Although she has the talent and dreams to pursue a music career, Liza instead pursues a law degree. The main goal in her sights is to clear the name of her father: a man on death row, imprisoned for a heinous crime he didn't commit. Perhaps Eli, an enigmatic jazz club owner, can somehow assist Liza in her mission—but time is running out for her father in They Can't Take Your Name by author Robert Justice.

The power that resonates from the book title, along with the fact that criminal justice issues have been on my radar for years, stopped me in my tracks when I came across this book. And...wow. It'd been a minute since I'd lost sleep on account of being glued to a crime novel. I wasn't sure how I felt during the first few chapters, but I became riveted the deeper I got into the story.

Admittedly, I didn't fully buy into one of the story's major turns, as I just couldn't see one character's actions in that pivotal scene making much sense. But at least the plot point there isn't at all wasted.

Now, there are occasional moments of repetition where the story or characters ask the same questions or make a few of the same points over again in different chapters. And at times, the characters keep saying each other's names or pet names more than necessary while they're talking to each other.

Also, the narrator seems to get stirred up or personally involved now and then, jumping around into different characters' heads or slipping into using personal language with the reader. A "noticeable" narrator can feel like an actor breaking the fourth wall to point out which parts of a play or movie should impact or impress the audience. When it comes to fiction, unless it's clear from the beginning that a narrator means to interact with the reading audience or to be a personal part of the story, I think the narrator should remain inconspicuous.

On a more technical note (which makes me more concerned with the publisher than the author), the amount of incorrect or missing punctuation in the book isn't excessive but still enough to be distracting. And due to awkward paragraph breaks in the dialogue and the lack of some needed dialogue tags, I'd sometimes have to go back and reread the lines to figure out which character was saying what.

Even so, none of that made me any less aware of the story's haunting rhythm and imagery, or the understated moments that say just enough to hit home. The aspects of poetry and jazz are beautifully haunting as well, setting the atmosphere, made to leave an imprint on one's memory. On one's soul.

(Moreover, though it isn't something I expect or demand from novels on the secular market, the absence of profanity and sex scenes in this book was a plus for this quasi-conservative reader.)

I'm patient but already ready for this author's next novel. ( )

Robert Justice's debut novel They Can't Take Your Name is a perceptive, moving—and angering—read and promises much more to come. It's a buy-it-now, read-it-now title.

The novel focuses on Eli and Liza, both going through a process of grieving and fighting back. Eli still mourns the death of his wife, Antoinette, and struggles to fulfill their shared dream of bringing the Roz, a Black night club in the Five Points district of Denver, back to life. Liza dreamed of being a singer, but when her father was convicted and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, she put those dreams aside to become a lawyer and to fight to clear her father's name.

Eli is retreating from the world. Liza engages with it, retaining a relationship with her father's friends, who join her in the fight on her father's behalf—and to help Eli with his dream of reopening The Roz. This is novel about two individuals and also a novel about communities and the impact of their presence or absence.

As Eli and Liza slowly build a friendship, Colorado politics are making Liza's crusade all the more pressing. The Governor has decided to speed up executions in the state, and her father is high up on that list.

They Can't Take You Name is a novel of fighting back, of sometimes winning, sometimes losing. Not all ends well, but enough ends well to make me eager to see what Justice will do next with this cast of characters. I strongly recommend this book for readers who want a good story that wrestles with our times and allows us to follow the lives of two very human individuals.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. ( )