive, would turn from his beautiful wife Victoria to assault 40-ish black maid Amanda Jackson, but David's story--Mandy walked into his office one night, ripped off her clothes, and screamed rape--is equally incredible, especially since there's been no blackmail pitch, no request for money or a political payoff from Mark. It's not until after Mark's juggling to keep David's case from going to trial without mining his own career has broken down in the nightmare of the trial itself (exhaustively and suspensefully presented) and conviction, and until after David's been raped himself in the federal pen, that the pitch comes--putting Mark and Assistant D.A. Linda Alaniz, his sometime lover, on the trail of sleazemaster Clyde Malish, under indictment for a drag-related burglary. Brandon's characters--stunned David, hard-nosed Linda, Medusalike prosecuting attorney Nora Brown--are too single-minded and his prose too clunky (""For any practicing lawyer the courthouse is inescapable. For criminal lawyers it is a daily fact of life"") to offer serious competition to Scott Turow, but once his plot kicks in you'll be too caught up to care. High-tension, nonstop courthouse thrills, with a satisfyingly unexpected final twist. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
David Blackwell, son of the district attorney of San Antonio, Texas, stands before a jury of his peers accused of rape. He claims his accuser staged the rape; ripped off her own clothes, clawed her own flesh. It is an implausible story, one his own defense attorney doubts. While the ensuing courtroom drama is fascinating, it is secondary to Brandon's chilling exposure of all those sworn to uphold the impartiality of justice. Theirs is a corrupt facade: career advancement, politics, personal agendas, and vendettas leave David a victim of the miscarriage of justice. Brandon's skill in tearing away this second layer of the legal justice system is credible, as he is himself a practicing attorney. An unsettling view for readers of courtroom drama. Film rights have been optioned by Steven Spielberg. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/90.-- M . J . Hethcoat, San Francisco (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
