Standard of Review: The Graves Is A Legal Mystery From A Prosecutor's Perspective

The Graves is a very solid read.

the gravesWith all the legal television shows that I review on a regular basis, I will confess that I have never worked up the enthusiasm to review CBS’s legal drama Bull. I just couldn’t bring myself to review a CBS procedural. So I have decided to do the next best thing — review a book by a Bull producer and writer! And lo and behold, The Graves (affiliate link) by Pamela Wechsler — which was released this past Tuesday — is a very solid read.

The Graves tells the story of Abby Endicott, the head of the homicide unit of the District Attorney’s Office in Boston. Abby was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, the daughter of a prominent and very rich Boston fund manager. But Abby chooses to work at the DA’s office instead of a Biglaw firm, which causes her family to cut her off financially until she chooses a safer profession. Abby is recovering from a trauma suffered in a previous book by Wechsler, but comes back to work the case of a potential serial killer who is killing college-age females in Boston. The case immediately gets thorny when Abby discovers that the victim was last seen with Tommy Greenough, the son of a United States Senator. Abby faces political pressure to tone down the investigation of Greenough, particularly because Abby’s boss Max is running for Mayor of Boston. Abby’s personal life is also complicated. She is dating Ty, a musician who loves her but is an ex-convict (albeit for a nonviolent drug offense), which might put a damper in Abby’s potential political career. She has sexual tension with Kevin, a Boston detective who works with her on the case. And she flirts with wealthy doctor Chip Aldridge, a man whom Abby’s parents would love her to date.

Even at 336 pages, The Graves is fast-paced and does not contain much fat; I was surely not be bored while reading it. While the plot is not particularly novel or creative, it does have twists and turns, including one that surprised me. Attorney or law students should beware that while Abby is an attorney, the majority of the book reads more like a police novel than a legal novel, as Abby teams up with Kevin to chase leads investigate who could possibly be the potential serial killer. The final third of the novel is more of a traditional legal thriller, as Abby prosecutes the suspected serial killer in front of an unqualified state court judge and a skeptical jury.

Wechsler saves The Graves from being a rote procedural by developing Abby as a character. While a character’s personal life in a legal novel can occasionally be a snooze, the novel does a good job of making the reader care about Abby’s relationship with Ty and whether or not it can or should survive. Wechsler also avoids turning Abby’s disapproving parents into cartoons, particularly regarding Abby’s mother’s drinking problem. And Abby herself has a complicated relationship with money. Due to being cut off from her parents, she can’t afford her expensive apartment or clothes, but she cannot break her spendthrift habits. The novel’s one misstep is that Tommy’s attorney is also Abby’s ex-boyfriend. This was a huge coincidence, does not really pay off, and was a bridge too far in connecting Abby’s personal life to the case.

Wechsler is a former prosecutor who is now a television writer on CBS’s procedural Bull, and her experience shines through, from the jockeying among attorneys in the DA’s office to the sometimes fraught relationship between prosecutors and key witnesses (with the caveat that I am a civil litigator so I have no clue whether or not The Graves is accurate in that regard).

But beware: the book is written from a very pro-prosecutor perspective. The narrator says things like “Fairness rarely applies to victims. The game is rigged in favor of the accused. He has the right to confront his accusers. He has the presumption of innocence. He has the right to a trial by jury. And . . . ethics rules strictly prohibit prosecutors from speaking negatively about the defendant or his lawyer.” Surely, many defense attorneys would disagree with the sentiment that the system is “rigged” in favor of their clients.

Now that I have given The Graves a positive review, will I be champing at the bit to watch Bull? Well, the chances of that are about the same as Dinesh from Silicon Valley actually being personally liable for billions of dollars, as was suggested on last week’s episode.

Sponsored

(Disclosure:  I received a review copy of this book)


Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

Sponsored