HATE CRIME by William Bernhardt
William Bernhardt is another attorney turned author who has been successful with a long line of books. The recurring character in his stories is an attorney named Ben Kincaid who practices in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ben's latest adventure takes place in a book titled HATE CRIME.
The hate crime to which the title refers is the murder of a gay man. Two fraternity boys decide it would be fun to beat him up, and they do so brutally. When they are arrested for the crime they admit the beating but swear they didn't kill him.
One of the defendants' mothers tries to get Ben to take the case but he refuses. This astounds his partner Christina McCall since Ben has always been the one to take on any case no matter how controversial. But Ben is adamant, so Christina takes the case. This causes friction within the firm to say the least.
As the case progresses several other murders occur which may or may not be linked to the one which got Christina involved. Major Mike Morelli of the Tulsa Police Department, who is a friend of Ben's, works to solve these murders while Christina works on the defense of the man charged in the original one. Ben sits on the sidelines and watches.
This is a book that is readable from start to finish. You will like the main characters and you will want to know the real truth behind the crimes. The problem is that some of the resolutions of the plot just don't make any sense. For example: there is a woman engaged to a man who breaks the engagement because she has a serious illness. Yet later she reappears in the man's life and she seems fine. What happened?
Even when the guilty party in the crimes is made known, it doesn't make good sense. The justification for the acts is lacking even though it does provide a surprising conclusion for the story.
William Bernhardt is a good writer. He is able to hold your interest throughout his plots. Only in this book some of the situations ring false and that makes the overall effect of the book less than it should be.
HATE CRIME is published by Ballantine Books. It contains 368 pages and sells for $25.95.