Book Review--Hate Crime, by William Bernhardt

This is a legal thriller, which is one of my favorite genres. This is the first book I've read by Bernhardt, but apparently he has written at least one other book besides this one featuring attorney Ben Kincaid, so I'll have to check that out.

Tony Barovick, a gay man and the manager of a bar near a college campus, was badly beaten and killed on his way home from work, the victim of a hate crime. The perpetrators were two young fraternity brothers. At their trial, one of them is gunned down by a member of a fringe gay-rights group, and their lawyer is injured. The mother of Johnny Christensen, the surviving sadistic bigot, comes to see Ben to beg him to take her son's case. Ben turns her down, but his partner, Christina McCall, takes the case. Christina is puzzled by Ben's refusing to take the case. She knows it isn't because Johnny Christensen is vastly unpopular. Ben takes cases of vastly unpopular (and broke) clients all the time. So she figures there has to be some personal reason, but it is awhile before she manages to find out what that is.

Johnny's defense is that he and his friend badly beat Tony Barovick, but left him alive. This doesn't make Johnny more likeable, especially since even if someone else did kill Tony, he wasn't exactly likely to survive after Johnny and his friend finished with him. However, Christina is committed to putting on the best defense she can for her client (as she should, even though he's hardly one to garner sympathy), and digs for evidence that what her client said is true.

The book has some interesting twists and turns. It raises the possibility that perhaps Tony was involved in something sinister; I won't say whether or not that's true, but it sure doesn't fit with his wholesome image. Christina and Ben (who is eventually dragged into the case) are themselves the targets of violence. The case definitely brought out violent extremists on both sides.

I really liked the characters of Christina and Ben. This sure wasn't a case I would want if I were a lawyer, but they didn't seem like sleazy defense lawyers who were just trying to twist the law to get their client off. They seemed committed to finding the truth.

I also really liked what the author said in the dedication of his book: "For Theta Juan, my mother, who taught her children that all hate was a crime."