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A brilliant splash on the legal thriller scene, this debut novel starts placidly with ex-con, now-restored attorney David Hirsch performing his duties as gabbai at a daily mourning ritual. He is beginning fresh after falling to extreme lows in both his legal and personal lives, working mainly bankruptcy reorganizations and settlements under the supervision of his old friend Seymour Rosenbloom.
One morning, one of the men gathered for the minyan asks Hirsch to help him. He wishes to find justice for his daughter, Judith, who died three years earlier in a tragic accident. He needs to act quickly, though, before the statute of limitations runs out --- and before his memory falls victim entirely to his advancing Alzheimer's. At first, Hirsch balks, claiming his days as a plaintiff's attorney are over. But the old man's pleas, coupled with Hirsch's desire to reconnect with his own estranged daughters, persuade him to at least consider it. The story steadily gathers momentum from there.
What appeared on the surface as a fairly straightforward wrongful death case starts to look much more sinister the deeper that Hirsch digs. The basic facts seem uncomplicated: Judith volunteered to drive Judge McCormick home from a party due to his advanced degree of inebriation. McCormick, a man Judith had clerked for and seemingly admired, acceded to her suggestion. Icy roads and a lack of familiarity with McCormick's SUV were blamed for what happened. The judge, apparently insulated by his relaxed alcoholic state, survived the crash. Judith did not. Her father, still smarting from the sting of a strained relationship with Judith, grappled with the decision to sue the auto manufacturer, tire fabricator, and anyone associated with the vehicle and its components. But believing that slick streets took his daughter from him is something the old man simply refuses to do.
With the aid of Seymour Rosenbloom and highly respected --- and beautiful --- Dulcie Lorenz, Hirsch forges ahead against the defendants' high-powered lawyers, colleagues who carry a long-time grudge and no admiration for the recently released felon. It looked like it could get ugly. And it did. Uglier than Hirsch would have believed possible. It started to get downright dangerous. And coming out of it alive was looking doubtful.
To complicate matters, the ice between him and his youngest daughter has begun to thaw. As delighted as he is to have her back in his life, he must push her away in order to protect her. In fact, he isolates himself from everyone he cares about. The less they know, the safer they will be.
Author Michael Baron, an attorney himself, has no trouble making the legal aspects of the story sound authentic. The courtrooms come alive in his deft hands, with rich characters that texture THE MOURNING SEXTON with a lush feeling of realism.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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