Line of Vision
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
David Ellis’s Line of Vision won the 2002 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author
Marty Kalish is a young man suffocating in the heat of an affair with a married woman named Rachel. When Rachel’s husband disappears one night, Marty is one of the first to be questioned. With few likely suspects, the police arrest him for murder. We know Marty was outside their home that night. We know he has a motive. We know he’s guilty of something. But is it murder?
Everything we have learned—about Marty as a man, his affair with Rachel, and the night in question—comes from Marty himself. But as the trial unfolds to a jaw-dropping conclusion, we learn that there is more to the truth than one man’s narrow line of vision.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite elements that strain belief, Chicago attorney Ellis's debut succeeds as a wicked courtroom thriller featuring a devious main character who finds ways to manipulate the legal system to suit his needs. Investment banker Marty Kalish stands accused of killing Dr. Derrick Reinhardt, whose abused wife, Rachel, was Kalish's lover. Kalish, the police allege, shot Reinhardt so he could have Rachel all to himself as well as put an end to her physical torment. A devilishly subversive thinker, Kalish hires the best lawyers in town, asks them what his strongest defense would be, then fashions his explanation for the killing to suit that strategy. His tactics work well until it becomes apparent that the police and prosecutors are not quite as gullible as he expects them to be. No problem. Kalish simply changes his story, adding another twist involving one of Reinhardt's neighbors. In the end, Kalish finds out that even more cunning minds than his were churning away as he scrambled to convince the jury of his version of events. Ellis's fine use of the first-person narrative brings out the full flavor of Kalish's personality and helps drive the plot into areas of character where courtroom thrillers rarely venture. He stretches credibility at a few points--for example, Kalish, who faces the death penalty, is allowed to remain free throughout his trial--but the exciting payoff proves ample compensation.
