Steven Gore

Judge McMillan contacts Harlan Donnelly, a retired detective, to look into the case which appears to be a shooting between rival gangs involving drugs. The judge wants to make sure that no mistakes were made and that the convicted man had a fair trial. As Donnelly digs into the case, it appears that witnesses had lied, there may not have been a gang war but fighting within one gang. Was evidence withheld? Will he solve the case before the State Supreme court decides on the appeal?

Gore takes us through the points of law involved in the trail. Implied malice seems uncomplicated, but not as clearcut when the case is picked apart.

I really enjoyed this book, especially review of the fine legal points. Gore holds your attention through the whole book. I plan to read his other books.… (más)

It’s time to come clean. For Judge Ray McMullin, that means confiding in his friend Harlan Donnally about a judgment he made from the bench twenty years ago. The convicted man, Israel Dominguez, is still on death row with time running out. He’s reached out in a letter to McMullin. Donnally is a former San Francisco homicide detective. The Judge wants him to review the investigation. On the night of the Edgar Rojo Sr’s murder, Rojo had received a phone call, walked to his apartment window on the second floor, and was fatally shot from ground level. But from where Dominguez was standing, was the shot even possible at that extreme angle? They were members of rival gangs — Rojo for the Norteños and Dominguez for the Sureños.

Another reason the Judge wants to revisit this case is his own health. He’s showing signs of alzheimers and just needs confirmation – was the conviction valid; was the sentencing fair? Donnally is facing alzheimers in his own family as well. His father, Donald Harlan, a well-known film director, is desperately trying to complete one more film. But, he’s very hush-hush about the film. Will it turn out to be a jumbled mess, or a masterpiece?

I liked the character of Harlan Donnally and his longtime girlfriend, Janie Nguyen, who is a Psychiatrist. They are both portrayed as very mature and responsible. The gang members and gang rivalry was described very realistically. Donnally had himself been caught in gang cross-fire just months before the Rojo shooting. But, pacing of the story falls off with the amount of detail provided in his research as well as the by-stories of the Judge’s and Donald Harlan’s alzheimers. I rated Night is the Hunter at 3.5 out of 5.… (más)