Sleeper

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at Trent University and the
University of Waterloo.

This first novel by Nick Wilkshire begins with an open-and-shut murder
case. Stuart Bruce, a Queen’s Counsel from Toronto, Ontario, has been
found dead in a park in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nearby is Tom
Fitzgerald, a down-on-his-luck drinker, passed out beside the murder
weapon and the victim’s cash and credit cards. The Royal Newfoundland
Constabulary has caught its man. The prominent law firm McGrath & Co.
inherits Fitzgerald’s defence.

McGrath, who has represented Fitzgerald in the past, passes the case to
his highly ambitious junior partner Kelly Lane and assigns second-year
associate David Hall to assist her. When a setback at the preliminary
inquiry suggests that the case is a loser, Lane quickly dumps the case.
Hall, finding his future career now on the line, proceeds to launch a
spirited defence of Fitzgerald, while Lane does her best to undermine
his efforts and his job prospects.

Wilkshire has written a tense thriller. Hall’s initial reaction is
that Fitzgerald is innocent; however, with no suspects and no leads,
Hall constructs an unusual defence using Fitzgerald’s history of
sleepwalking and automatism (a medical condition where the accused is
not in control of mind and body). If the defence is successful,
Fitzgerald will go free. But is he really innocent? Suspense mounts as
Hall, who now doubts his client, searches for the truth, amid threats
and attempts on his life. Is Fitzgerald behind the murder, or is Hall
getting close to the real killer?

Wilkshire has written a strong first novel that does a great job of
holding the reader’s interest to its climatic finish. One hopes that
David Hall will return soon in a sequel.