The Heart of Justice by William Coughlin makes you think, as it examines an interesting premise. Is it ever OK to do something you know is wrong?

If you can help one person a lot, is it OK to do slight harm to another? Is it OK to steal from someone, if the person will never notice the item's gone? Is it OK to use power and money to buy a positive outcome that otherwise might never see the light of day?

The Heart of Justice examines all of those issues in this corporate/legal thriller.

Basic Plot

Heiress Hope Scott and her husband Judge Paul Murray seem like the perfect couple. But there's a huge secret in their marriage. Paul has no idea his wife "bought" his seat on the Federal bench. She figures he was probably headed there in a few years anyway, and if her considerable wealth can hasten his career's pace, what's the harm in that? For his part, Paul has a secret of his own, dating back 20 years. He hopes his secret will never come out, but he should know that Federal judges are always scrutinized.

Now Paul's presiding over a case involving the largest takeover bid the corporate world has ever seen. Both sides will stop at nothing to win their case, and guess what? Both sides have their own secrets as well!

My Thoughts

I'm not sure what the history of this book is. I know it was published 2 years after the author passed away, in a truncated format. I don't know if that means the book wasn't edited fully, or if the author would have made changes, had he lived. But I felt the book came off as "unpolished". As if it were rushed to print, without a fine toothed comb going through it, first.

One problem is that the timeline is a mess. From one chapter to the next, you never know how much (if any) time has passed. A chapter might close as a conversation is about to start. When the next chapter opens, the same two people might be talking, but it's not the same conversation. It might be months later. But you don't know that, of course. So you think you know what's going on, only to find out later, that time has passed, and the conversation that closed the previous chapter is never going to be shown. If this device were used once or twice, it would be OK, but used frequently, it's just annoying. It makes the story needlessly difficult to follow.

Another problem I had is with the main characters, who, for the most part, start out completely unlikable. None of them thought about his actions until long after they were done, and consequences realized.

I also found that I didn't care one single bit which side won the court case. I truly didn't care which multi-billionaire got to add to his bottom line, which is essentially what the takeover was all about.

What I did like, however, was that at least some of the characters did learn lessons, and grow throughout the story. It was refreshing to see people actually change, and determine to lead better lives going forward.

And I liked the presiding theme of the story - deciding whether it's sometimes OK to do things we know are wrong.

Overall, though, this is not a book to rush out and buy. Read it if it's the only book available and you're about to head onto a long flight. Otherwise, skip it.


Recommended: No