A Very Simple Crime

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From Publishers WeeklyAt the start of Jerkins's disturbing debut, Adam Lee, a successful businessman but a total creep who's on trial for murdering his depressed wife, Rachel, tells the court he didn't kill her because "I loved my wife." Adam supposedly also loves Albert, their mentally retarded grown son, who was originally accused of fatally bashing his mother's head with a crystal ashtray. Since Albert, who was institutionalized for years but was free at the time of Rachel's murder, once killed a fellow patient in a dispute over a pair of socks, the police considered him a likely suspect. Former ADA Leo Hewitt, who lost his position after helping a child killer go free, uncovers some telling clues to the killer's identity. Meanwhile, Monty, Adam's attorney brother, knows a family secret that could change everything. Jerkins juggles his plot twists like a top circus acrobat in this nasty legal noir. (Nov.) (c) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. ReviewYou have to admire the purity of Jerkins's writing: He's determined to peer into the darkness and tell us exactly what he sees. --Patrick Anderson, The Washington PostThis tale is so stylishly twisted that I read it in one sitting.--Carole E. Barrowman, Milwaukee Journal SentinelGritty, sordid, disturbing and addictive.--Richmond Times-DispatchWell-fashioned but extremely nasty study in abnormal psychology, which dares us to solve a mystery in which none of the normal character cues can be taken at face value. --Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book ReviewVerdict: No one in this novel is as they appear to be, and the twists and turns never let up until the very last page. This dark, chilling debut, which has been optioned for film by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune) is a real page-turner and should especially appeal to legal thriller fans. -Starred Review, Library Journal, Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL