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Palace Council

Stephen L. Carter
Knopf (2008)
ISBN 9780307266583
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads (9/08)

If the late Nineties was the Grisham era in the world of legal thrillers, I just feel that this millennium belongs to Stephen Carter. Carter with his previous two books, “The Emperor Of Ocean Park” and  “New England White” had carved out a neat niche in the legal thriller genre, and raised the ambit and scope legal fiction to a hitherto unknown new level. With “Palace Council” Professor Carter reaffirms his position as the architect of the next generation legal thriller. At the same time I should also mention, “Palace Council” is not 100% a legal thriller; it is more a politico-legal fiction that transcends the thriller genre to that of literature. 

The novel is set in the Sixties, or rather from the Fifties to the Seventies. A secret society has been formed to manipulate the President of the United States. Soon, one of the members of the Society, a lawyer, is found murdered. And the person who makes the discovery is an upcoming writer: Eddie Wesley.  Clutched in the hands of the deceased is a talisman to the secret society.  The writer instinct in Wesley is cajoled into action and he decides to investigate into the matter.  Soon Wesley’s sister has “gone missing,” and the author realizes that he has opened a big can of worms.  Together with his old flame, Aurelia Treene, Wesley investigates into the matter, an investigation that takes twenty long years. And the author, through this twenty-year long search, showcases and vividly portrays the change in American society, shown from the viewpoint of an upper class African-American.

For those who want to know whether Talcott Garland is featured in this novel, the answer is yes, but he is not the hero. The real hero of the novel is neither Garland, nor Wesley, but The United States of America itself.

A good, somber read.  Not a light read, but a gripping read. Highly, highly recommended. 

     

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