A SCANDAL OF THE PARTICULAR
A shocking local murder case revives a down-on-his-luck lawyer’s unraveling career in criminal attorney Hamilton’s debut suspense thriller.
The author draws on his own life’s work as an attorney in this fast-paced debut chronicling the exploits of Canadian lawyer Hyman Kazan. Not a particularly likable nor well-adjusted protagonist, 50-something Kazan has seen better days. His legal career is sputtering, and he and his girlfriend, Briar, are on the rocks. Everything, especially the dreary Vancouver weather, seems to remind him of his shortcomings. The ideal distraction soon presents itself when Simon Westfall, a young drug-abusing migrant, is found dead outside a local clinic. Westfall’s death became immediately suspicious to a clinic nurse who noted that he didn’t have overdose levels of drugs in his system. With an undetermined cause of death, foul play is suspected, and investigators descend on the case. Kazan suspects trial judge Craig Smith, who’s bisexual, because not only was he the last person to see Westfall alive (after a druggy dalliance with him), but he’s also been secretly romancing Briar. A race against time ensues as Kazan feverishly builds his case against his prime suspect, and Smith rushes to conceal evidence and exonerate himself before he jeopardizes his political career. While Kazan’s struggle for meaning is ever present throughout the novel, it’s often punctuated with overwrought prose, as when describing Kazan’s avoidance of a mundane daily existence: “He would never let the easily swallowed opioid of routine dissolve his lost and fractured soul.” Nevertheless, there is also some assured storytelling here; Hamilton effectively weaves past and present together to fill out not only Westfall’s gritty personal history, but also Kazan’s booze-soaked despair, bad luck, and personal and professional demons. Peripheral characters are also well rendered, including Smith, the nefarious judge. As the puzzle pieces of the mystery fall into place, Kazan seems to find his footing as a rejuvenated litigator and a man. Then the author drops an unexpected but plausible ending—one that will likely undermine any previous assumptions about his misunderstood legal-eagle protagonist.
A patchy read but with a twist ending that will dazzle fans of the genre.
Source: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steve-hamilton/a-scandal-of-the-particular/
Former prosecutor and criminologist Steve Hamilton debuts with a legal thriller.
Canadian author, Steve Hamilton, uses his 30 years of professional legal experience and imagination to pull back the curtain of the justice system and place the focus on the people that work in it, in his new book “A Scandal of the Particular”.
Told in the present tense and set in gloomy downtown Vancouver, a lawyer named Hyman Kazan is struggling with his career and personal life. Riddled with both alcoholism and regrets, his world only gets worse when the dead body of a young man from Scotland is found to have overdosed on drugs.
This young man ties into Kazan’s crumbling world when he finds out that there was a love triangle between the deceased, Kazan’s girlfriend and a big-time city judge. This love triangle leads Kazan down a path where he must explore all perspectives to unravel the truth.
Hamilton’s extensive experience in the criminal justice system as a prosecutor and criminologist has given him a unique insight into the criminal mind, as well as the underbelly of the criminal justice system.
“I want the book to provide a discussion of the many questions raised by our justice system,” Hamilton said. “What is justice? What matters? Why should victims go on? My novel takes a closer examination of the players, the judges, lawyers, victims and their overlapping roles.”
Source: https://www.legalreader.com/new-mystery-fiction-novel-blends-love-and-violence-under-the-vancouver-skies/
A Scandal of the Particular by Steve Hamilton
An unbearably tense legal thriller…
Vivid and intense, Hamilton’s dark debut adeptly articulates the challenges and complexities of love and violence. Attorney Hyman Kazan is at his lowest point in life: with a struggling legal career and a failed relationship, Kazan is trying to find solace in alcohol. But when the body of a young man is found in downtown Vancouver, a link between the victim and Kazan’s girlfriend’s new lover, Judge Smith, soon comes to surface. As Kazan begins to look into Smith’s role in the murder, sinister secrets come to surface, threatening to destroy whatever is left of Kazan’s life. The narrative shuffles between sudden viewpoint shifts and flashbacks in the past, and the story becomes deeply disturbing as Kazan begins to dig deeper into Smith’s role in the case. Hamilton’s characters are fully fleshed-out, relatable people who will stay with readers: Kazan’s portrayal as a tortured soul held fast by rage and trauma makes him an unforgettable hero. Underneath his rough veneer swirls pain and vulnerability. Kazan’s inner turmoil plays out against the background of the gloomy skies and mercurial weather of Vancouver and the unraveling of his relationship with Briar. Hamilton skillfully evokes emotions as he delves into love, companionship, relationship upheaval, pain, regret, justice, mortality, and morality. This is a thoughtful, if diffuse, examination of love and relationships; how we drown ourselves more in misery in order to avoid the pain of a heartbreak. Imbued with passion and high-intensity emotion of a couple’s volatile relationship, this deeply intimate, emotionally charged tale makes for a winner.
Rain washed thriller
Fun ride through Vancouver, great pace and great ending. I have no regrets.
Searingly observant, a daring work of fiction
Dark, grim and a total page-turner. Hamilton weaves an absorbing and beautiful tale of deception and suspense. It is a combination of a revealing story about the justice system that embraces a Judas style kiss upon the lips of judges and lawyers.
Searingly observant, a daring work of fiction
Dark, grim and a total page-turner. Hamilton weaves an absorbing and beautiful tale of deception and suspense. It is a combination of a revealing story about the justice system that embraces a Judas style kiss upon the lips of judges and lawyers.
Read this with a glass of wine
I read this last night at the cabin and cannot wait to add it to my book club list! I expected a thriller and got that but also a wine list, a walk on the beach beside the Pacific Ocean and a thought provoking tale of love and betrayal. Best enjoyed with a nice glass of lemony.
Haunting And Compelling
Haunting … with an eye for detail, Hamilton has captured the sad tale of a stubborn lawyer who
is fighting an uphill battle, a tragic well told story.
