A racist attorney faces a crisis of conscience when reluctantly defending a black man brutally beaten by police and charged with resisting arrest.Hiram Garbuncle is a veteran criminal defense attorney—as well as a racist, miserly alcoholic. His life revolves around hoarding money, following sports, pursuing sex, drinking—and the prideful practice of law.
Alec Monceau is a black man working to … law.
Alec Monceau is a black man working to support his daughter’s family in Trinidad. It is 2008, and his car carries an Obama bumper sticker. This political advertisement leads to a superfluous traffic stop and a brutal beating by police.
It goes against Garbuncle’s grain to defend a black man from a charge of violently resisting arrest, but he is so confident of winning that he is negligent in the jury selection, and a mistrial occurs. He then discovers incriminating evidence on the two cops, and his new challenge becomes how to keep himself and his client alive pending a new trial.
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Blood on Their Hands by Bob Brink is the first book that I have read by this author, but I was truly hooked into the novel rather quickly. This book is written a more modern time period (only a few years ago sets the scene and the author works effortlessly to point out that racism has never really left…it’s gone “underground” but it is still very much alive and well.
The author paints a picture of an immigrant man being pulled over and cruelly beaten by a couple of police officers. Garbuncle, the “hero” and main character of this story happens to be around with his friend at the time of incident and witnesses most of what transpires. He gets himself into some trouble with another incident down the road, but after a kind gesture by Alec, the immigrant man, Garbuncle’s friend convinces him to take on his case. Things don’t go as expected with the first trial, and so a second one is set, but things soon go from “every day business as usual” to Garbuncle simply trying to stay alive and out of the path of danger. But it seems that anyone connected to him is at risk as nasty accidents happen and a tragic death.
Blood on Their Hands intrigued me from the blurb, but the book really ended up hooking me in. Garbuncle is both an interesting character and one that I detest. His racism is truly astounding to me, especially when I learn his own heritage/ethnicity. I’m surprised that Hitchens can stand to be friends with him to be honest. Hitchens isn’t perfect but I like that he recognized the errors of his childhood and grew from it. It seems that Garbuncle chooses to wallow in his wrongness and steep in it. There were honestly moments that I completely forgot that this book is written in “present day” because of some of the dialogue that is used in the book. I kept thinking that the time period for the story was the early to mid 1900s, but it’s not.
You can gradually see pieces coming together with this thriller as the author gives readers a variety of scenes to chew on and experience. You get a couple of flashbacks here and there, and the characters work together to bring this story together. The deeper the story goes, the more the danger seems to grow as nasty incidents begin to happen and they find their lives in jeopardy.
This book is truly engaging and had me page-turning to learn what was going to happen next. The characters are engaging and I love that I get a good amount of the courtroom and how the case gets pieced together with this book. I am rating this book 5 out of 5 stars. The author does an excellent job keeping me engaged from beginning to end. I do enjoy a good thriller novel and this book checks that box perfectly. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
A thrilling read that pulls you in and holds you til you’ve turned the last page. Strong characters and a story line that is similar to what’s going on in our country recently. This book does come with a warning, once you start reading you may find it hard to put down.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Blood On Their Hands by veteran author and journalist Bob Brink is a well-told tale of racism, heroism, and small-town law and order. The story is centered on a criminal defense lawyer who by his admission, is prejudiced against African Americans. The attorney and his friend witness two cops beat a black driver after stopping the driver for a minor traffic offense. Despite the lawyer’s bias, his friend cajoles him into defending the black driver. The plot develops nicely and the reader is treated to a modern-day lesson about the evils of ignorance, bias, and hate. Blood On Their Hands is reminiscent of some of our better courtroom/legal dramas. A thoroughly enjoyable and exciting read awaits those fortunate to buy this outstanding novel.