I actually haven't read many legal thrillers. The one before this I remember best was Grisham's The Firm and the one I read just before this was Lescroart's Hard Evidence. Patterson has it all over Lescroart, who within a hundred pages showed he knew nothing of the law, completely losing credibility. And credibility is important, whether you're writing about a nuclear submarine or medieval London. Patterson, who worked as a trial attorney and was a liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor, has credibility to burn. As for Grisham. Well, The Firm is about lawyers, Degree of Guilt is more about the law. The Firm immerses you in the seductive lure of a plush rich corporate firm. The law isn't really what it's about. Degree of Guilt is about a murder case--and rape. Not who--we know that from the beginning. But how, why, and what degree of guilt should be assigned Mary Carelli in the killing of Mark Ransom. And in the book the defense lawyer Christopher Paget takes some real risks gaming the legal system that make for a suspenseful page-turning story.And yes, in some ways it is a trashy book. The kind where every character teases you by reminding you (or being an obvious stand in) for a real life public figure. There's a scandalous tape of Laura Chase (Marilyn Monroe) involving the charismatic Senator Who-Cares-About-Social-Justice James Colt (Jack Kennedy) who died a tragic death. There's the famous starlet turned producer and feminist social activist with a famous father Lindsay Caldwell (Jane Fonda). There's our murder victim Mark Ransom (Norman Mailer), the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist who is "America's most famous living writer." There's the accused murderer Mary Carelli (Diane Sawyer?) who is a renowned television journalist who interviews the likes of Anwar Sadat and once worked for a Republican administration ridden with scandal. The hero of the novel, Christopher Paget, given he was involved investigating a Watergate-like scandal, seems a stand-in for Patterson himself. This is the trashiest aspect of the book, no question. While the novel is not really a roman a clef, the characters are close enough to real life counterparts for me to feel a bit voyeuristic at times. I was also bothered with how close the characters fell into certain stereotypes. The good characters full of integrity are identifiably liberals; the bad, manipulative "social Darwinist" characters are more than hinted to be Republicans. Also, through Part One--about the first 100 pages--the characters left me cold, cold, cold. They grew on me though. And one character in particular who started out as despicable did turn out to be more complex that it first appeared, another who appeared cold turn out to have good reasons, and yet another character who I did like from the beginning grew to have more and more of a role. So if you found yourself not liking any of the characters in the first quarter of the book, you might want to hold on a bit longer--things aren't how they first appear. I also appreciated how the novel handled the matter of rape which figures into the mystery. There are several different rape victims who tell their stories in the book. Unlike in so many cases this comes up in popular fiction, those depictions didn't come across as titillating or exploitative. Maybe because they're told by the victims themselves to another well after what happened, putting some distance between the act and the reader, yet leaving you aching for the person involved. One telling in particular was harrowing to read. And each experience was woven in tightly into the mystery of Mark Ransom's death at the hands of Mary Carelli. Through those experiences Patterson also holds up to scrutiny how we handle cases of rape in America. Not bad for a trashy pop thriller. This is a sequel by the way--there's an earlier Christopher Paget book. But I didn't feel lost because I hadn't read it.
I agree with a Washington's Post review I read stating that this book was "one intense courtroom dash after another…an intelligent and gripping thriller". I enjoy courtroom drama and Richard North Patterson really knows how to get you involved in the drama. The author studied fiction writing at the University of Alabama but he makes you believe that he has practical law experience. The courtroom drama is so real to life. The story centers on a well-known and successful female journalist named Mary Carelli who is charged with the murder of Mark Ransom, a novelist. She claims that Mark tried to rape her so she was only defending herself. Her attorney and father of her child, Christopher Paget, attempts to display Mark as a sexual freak who was in a habit of demeaning women and abusing them. Mary, however, is carrying a secret of her own. A secret that may have bearing on her case. Something that Christopher Paget believes she is keeping as the case unravels. Even though I felt for her character, because she was keeping information from her lawyer, it made you wonder if she didn't have a hidden agenda. That's the beauty of being an avid reader because you can delve into so many genres to find out what you enjoy reading. This was a definite page-turner and as you found out more information about Mary Carelli's murder trial, it became more shocking with the turn of events.
What do You think about Degree Of Guilt (1993)?
There’s a blurb on the front of this book that says it’s “compulsively readable”. That’s no lie. Every time I picked up this book, I had a hard time putting it back down again. It is chocked full of conflicted characters, chief of them all being Christopher Paget. From the very beginning, you’re never quite sure what exactly happened, and even at the end you continue to wonder… Was that the truth? Is Mary Carelli capable of telling the truth? And is knowing the truth always important?It turns out that this is the second book in a series of four, but it stand very well by itself. It does have a great deal to do with the previous book, but all of the pertinent events were re-explained. This is only the second book by Richard North Patterson that I’ve read, and I don’t know how he’s escaped my notice for so long. Excellent, excellent read.
—Jaime
This was my first introduction to Richard North Patterson. The novel was in a bag of books that I was given for 'recycling'. I’m so glad that I decided I should glance over the titles before immediately passing them forward. This novel has definitely earned my praise as one of my highest recommendations / examples of legal thrillers. I haven't found as compelling a legal novel since reading Brad Meltzer’s "The Tenth Justice" or John Lescroart's "The 13th Juror” and my appreciation of the character Dismas Hardy but Christopher Paget has easily surpassed regard of Dismas Hardy.On the author's web site various phrases or short comments are excerpted from reviews. A review from People says, "Compulsively readable… A Chinese box of a puzzler, where one mystery is penetrated only to reveal another." An excellent description as you unravel the clues of a mystery and another reveal begins. WoW! I’m off to add RNP’s other titles to my “Wish List to Read”. Would definitely like to read one (or more) of his titles during a vacation time period so I could simply enjoy the uninterrupted reading time.
—Ferne
I read this book years ago, and identified quite strongly -- for reasons of my own -- with the young attorney Terri Peralta. Now that I'm more removed from my own situation I can see the sometimes glaring flaws in the plot, at least from a trial lawyer's perspective. The thinly-veiled characters of Mark Ransom, Laura Chase and James Colt are a little too obvious, at least to readers of my generation. Still, Patterson writes an intelligent legal thriller and one that keeps the reader engaged throughout.
—Teeliles
