Overkill
Joseph Teller
Mira, Aug 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780778327769

Defense attorney Harrison J. "Jaywalker" Walker sits in a docket room in the Supreme Court building in Manhattan waiting for his client's turn to plea. He hears an obvious civil lawyer tell Judge McGillicuddy guilty with an explanation. The Judge asks the lawyer Fudderman and the ADA Katherine T. Darcy to come to the bench where he reads the riot act before calling Mr. Jaywalker to come forward. McGillicuddy "assigns" the defense to Jaywalker.

After a brawl over a girl, Jeremy Estrada shot and killed another boy with a gun shot between the eyes. Though he cannot string together a coherent sentence Jeremy claims self defense and thus demands a trial. Though he doubts he will be paid, Jaywalker agrees to defend him before his mom comes up with another attorney willing to plea bargain the kind into a life sentence.

This is a super legal thriller that sub-genre fans will enjoy. The story line is fascinating from the moment Jaywalker struggles to spell "harass" and never slows down until the jury is polled on the final verdicts on the twelve counts as the audience sees up close how the system works (or not works). Overkill is another terrific Jaywalker tale (see The Tenth case and Depraved Injustice).

Harriet Klausner