Legal Limit

Starred review from May 5, 2008
Clark’s profound and moving third novel (after Plain Heathen Mischief
and Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living
) explores the disparity between justice and jurisprudence. Mason Hunt, while visiting his mother at home in Virginia during his final year of law school, inadvertently becomes the sole witness to his deadbeat brother Gates’s cold-blooded murder of a man on a back road in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In the crime’s aftermath, the brothers vow to keep their involvement secret. Years later, Gates is incarcerated for an unrelated crime, while Mason goes on to become a prestigious attorney. Then Mason’s life is turned upside down when Gates, in a desperate attempt to free himself, turns state witness against Mason and accuses his brother of murder. Clark, a circuit-court judge, takes his storytelling prowess to the next level in what is his most substantial and thought-provoking work to date. Author tour.

Narrator Ed Sala doesn't quite do justice to this legal thriller. It's a seductive story about two brothers in Virginia--one good, one evil--who are pitted against each other. While there's not too much action, there's a lot of maneuvering, legal and otherwise. Author Martin Clark weaves his story with precision and true-to-life legal details (he's a sitting trial judge), and there's plenty going on just below the surface. The story touches on ethical issues such as social morality versus family loyalty. The problem is that Sala's depiction of the folksy atmosphere produces character voices that are slightly annoying. Despite this unintended result, Sala gives a solid narration of a top-notch story. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine