I have just completed, “While Justice Sleeps” by Stacey Abrams.
I have a pile of authors whose books I read the moment they become available through the Library for the Blind. Unfortunately, I frequently find myself ahead of the releases. That is to say that I read them faster than they can write them, so I am often in waiting mode, forced to pick up works by other authors in the meantime. There is a section in the NLS service for recently added material and another for the most frequently downloaded titles in the past 30 days, and it is in these two sections I frequently find my “tide-me-over” downloads. It is here that I found “While Justice Sleeps.”
Many years ago, when Ms. Abrams ran for Governor of Georgia, I read a
biographical profile of her and found myself intrigued. She is highly accomplished educationally and professionally; comes from a large, close-knit family; and – at that time – appeared to be a sharp, new young voice in the Democratic Party. A staunch conservative, I agreed with none of her politics, but I at least thought she was a woman of substance and – with grudging respect – worth watching to see where the future took her in national politics. Suffice it to say, given her words and behavior around her loss in the governor’s race and – more recently – the Georgia voting law, I have reduced my opinion of her to just another race-baiting political hack.
So, when the title popped up in my book selections, I initially ignored it. But then, I thought of the books by Bill Clinton and Barak Obama which I tackled in the past and either enjoyed or at least found informative and instructive. So, I went back and downloaded the title. Despite my resolve, it sat on my digital bookshelf for many months until I ran out of other suitable fill-ins to read instead, until finally…it was time to crack the spine as it were.
Though this is a commercially recorded audio book, Ms. Abrams reads the forward to the book. I was surprised to learn that this was not her first published work with several previous titles in both the fiction and non-fiction genre. I also found it fascinating that this book was more than 10 years in the making, having been rejected for publication multiple times in the past, characterized as unrealistic. As to the answer to the question of “Why now?” I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the sitting president in the book is a right wing authoritarian who tramples on the Constitution. That is, however, just a guess.
Let me say that – over all – this was an enjoyable read. However, let me caution you: if you are not a fan of legal fiction, skip it. The main characters are supreme court justices, law clerks to those justices, and the like. Further, the plot line is extremely complex, entwining Constitutional law, political intrigue, national security via Homeland Security, and high stakes international business via biotech and capitalizing gene therapies. This is not a light read at any stretch.
The characters are interesting and well developed, and – for the most part – the story hums along at a good clip holding the reader’s interest with no problem.
The book is a little wordy in that the language is a bit on the formal side and Ms. Abrams demonstrates an admirable command of the use of the adjective and adverb. After a few chapters, however, I hardly noticed the linguistic oddities.
My greatest criticism of the book is the overwhelming complexity of every single aspect of the story. In a nutshell, the main character is forced to solve a puzzle whose pieces are delivered in cryptic – incredibly cryptic – clues centered around international competition level chess, graduate level knowledge of French literature and philosophy, college level chemistry, and PhD-level understanding of biotech and gene therapy research. Sometimes, the main character would puzzle over a clue and suddenly “get it,” and I’d think, “WTF? Seriously?” Apparently I’m not alone, because frequently in the story, one of the other characters will ask the heroine, “How did you get that? Isn’t that quite a stretch?” There is no doubt that the reader is supposed to glean time after time after time that the main character is hands down the smartest person in the room, no matter the room or who is in it, and given her repeated actions that defy any reasonable logic, the heroine believes it herself. The cynic in me can’t help but wonder if Ms. Abrams intends this aspect of the story as autobiographical? Points to ponder, no doubt.
In summation, were this an Amazon review, I’d give it a 3.8 out of 5. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing the hardcover from your local bricks and mortar book store, but if you run across it at the library or a Saturday morning yard sale, it might be worth your time – especially if you were planning an upcoming trans-Atlantic flight where you’ve already seen the inflight movie half a dozen times. Be forewarned, however. It is a hefty tome – some 14 hours of professionally produced commercial audio book, and once you get it solidly started, it’s hard to put down.
Will I read her next book? Hard to say. Maybe her next one will be about a senile old man who gets elected president and runs the nation into bankruptcy and turns us into a laughing stock on the international stage. Not very realistic, you say…Hey…it could happen.