the 7th canon book review

Review: The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni

By david cranmer.

The 7th Canon illuminates Peter Donley’s judicial chops as he asks the judge of his current case to call a bird to the stand, or, more specifically, an African gray parrot named Albert to determine if Donley’s client is the rightful owner. The elderly man in danger of losing the mimic asks his pet if he wants to watch The Andy Griffith Show , and—sure enough—Albert begins whistling the classic TV opener. Of course, it also brings to mind that other classic Griffith show, Matlock , where a case of a whistling parrot would fit in comfortably with the legal drama.

Donley works at his uncle’s law firm—The Law Offices of Lou Giantelli—in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, a rough and tumble area that has seen better times. He has ambition beyond Lou’s small-time operation, but with a wife, Kim, and a two-year-old son, Benny, he’s just happy to be employed.

And, less I give the impression this is a cute mystery thriller, not too many blocks away from Lou’s practice is Father Thomas Martin, who operates the Tenderloin boy’s shelter that he’d convinced the Church to open—though it’s a middling success at best. As a storm approaches, he heads to secure the front door when he slips and falls, breaking his arm. He’s mortified to see there’s blood layering the floor and receives a supplementary jolt:

Though his brain urged him forward, his feet remained anchored to the floor. He dropped to his knees and reached out, hoping to touch porcelain but instead feeling flesh. Andrew Bennet’s body lay in the manger, arms draped over the sides, knuckles dragging in the puddle of blood beneath the straw. Lightning crackled overhead, a strobe of sharp, blue light. A second later, thunder rocked the building, and the first drops of rain splattered on the glass roof. The storm had arrived.

The priest, a seemingly dedicated man of God, is arrested when a letter opener is found stained with blood, and, too conveniently, an envelope of photographs described as “Hard core, prepubescent. Enough to shock any juror.” Leading the police investigation is bullish Detective Dixon Connor, who had it in for Father Tom even before the murder, accusing the priest of running a shelter to hide the scum of the area.

Lou sends his subordinate to the jail to represent Father Tom, but a flood of anxiety attacks Donley brought on by the memory of his dad.

Sweat trickled down Donley’s face. The scar on his cheek, the one the plastic surgeons had turned into a thin white line, burned numb. His chest heaved, but it brought no air. He couldn’t catch his breath. Couldn’t breathe. The walls began to close in. The floor tilted and turned. Panic attack. Donley stood, toppling the plastic chair. The priest’s eyes opened—dark, inhuman.

It’s a bad day for our legal eagles because, right in the middle of pleading a case, Lou collapses from a stroke and is rushed to the hospital. Donley, who had hopes of moving on to, perhaps, a bigger law firm now begins slipping down the success ladder while facing ballooning responsibilities and inner demons.

The priest and cop/lawyer routine has been done to death, but Mr. Dugoni makes it work all the same. Plenty of action and a welcoming amount of humor at just the right moments. The banter early on between Donley and his uncle Lou is particularly charming and heartfelt. The 7th Canon , with all its dark subject matter and bits of breeziness, clicks right along to the end.

To learn more or order a copy, visit:

David Cranmer  is the publisher and editor of BEAT to a PULP. Latest books from this indie powerhouse include the alternate history novella  Leviathan  and sci-fi adventure  Pale Mars . David lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

Teenage male Grand Slam champions were not an unusual sight in the 1980s. Mats Wilander, Michael Chang and Boris Becker all won their first major title at the age of 17.

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The Seventh Canon by Robert Dugoni

Latest Books Legal Thrillers

September 30, 2016

A Searing Stand-Alone Thriller on Legal Conscience

In the seventh grade, a young Robert Dugoni delivered a speech that would forever change the course of his life.

Assigned to write an essay on the topic of slavery, Dugoni chose to take the position of an apologist—a person who offers an argument in defense of a controversial topic. He worked hard on the paper, digging deep into the research and carefully crafting the words he was sure would impress his teacher, Sister Kathleen.

At the end of his speech, she silently curled her finger back and forth, motioning for him to follow her out of the room, where his peers clapped as he retreated from one class to another, delivering his speech for a second time, again to a virtually speechless crowd of his peers.

It was then that he came upon two realizations: he had written something pretty impressive; and, writing was something that he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, Dugoni was the middle-ish child in a family of ten “compulsive overachievers” who were either studying to become doctors or marrying doctors, and rather than cop to his true passion, he “wrote” his way into law school with journalism, and eventually embodied the career that satisfied his family’s expectations.

A “charade” that lasted more than a decade.

“The desire to write never went away,” Dugoni says. “But the idea of writing a novel while practicing law seemed so impossible to me—unless you’re Scott Turow. I couldn’t do both.”

So, in the midst of one semi-tipsy evening of self-reflection, Dugoni impulsively called the local theater company and signed up for…acting. “Everyone else was in jeans and T-shirts, and I walked into that class with my suit and my shirt and tie,” he recalls, laughing. “I did theater for ten years and that really rekindled my love for writing.”

At the age of 39, Dugoni dropped law and decided to give his true passion an honest go, eventually securing an agent who not only took a chance on one book, but actually subbed three very different manuscripts. Two sold quickly, becoming the first and second books in his popular David Sloane series.

Dugoni never gave up on that third manuscript though, which this month publishes as THE 7 TH CANON, a stand-alone legal thriller that explores the American Bar Association’s code of ethics that states that a lawyer will do his or her best to defend their client—regardless of guilt or innocence.

Set in San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district during the 1980s, the story features up-and-coming lawyer Peter Donley who is tasked with defending a priest accused of murdering a teenage street hustler—despite the fact that Donley himself isn’t convinced of the priest’s innocence, particularly as evidence to the contrary continues to mount.

The idea originated not from Dugoni’s career as a lawyer, but rather, a conversation he had with bestselling author and defense lawyer Phillip Margolin who had faced several “7 th canon” instances during his time in law.

“He couldn’t care about whether his client was guilty or innocent. His job was to ensure the rules of the constitution were being followed,” Dugoni says. “I think one of the things that is most upsetting with this Black Lives Matter movement is that people are realizing that we have a whole segment of society that is not accorded the rights under the constitution.”

As society continues to evolve, Dugoni hopes that this will change, particularly with the advent of technology that leaves little room for debate—a fact he didn’t need to worry about while writing THE 7 TH CANON.

“I remember when one of my colleagues first brought in a PC, a little Mac computer,” he says. “And we heard that they were trying to create technology that would allow us email someone in another room . That was mind blowing back then, but look at how much technology has changed since then.”

All factors Dugoni had to ignore. No cellphones. No laptops. No rescue from the bad guy thanks to GPS tracking or wayward Pokemon Go trackers. By jumping back to the ‘80s, Dugoni had to forego the electronics—and it was incredibly fun.

“That was an interesting time in San Francisco,” he says. “There was a lot going on. The Tenderloin area was getting more homeless people, and the city was trying to get a handle on it. I had lived through all of that.”

And reliving it seems to resonate with Dugoni’s readers as well. There is already an impressive gathering of fans eager to see a follow-up book for young Peter Donlay, but Dugoni isn’t sure he’s quite ready to jump back to the ‘80s just yet.

“The book is doing really well,” he says. “And there are some interesting characters I could play with. I’ll have to weigh the pros and cons, but it could be a lot of fun.”

Until then, readers can expect new works in Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series—and maybe a few more surprises along the way.

To learn more, please visit his website and follow him on Facebook and Twitter (@robertdugoni).

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The 7th Canon

In San Francisco's seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys, and the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. Despite damning evidence that he's a killer-and worse-Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence, and attorney Peter Donley stands with him. For three years Donley has cut his legal teeth in his uncle's tiny, no-frills law firm, where people come before profits. Just as Donley is poised to move on to a lucrative dream job, the shocking case lands in his lap, and he must put his family's future on hold while putting his courtroom skills to the test. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas. Now, as he unearths the dirty secrets surrounding the case, others dig up dark secrets hidden by Donley, and he must risk everything to save his client's life...and expose the face of true evil.

Published By Thomas & Mercer Publish Date: September 27, 2016 ISBN-10:1503939421 ISBN: 978-1503939424 334 Pages

"In The 7th Canon, 1980's San Fransisco comes to life as Dugoni crafts a page-turning thriller with flawed heroes and a deep knowledge of his subject."  Authorlink

"The 7th Canon delivers on everything it promises, a courtroom thriller extraordinaire that successfully harvests every staple of the genre while plowing plenty of new ground in the process. A stunning achievement from a writer destined to become a household name."  Providence Rhode Island Journal

"Dugoni has given the reader another gem of a story, full of action-packed scenes, intelligent plotlines, and very real characters."  Suspense Magazine

"Robert Dugoni delivers plenty of mystery and courtroom antics in his latest high-stakes legal thriller. The courtroom scenes are top-notch, but even better are the pages dedicated to the investigation."  Book Spy

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A riveting legal thriller from Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister's Grave.In San Francisco's seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs ...

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The 7th Canon

Robert dugoni. thomas & mercer, $15.95 trade paper (374p) isbn 978-1-5039-3942-4.

Reviewed on: 08/01/2016

Genre: Fiction

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The 7th Canon Kindle Edition

A riveting legal thriller from Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave .

In San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite damning evidence that he’s a killer—and worse—Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence. And attorney Peter Donley stands with him.

For three years Donley has cut his legal teeth in his uncle’s tiny, no-frills firm, where people come before profits. Just as Donley is poised to move on to a lucrative dream job, the shocking case lands in his lap, and he must put his future on hold while putting his courtroom skills to the test. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas. Now, as he unearths the dirty secrets surrounding the case, Donley must risk his neck to save his client’s life…and expose the face of true evil.

• Print length 335 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Thomas & Mercer
• Publication date Sept. 27 2016
• File size 2583 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product description

About the author.

Robert Dugoni is the author of the bestselling Tracy Crosswhite series ( My Sister’s Grave , Her Final Breath , and In the Clearing ) as well as the critically acclaimed David Sloane series ( The Jury Master , Wrongful Death , Bodily Harm , Murder One , and The Conviction ). He’s been ranked number one on Amazon’s list of most popular authors in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, and he has been a New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Amazon bestseller multiple times. Dugoni was nominated twice for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction and for the International Thriller Award. My Sister’s Grave won the 2015 Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and was named one of the best thrillers of 2014 by Library Journal and Suspense Magazine . Dugoni’s nonfiction exposé, The Cyanide Canary , was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and the Providence Journal referred to him as “the undisputed king of the legal thriller” and “heir to Grisham’s literary throne.” Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com and follow him on Twitter at @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01DNJMOBM
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (Sept. 27 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2583 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
• #505 in Legal Thrillers (Books)
• #2,257 in Mystery (Kindle Store)
• #3,023 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Action & Adventure

About the author

Robert dugoni.

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 10 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, the Keera Duggan legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Suspense Magazine’s Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; historical novels based on true events: A Killing on the Hill about Seattle during the great depression and Hold Strong, a WWII novel; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and multiple awards for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than thirty countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website and follow him on Amazon, Goodreads, twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok and other social media sites.

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The 7th Canon Kindle Edition

A riveting legal thriller from Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave .

In San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite damning evidence that he’s a killer—and worse—Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence. And attorney Peter Donley stands with him.

For three years Donley has cut his legal teeth in his uncle’s tiny, no-frills firm, where people come before profits. Just as Donley is poised to move on to a lucrative dream job, the shocking case lands in his lap, and he must put his future on hold while putting his courtroom skills to the test. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas. Now, as he unearths the dirty secrets surrounding the case, Donley must risk his neck to save his client’s life…and expose the face of true evil.

• Print length 335 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Thomas & Mercer
• Publication date 27 September 2016
• File size 2583 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Customers who read this book also read

Product description

About the author.

Robert Dugoni is the author of the bestselling Tracy Crosswhite series ( My Sister’s Grave , Her Final Breath , and In the Clearing ) as well as the critically acclaimed David Sloane series ( The Jury Master , Wrongful Death , Bodily Harm , Murder One , and The Conviction ). He’s been ranked number one on Amazon’s list of most popular authors in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, and he has been a New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Amazon bestseller multiple times. Dugoni was nominated twice for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction and for the International Thriller Award. My Sister’s Grave won the 2015 Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and was named one of the best thrillers of 2014 by Library Journal and Suspense Magazine . Dugoni’s nonfiction exposé, The Cyanide Canary , was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and the Providence Journal referred to him as “the undisputed king of the legal thriller” and “heir to Grisham’s literary throne.” Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com and follow him on Twitter at @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01DNJMOBM
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (27 September 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2583 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
• 43 in Legal Thrillers (Kindle Store)
• 63 in Legal Thrillers (Books)
• 550 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction (Books)

About the author

Robert dugoni.

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 10 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, the Keera Duggan legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Suspense Magazine’s Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; historical novels based on true events: A Killing on the Hill about Seattle during the great depression and Hold Strong, a WWII novel; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and multiple awards for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than thirty countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website and follow him on Amazon, Goodreads, twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok and other social media sites.

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The 7th Canon Kindle Edition

A riveting legal thriller from Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave .

In San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite damning evidence that he’s a killer—and worse—Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence. And attorney Peter Donley stands with him.

For three years Donley has cut his legal teeth in his uncle’s tiny, no-frills firm, where people come before profits. Just as Donley is poised to move on to a lucrative dream job, the shocking case lands in his lap, and he must put his future on hold while putting his courtroom skills to the test. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas. Now, as he unearths the dirty secrets surrounding the case, Donley must risk his neck to save his client’s life…and expose the face of true evil.

• Print length 335 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Thomas & Mercer
• Publication date 27 Sept. 2016
• File size 2583 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Customers who read this book also read

Product description

Praise for The 7th Canon

“ The 7th Canon delivers on everything it promises, a courtroom thriller extraordinaire that successfully harvests every staple of the genre while plowing plenty of new ground in the process. A stunning achievement from a writer destined to become a household name.” — Providence Journal

“Dugoni has given the reader another gem of a story, full of action-packed scenes, intelligent plotlines, and very real characters.” — Suspense Magazine

“Robert Dugoni delivers plenty of mystery and courtroom antics in his latest high-stakes legal thriller. The courtroom scenes are top-notch, but even better are the pages dedicated to the investigation.” — Book Spy

“Readers of the Tracy Crosswhite series will appreciate Dugoni’s trademark talent for weaving together multiple storylines, while newcomers will delight in his male protagonist, a man who, like Tracy, has his own secrets with painful ties to the case at hand.” —Bookreporter

“In The 7th Canon , 1980’s San Francisco comes to life as Dugoni crafts a page-turning thriller with flawed heroes and a deep knowledge of his subject.” —Authorlink

Praise for Robert Dugoni

“John Grisham move over.” — Seattle Times

“Dugoni has put the thrills back in the genre.” —Nelson DeMille

“Dugoni [is] the undisputed king of the legal thriller.” — Providence Journal

“Scott Turow fans should add Dugoni to their list of must-reads.” — Library Journal

About the Author

Robert Dugoni is the author of the bestselling Tracy Crosswhite series ( My Sister’s Grave , Her Final Breath , and In the Clearing ) as well as the critically acclaimed David Sloane series ( The Jury Master , Wrongful Death , Bodily Harm , Murder One , and The Conviction ). He’s been ranked number one on Amazon’s list of most popular authors in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, and he has been a New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and Amazon bestseller multiple times. Dugoni was nominated twice for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction and for the International Thriller Award. My Sister’s Grave won the 2015 Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and was named one of the best thrillers of 2014 by Library Journal and Suspense Magazine . Dugoni’s nonfiction exposé, The Cyanide Canary , was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and the Providence Journal referred to him as “the undisputed king of the legal thriller” and “heir to Grisham’s literary throne.” Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com and follow him on Twitter at @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01DNJMOBM
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (27 Sept. 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 2583 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
• 18 in Legal Thrillers (Kindle Store)
• 51 in Legal Thrillers (Books)
• 181 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery Adventures

About the author

Robert dugoni.

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 10 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, the Keera Duggan legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Suspense Magazine’s Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; historical novels based on true events: A Killing on the Hill about Seattle during the great depression and Hold Strong, a WWII novel; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and multiple awards for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than thirty countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website and follow him on Amazon, Goodreads, twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok and other social media sites.

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BKMT READING GUIDES

The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni

A riveting new legal thriller from the bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave .

In San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite damning ...

Introduction

In San Francisco’s seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite damning evidence that he’s a killer—and worse—Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence. And attorney Peter Donley stands with him.

For three years Donley has cut his legal teeth in his uncle’s tiny, no-frills firm, where people come before profits. Just as Donley is poised to move on to a lucrative dream job, the shocking case lands in his lap, and he must put his future on hold while putting his courtroom skills to the test. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas. Now, as he unearths the dirty secrets surrounding the case, Donley must risk his neck to save his client’s life…and expose the face of true evil.

Editorial Review

Discussion questions, notes from the author to the bookclub, book club recommendations.

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 2 members.

Member Reviews

Robert Dugoni is an author that I have read before but this story took too many turns that weren't that interesting.

THE 7TH CANON is a pleasant change. It is not part of a series; it is a standalone novel that Robert Dugoni has had around for a long time; he wrote the first draft 20 years ago. That made s... (read more)

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Book Review: Twin brothers, one religious, one not, go on a wild and wacky road trip through South

This cover image released by Central Avenue shows “Goyhood” by Reuven Fenton. (Central Avenue via AP)

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In the beginning was… a lie. One day a rabbi knocked on the door of a woman with a Jewish-sounding last name in a small town in Georgia to recruit new members for his synagogue. When he asks if she knows of any Jews in the area, Ida Mae Belkin admits to being one herself. This comes as a shock to her 12-year-old twins Marty and David, who grew up believing in not much more than the national pastime of TV and fast food.

Fast forward some 20 years and Marty, who has become a religious scholar at a Brooklyn yeshiva and goes by the more Jewish-sounding name of Mayer, finds out via Ida Mae’s suicide note that she lied and he and David are not in fact Jewish. That means his marriage to devoutly Orthodox Sarah is effectively null and void since she never would have consented to marry someone outside the faith.

What to do? Clearly, the only solution is to convert to Judaism “on the down-low,” as Mayer’s pot-smoking rascal of a brother puts it, and in the meantime, take a road trip through the Deep South to, well, relax. So begins Reuven Fenton’s quirky debut novel, “Goyhood,” which takes the classic literary theme of the journey — think Homer’s “Odyssey” or Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” — and gives it a decidedly unorthodox twist.

Over the course of their journey, the brothers will adopt a one-eyed dog, almost get blown up in a fireworks store and eventually scatter Ida Mae’s ashes in the Great Smoky Mountains. David’s good friend Charlayne, an Instagram influencer with issues of her own, wonders if their trip isn’t a kind of rumspringa, the Amish rite of passage when young people are encouraged to break the rules before joining the church.

At the beginning of their travels Mayer defines his newly discovered “goyhood” – that is, the condition of not being Jewish – as “the state of rebounding from one travesty to the next.” By the end, he has gained a glimmer of understanding about why the wife he adored was always so standoffish about sex.

Fenton, a longtime reporter for the New York Post whose previous book “Stolen Years” was a nonfiction study of 10 men and women wrongfully imprisoned, has written a big-hearted novel about the enduring importance of faith and family. While some of the plot twists are a little meshuga — the Yiddish word for crazy — overall, the book is a lot of fun.

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews