In Doubt
Drusilla Campbell, 2014
Grand Central
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781455510337
Summary
Defense Attorney Sophie Giraudo is about to open a new legal practice in her hometown of San Sebastian, California, when the beloved governer is shot and seriously wounded during a celebration in the town park.
The only thing more shocking than the crime itself is the identity of the would-be assassin: a seemingly gentle teenager named Donny. Driven by her desire to understand what could make a person with no history of violence suddenly commit such a terrible act, Sophie reluctantly agrees to take him on as a client, knowing that, at least, it will bring her some income.
But soon she realizes that she also has personal motivations for taking the case: a desire to prove to her overbearing mother that she is not the reckless and self-destructive tennager she used to be, to prove to her ex-husband, who happens to be the prosecuting attorney, that she can win her case, and to prove to herself that the traumatic events of her adolescence no longer define her.
As she digs deeper into Donny's past, Sophie begins to suspect that he might not be the cold-blooded killer everyone thinks he is. Does Donny's narcissistic mother really have her son's best interest in mind? Is Donny's mentor who runs Boys Into Men, a program for disadvantaged youths, the altruistic man he claims to be? Is Donny a deranged murderer, or a victim of his circumstances acting out of desperation?
As Sophie races to uncover the truth, she is forced to come to terms with her past and to fight for what she knows is right...even if it means risking her reputation and possibly her life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Melbourne, Australia
• Raised—Santa Clara Valley, California, USA
• Education—B.A., San Jose State University; M.A., American University
• Currently—lives in San Diego, California
In her words:
I wrote my first novel when I was in the sixth grade; and I’m confessing now, publicly, that I stole school paper to do it. What a thrill when I got to page one hundred.... For years I wrote nothing but first chapters, longhand, often sitting up in bed after a long day teaching school in London, Geelong and Changuinola, Panama. I traveled poor in my twenties, hitchhiking, often without money....
I never actually finished a story until the first year my husband and I lived in Washington, DC. By then I’d given up teaching and gotten an MA in Broadcast Journalism from American University. My science fiction story, "Piper, What Song" was bought and published and so was a second, "A Dream of Trumpeters." Awash in visions of runaway success, I gave up my day job—I was receptionist, secretary and an on-air personality at WAMU-FM, the District’s big NPR affiliate—and began writing fulltime....
When you read my books, I hope you find something of yourself in the women I write about. I hope their struggles and victories inspire and move you. Someone asked me why I write and though the full answer is too long to write here, it comes down to this: I write because I have always written; and if I stopped an essential part of me would stop too. I write because all my life I have loved stories, loved figuring out what makes people do the wild and weird things they do. I write because I want to connect with you, establish a bond between us based on common experiences and shared reflections. (Excerpted from the author's website.)
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Book Reviews
John Grisham meets Jodi Picoult.
Booklist
Campbell draws the reader into an ugly world in her excellent take on the many lines between right and wrong.
RT Book Reviews
As In Doubt winds around a tortuous road of compelling human drama, Campbell pulls the plug and creates a novel both unique and compelling in and of itself.
The Review Broads
In Doubt is undoubtedly a thought provoking novel that will make you question the meaning of justice.
Chick Lit Plus
Discussion Questions
1. Sophie and her mother have an adversarial relationship that is still based on a deep affection. What role do these women live in each other’s lives. In what way, if any, are they necessary to each other?
2. Recently a reader told me she was sick of reading about mothers and daughter relationships. Do you feel the same way? If you do, can you explain your feelings. What do books get right when dealing with mothers and daughters? Where do they go wrong?
3. Near the end of the book Roman expresses something like remorse. He says, "I want it to be different." What is the "if" he’s talking about? Is a pedophile capable of true remorse? Did you at any point find sympathy with Roman. If not, why?
4. Some readers have told me that Iva is just as guilty as Roman. How do you feel about this idea? In cases like this one, wives, mothers and girlfriends have frequently been cooperative. Sometimes by lying, sometimes by maintaining silence. Some claim not to have seen or been aware of anything. Is this possible? How do you explain it?
5. Is Iva’s love a "true love?" What is it that ties her to Roman? What drew them together in the first place?
6. What is the theory behind "restorative justice?" Is such widespread forgiveness even possible? It appears to have worked in South Africa. Why would that be so? What is required to make this psychologically challenging theory workable?
7. Why did Donny shoot the Governor? What role did Elena play in the crime, if any?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)