From Library Journal
Wallace Barrett, Tulsa's first black mayor and a former football star, has it all?including gorgeous wife Caroline and two delightful daughters. Then Caroline and the girls are found murdered in their home following a public argument between Wallace and his wife. Barrett, after being spotted running from the crime scene, leads the police on a chase down the Indian Nation Turnpike, with full media coverage (sound familiar?). As reports flood in of past "domestic disturbances" in the Barrett household, Wallace's violent temper, and allegations of child abuse, Barrett soon becomes the only suspect and calls on attorney Ben Kincaid to plead his case. As evidence, including DNA and blood tests mounts against his client, Ben finds himself entangled in his toughest?and most highly publicized?case yet. In his sixth book featuring Kincaid, Bernhardt (Cruel Justice, LJ 9/15/95) again proves himself master of the courtroom drama. Buy two!?Lori Dunn, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Troy, N.C.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Bernhardt tells a great story, and his latest is no exception to that rule. Don't be alarmed at the all-too-familiar-sounding plot; this is not just another O. J. knockoff. The central figure here is ex^-college football star Wallace Barrett, who has become Tulsa's first black mayor. When his wife and two young daughters are found slain and he is seen fleeing his house moments afterward covered with blood, the whole town is sure he's guilty. In comes defense attorney Ben Kinkaid, who may be no Johnnie Cochran but who has slowly been building a record of high-profile cases that end in wins. Bernhardt is a consummate storyteller; he is particularly adept at giving his readers the creeps, as he does here when describing the peripheral activity. These after-hours happenings, not the cliched courtroom scenes, are the real meat of this novel. Sure to be a big hit. Mary Frances Wilkens
From Kirkus Reviews
Hangdog Tulsa lawyer Ben Kincaid (Cruel Justice, 1996, etc.) is stuck with another hopeless case--a mayor who allegedly killed his wife and daughters. How's this for an original opening? Handsome, magnetic Wallace Barrett, a former football player turned politician, has a public argument with his wife over their two young girls; hours later, a neighbor who's heard cries from his house sees Barrett bolting the scene, leading the police on a dramatic high-speed chase until he crashes his car into a three-count indictment. Faster than you can say O.J., Barrett's retained feckless Ben, whom he's convinced is on the likely trial judge's good books. Barrett figures he'll need all the help he can get, because his late wife's sister, buff exercise counselor Cynthia Taylor, is already peddling a book about him larded with allegations of domestic abuse, and the D.A.'s office, headed by Ben's nemesis Jack Bullock, has stopped looking for another suspect. Meantime, Ben, who's been struggling to take care of the apathetic nephew his decamped sister's parked with him, keeps flashing back to painful memories of his own late father's indictment for murder. He's being sued by a TV station for smashing a camcorder (in defense of Cynthia Taylor, no less). And he's being stalked by someone who keeps threatening him with the tag line ``Sick heart . . . You're next.'' Will Ben's investigator be able to identify the suspicious figure spotted taking money from the sleazy acting mayor? Will Barrett take the stand in his own defense? Will Ben, like Lt. Columbo, eventually realize what most readers will have seen from the beginning? Will all the evidence finally come together with a single satisfying snap? Yes, yes, yes, no. Ben turns in a creditable job in the courtroom (and runs a mean five-minute mile), but not even the dream team could pull all the threads of this tangled case together. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
“A riveting courtroom thriller. . . . Highly recommended.” —Montgomery Advertiser “Bernhardt has done it again! . . . Thoroughly engrossing . . . a page-turner.” —Booked for Murder “A good whodunit and first-rate courtroom drama.” —Tulsa World
From the Inside Flap
irst black mayor and a former college football hero, Wallace Barrett was a city treasure--until he became the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of his wife and two daughters. Seen splattered with blood and fleeing his house after the crime, the mayor needs a miracle. Enter Ben Kincaid.
While Kincaid may not be the slickest attorney in Tulsa, he has a knack for pulling off the impossible. But with a frenzied media, a string of damning expert witnesses for the prosecution, and surprise testimony that could rip right through Kincaid's already tenuous defense, impossible never looked so tough.
About the Author
William Bernhardt (b. 1960), a former attorney, is a bestselling thriller author. Born in Oklahoma, he began writing as a child, submitting a poem about the Oklahoma Land Run to Highlights—and receiving his first rejection letter—when he was eleven years old. Twenty years later, he had his first success, with the publication of Primary Justice (1991), the first novel in the long-running Ben Kincaid series. The success of Primary Justice marked Bernhardt as a promising young talent, and he followed the book with seventeen more mysteries starring the idealistic defense attorney, including Murder One (2001) and Hate Crime (2004). Bernhardt’s other novels include Double Jeopardy (1995) and The Midnight Before Christmas (1998), a holiday-themed thriller. In 1999, Bernhardt founded Bernhardt Books (formerly HAWK Publishing Group) as a way to help boost the careers of struggling young writers. In addition to writing and publishing, Bernhardt teaches writing workshops around the country. He currently lives with his family in Oklahoma.
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