William Lashner, Falls The Shadow

William Lashner, Falls The Shadow - Leesa Dube was shot in the chest in her own home, the picture of her estranged husband Francois clutched in her hand. The couple was in the middle of a bitter divorce, fighting for custody of their daughter. In his home, they found a bloody towel and a blood spot on his boot, a perfect match to Leesa's blood. A jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

Three years after his conviction, Francois hires attorney Victor Carl and his partner Beth to get his verdict overturned and to obtain a new trial. To Victor's surprise, he finds suppressed evidence that earns the con a new trial. While preparing for the legal battle of his life, the courts appoint Victor to work pro bono representing four-year-old Daniel who is taken out of his home because of his mother's neglect. Weaving throughout Victor's life is his dentist Bob, who has a Messiah complex and works in the shadows to right the world's wrongs. Victor is not sure whether Bob is a Good Samaritan or a master manipulator with adulating followers who carry out his desires whether they are good or evil.

Anyone who has a dental phobia will never want to visit a dentist after reading about Dr. Bob and the lengths he will go to in order to make the world a better place, even if the methods he uses turn out to be illegal. Victor tries hard to remain uncaring and cynical but his nurturing nature propels him to lend a helping hand when he is needed. Readers will admire him and more so William Lashner who is one of the best writers of legal thrillers on the market today.

Morrow, May 2005, $24.95, 432 pp.

ISBN 0060721561

Harriet Klausner