Double Jeopardy

By Bill James

Whose side is the Law - and detective Kerry Lake in particular - on?; Scout Pethor is a small-time villain. But is he a murderer? The British justice system doesn't think so - it acquitted Scout and his friend Matthew Gain of the race-related murder of Angela Sabat, a black American girl. But Angela's mother, a journalist on the New Yorker magazine, doesn't agree. She comes to England to visit the scene of the crime and confront the possible perpetrators. Still, you can't be charged twice for the same crime - can you? So there shouldn't be anything for Kerry Lake to worry about. But the post-trial inquiry, with its wide-ranging powers, suggests that policeman Vic Othen, Lake's adulterous lover, might have been involved. How come he was at the scene of the crime so soon? And why is he withholding the names of his informants? Powerfully addressing the issues that arose in the Stephen Lawrence trial in the UK, with its racial overtones and concerns about police corruption, Double Jeopardy also draws parallels with the equally surprising not-guilty verdict in the O. J. Simpson case.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0727858246
• ISBN13: 9780727858245
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Severn House
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.9" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Moral gray areas in English police--very good indeed

Scout Pethor and Matthew Gain have been cleared of the murder of beautiful black co-ed Angela Sabat--and the British police are intent to discover why, and to find a scapegoat. Because they believe Pethor and Gain are guilty as sin, and that only a police coverup could have brought about their acquittal. Vic Othen, Kerry Lake's sometimes lover, looks to be an appropriate fall guy. He did, after all, discover the body acting on a tip. Couldn't he have been called in to hide the evidence? Who else but the killers would have known where to send him?Kerry lives in a world where everyone seems to know everyone else's secrets. Her love affair with Vic, even her meeting with Pethor's brother become common knowledge among Pethor's criminal gang, his jailed competitor, her police chief, and even the victim's mother--a journalist intent on discovering the truth and just maybe creating a bit of justice. The British courts deny that justice is possible. Gain and Pethor can't be tried again under the rules of double jeopardy. But that doesn't mean that their lives need be pleasant. Unfortunately, they seem just smart enough to be able to stay ahead of justice, just as they've stayed ahead of the law.Author Bill James writes powerfully about the moral ambiguities and small victories of the modern police. In this short but complex novel, everyone is working an angle, everyone has more than one hidden agenda, and nothing is what it seems. Even when Kerry assures herself that she wouldn't continue to support Vic if she knew him corrupt, there is always a question mark at the end of her question. When the law holds a killer innocent, what moral rules can or should apply?As with James's Harpur and Iles novels, DOUBLE JEOPARDY deals with shades of gray. Killing a black woman is worse than beating one up. Giving a free ride to a criminal in prison might be better than a free ride to a killer who is free. And taking a bribe might not be so bad if the cop doing the taking doesn't really deliver what she promised. DOUBLE JEOPARDY left me feeling disturbed, dirty, and entertained.