Slander

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Set in Seattle and British Columbia, this legal drama by William
Deverell, the creator of the CBC’s successful Street Legal series and
the author of a dozen books (as well as being himself a criminal
lawyer), is about getting justice. When a very well-connected Judge Hugh
Vandergraaf gives a minimal sentence to a rapist, Liz Finnegan, a
women’s-rights lawyer, goes on the attack. “Ms. Finnegan,” she is
asked by a reporter outside the courtroom, “[W]hat do you think the
sentence should have been?” Her reply: “Oh,” she snarls,
“probably castration. Of Judge Vandergraaf’s brain.” One slander
suit coming up. Liz decides to build the case herself and gets the
support of Nick, the flamingly gay architect with whom she shares a
funky loft; Mattie, her African-American legal secretary; J.J., the
ailing head of the legal firm for which she works; and some loyal
friends. What she soon discovers is that Vandergraaf has a dark past:
some 25 years earlier he raped at least two women.

Writing in the first person, from the point of view of a feminist
lawyer, is a task too daunting even for a novelist with Deverell’s
skill—but he certainly gives it his best shot. Where he misses is
largely in his character portrayals. Finnegan is not only too
“masculine” a feminist, with dialogue almost identical in tone,
cadence, and even vocabulary with the book’s male characters, but
she’s also too wordy (she practically demands that everyone, friend
and foe alike, listen ad nauseam to her problems). As well, many of the
other characters (most of them caricatures) appear to be in the story
just to represent social positions. Among them are pro-life clergymen
and abortion clinic saboteurs, a “cute” Canadian Mountie, and one of
Liz’s legal partners who finds his way into kinky sex. Finally, from
time to time Vandergraaf himself speaks directly to the reader—to what
purpose, it is impossible to tell. Deverell has written many fine
thrillers and courtroom fictions. This is not one of them.