Degree of Guilt
I came to Richard North Patterson’s “Degree of Guilt” after reading “Conviction” and “Balance of Power”. The reverse chronological order possibly explains my lack of enthusiasm for this novel.
It’s not as though the books form a series, although some characters are the same, it’s more that Patterson seems to have matured as a writer with his most recent novels.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this book; just that I found the narrative sometimes stilted and the plot less credible than later works.
There was a greater tendency to dwell on personal lives that contributed little to the story flow.
The novel is about a TV current affairs personality who faces murder charges over her admitted killing of a famous author.
The celebrity engages her former lover and the father of her son to defend the case. He tries to head litigation off at “probable cause” stage, claiming self defence.
A Marilyn Monroe/Kennedy-type saga formed part of the background.
The courtroom drama was suspenseful and fascinating. It’s more the interwoven personal stuff that I found distracting. It just didn’t quite click for me.
I may not have read Patterson’s other novels if this had been the first work of his that I’d encountered, but I’m still happy to sample more when the opportunity allows.
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