A look at the year’s best new legal thrillers, from genre stalwarts and rising newcomers.
The Note, Alafair Burke
(Knopf)
Burke’s new novel is something of a legal thriller in disguise. Yes, it’s also a masterful psychological thriller, but not only is the main character a former prosecutor turned law professor, but the dilemma the characters find themselves in (leaving a threatening note on the windshield of a now missing man) plays out like a brilliantly complex law school hypothetical, probing theories of causation, culpability, and intent. The old friendships torn apart by circumstance are the stars of this novel, but the legal and ethical concerns are just as compelling, and they serve as powerful plot engines. This is the rare book that will keep readers debating exactly what they’ve read and what they believe for a long time to come.
Pro Bono, Thomas Perry
(Mysterious Press)
An attorney with a skill for recovering assets takes a new case to help a recent widow and soon finds himself shot at, followed, and generally tangled up in a dangerous mess. Perry, a master storyteller, unspools the mystery at breakneck speed and the financial crime at the heart of Pro Bono makes for genuinely compelling suspense.
The Silver State, Gabriel Urza
(Algonquin)
In Urza’s new novel, a public defender receives a letter from a client on death row and the world subsequently drops out from beneath him, as he’s forced to reexamine an old case, a disappearance, and his own role in the case. Urza is a supremely talented storyteller with a subversive take on the classic legal thriller, turning the form on its head while still maintaining all the propulsive suspense these novels have to offer, and shocking readers with what they’ll find.
Presumed Guilty, Scott Turow
(Grand Central)
A new installment in the life and times of Rusty Sabich arrives just in time for recent converts coming over from the splashy adaptation of Presumed Innocent. Turow is still at the top of his game and writes a first-class legal thriller.
Hollow Spaces, Victor Suthammanont
(Counterpoint)
It’s an excellent year for legal thrillers, but Hollow Spaces is something else: a psychological thriller about lawyers, in which the adult children of an acquitted murderer are spurred to reinvestigate the case that once tore their family apart. Interspersed are moments from 30 years before, told from their father’s perspective, as he navigates the tightrope of working as the only Asian-American partner in a high-powered corporate firm, while having a passionate affair with the soon-to-be murder victim. A delicate and devastating portrait of the limits of the American dream, deeply resonant in today’s landscape. –Molly Odintz
