Hooked on law

>> Lisa Scottoline's Moment of Truth is trashy but addictive

by JULIET WATERS

I'm a law junkie. I can't have cable or I'd spend 60 per cent of my life hooked on A&E. I've been known to watch repeats of Matlock. I don't know why. Maybe growing up in an adversarial family, the grand spectacle of people trying to win points over each other makes me feel all warm and cozy.

Anyway, this is my first defense for why I continued reading Lisa Scottoline's Moment of Truth, long after I knew it was trash.

Here are some other defense arguments, which I will also prosecute.

1) The first sentence creates an intriguing mystery, and shows evidence of wit. Exhibit A: "Jack Newlin had no choice but to frame himself for murder. Once he had set his course, his only fear was that he couldn't get away with it. That he wasn't a good enough liar, even for a lawyer."

Prosecution: This sense of mystery is based on false simplistic premises, like he "didn't have a choice," or not getting away with it was really his "only fear." These are sure signs that bad writing lies ahead. The mystery is soon over when we find out that Jack, who has confessed to killing his very mean wife, has a beautiful daughter whom he feels very protective of. As for wit, the only thing worse than a bad lawyer, is as lawyer who makes bad lawyer jokes.

2) Lisa Scottoline has been called the "female John Grisham." She's a woman writing in a genre dominated by men. I have a responsibility to promote her.

Prosecution: This makes her lame characterizations of women even more heinous. The perky, petite Italian-American defense lawyer who develops a crush on Jack because he looks like "Kevin Costner, but smart." Blech. The evil, abusive, rich mother, a "sociopath in silk," whose role as a symbol of pure evil whitewashes the plot of any potential for interesting ambiguities. And finally the spoilt, pathetic daughter who inspires pity but not really the kind of interest that makes a reader care about whether she's protected or not.

3) She shows a passing knowledge of alternative music, dropping names like Thurston Moore, Trent Reznor and Smashmouth.

Prosecution: Smashmouth? Wasn't he on Hollywood Squares?

4) She has interesting minor characters.

Prosecution: True. Some of her minor characters, especially those working-class, down-to-earth types, who one senses Scottoline might have grown up with, add flavour. But many of her characterizations don't seem to hold together. Like the workaholic D.A., who relentlessly pursues justice because he's in love with his job. We're told that he was an only child from a happy family, which is why he enjoys solitude. It doesn't feel right that someone with few psychic wounds would be this rabid about getting the death penalty for an innocent man.

5) She really knows her stuff. Scottoline has a lot of experience as a criminal lawyer, both in the private and public sectors. Her books are used by bar associations to illustrate issues of legal ethics, and she lectures on legal ethics to law schools.

Prosecution: Okay. Let's discuss a plea. Scottoline does have an intimate, detailed knowledge of the law and this alone places her above the masses of legal trash out there. Fascinating facts that you may not know include: even though an American citizen has the right to legal representation in a criminal case, he has limited rights when it comes to directing the scope of his defense. So when Jack hires Mary, a lawyer with barely any criminal experience, he can't prevent her from having the confession suppressed and working to free him against his wishes.

This is the kind of stuff that keeps law junkies hooked forever. So, stay away or you might be tempted to read her six other books. For me it's too late. I have no choice.

Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline, HarperTorch, pb, 432pp, $9.99