Sometimes a book has so much promise, but it just falls flat. That is the best description that I could give to The Justice Game by Randy Singer. The book starts from the point of view of an investigative news reporter and mother-to-be, Rachel Crawford. In a shocking development, we are only giving a short time to get to know her when she is gunned down by a vile sex-trafficker/sex slaver, whose crimes she'd just minutes ago exposed on television.
The narrative cuts to the two main protagonists. One is Jason Noble, who works for a firm that tries fake cases based on real ones, in order to predict results for investors to use, accordingly. He is so good at his job of helping prosecute "fake" trials, that he is fired and given assistance to start his own firm. He is hiding secrets from his past that could destroy him if ever leaked. The other protagonist is Kelly Starling, and idealistic young Christian on the liberal side with her own share of secrets. She also just happens to be a former employee of the same company that Jason used to work for.
The two of them are drawn into the case against the gun manufacturer of the firearm that Jamison (the sex trafficker and murderer) used to mow down Rachel Crawford. Noble represents the manufacturer, and Starling represents the victim's family. Naturally, some very bad folks find out what secrets Jason and Kelly are separately hiding, and blackmail them.
The story was interesting, and had the makings of one of the best mystery/suspense stories that I have ever read. Unfortunately, it just fell completely flat. For one thing, it seemed that Singer, in his laudable effort to honor real-life victims whose story this book was patterned after (he tried the case for victims in a way very like that of Kelly against irresponsible gun manufacturers), put in the plot elements as a second thought. It seemed that the trial and arguments of the two sides were what he was really interested in, and it shows by the weakness of the narrative.
The other part was that he perhaps went too far in his efforts to put forth his own viewpoints about not having weapons manufacturers sell to bad people. Then again, maybe he was just trying to not be accused of favoring the "conservative" side of the argument. I don't know. What I do know is that the arguments of Kelly Starling came across as the ones that I, as the reader, was intended to agree with.
Despite all of this, Singer can not succeed in making his reader prefer Kelly as he seemingly wants us to. Kelly is a straight-up jerk. She constantly trashes those she doesn't agree with as stupid, less-sophisticated, and less moral, than herself and her family. It is clear that she prefers the company of unbelievers that are liberal, and disdains Christians who are conservative. Another unlikable thing about her is that she is a Christian who arguably cares more about the lesser (in human terms, and in terms of human punishment) of her sins. Whereas the other one, a horrific moral crime, she is sorry for, but not as torn up over.
Finally, two aspects of the ending annoyed me greatly. The first is that the bad guys are not all defeated. It frustrates me to no end that, when all is said and done, one obvious villain, confirmed as such in a bad guy's point of view, got away scott-free. I know that it may be more "realistic", but when I read fiction, I don't want realism. I want a fun story, with a satisfying conclusion. I am hoping that Singer has a future book whereby the bad guy finally gets their comeuppance.
The other annoying aspect at the end is that we are only given a point of view narrative of Jason in the Epilogue, but not of Kelly. We hear of what happened to Kelly, to be sure, but it's in passing. I may not find her likable myself, but after investing a whole book in her integral part of the plot, having her dropped made me feel quite cheated. I wanted to read her thoughts on the climax of the narrative.
This is a lot that is wrong with this book. I would have rated most other novels as not worth the time for this long list of faults. Not so with The Justice Game. I would argue that the fact that I still actually truly ENJOYED the novel is a testament to Singer's writing skills. He is masterful at character creation, and communicated the points of view of various characters. He also knows quite a bit about how to set up the story, and keep it moving, even when it does fall nearly apart at times.
All in all, not Singer's best work. Not as good as The Cross-Examination of Oliver Finney, which I've read, or the several books of his I've heard rave reviews about. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable book, and one that makes me eager to read more of his works.
Recommended.
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