Book Review: Deadly Sacrifice

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Deadly Sacrifice     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jack Kean
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Government Agency   Legal Setting   Thriller   Ethnic
Genesis, May 2000, $22.95, 204 pp.

In rural Mississippi, attorney Vernon King enjoys his laidback lifestyle that enables him to lie in his hammock on most afternoons. However, Vernon's idyllic life is disturbed when arson destroy a nearby black church. The Feds, state, and local officials are all over the place trying to determine whether a hate crime was committed. The FBI interviewed Vernon twice during the two-week investigation.

Vernon's life becomes more complicated when the Feds arrest his neighbor dairy farmer Bill Wall for committing the crimes. However, the worst charge turns out to be murder as the body of a two-year old was found in the rubble. Bill hires Vernon to serve as his attorney. As Vernon struggles with a hostile media, ugly mobs, and the judicial system looking for an easy target, he also feels under confident as federal law differs from his area of expertise, Mississippi state law.

DEADLY SACRIFICE is an exciting regional legal thriller that will please sub-genre fans. The story line is very entertaining though at times Vernon pontificates about outside influence hurting the New South. Still, he is a warm, down home individual, and the support cast, for the most part, are fully developed people who bring the region to life. Jack Kean provides a superb tale that will give pleasure to sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner