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ISBN-10: 0-345-37536-X
ISBN-13: 9780345375360
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Country:
Year: May 1, 1996
Edition: Other Printing
Size: 10.67 x 17.02 x 2.79cm
Number of pages: 416
Weight: 181gr
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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It begins with a shocking, unsolved murder. In small town in southern Illinois, the butchered body of Linda Balfour--with a cryptic code printed in blood on the back of her head--forges a gruesome link to the brutal murder of Bishop Rushman, the beloved Chicago clergyman who had been dismembered years before by the angelic-looking altar boy, Aaron Stampler. The same Aaron Stampler whom defense attorney Martin Vail saved from the electric chair … Now Vail is Chicago's chief prosecutor, facing the nightmare of his life. If Stampler has been locked away in a high-security institution for the past ten years, how could he have killed Linda Balfour? Then another altar boy turns up dead with a similar inscription in blood on the back of his head. If Aaron Stampler isn't committing these killings, who is? Martin Vail's career--maybe even his life--hangs on the answer …
reviews
I encountered this book by simple and plain old luck. In my college reading class my Teacher Mrs. Hamilton was having a book sale of pre used books that where from her own collection. These book's where truly a good bargain so I didn't let the opportunity pass. So I looked over and glanced at some of the books on the rack for sale, at first it didn't seem there was anything of interest for me to purchase. To my surprise however I ran across book that seemed intriguing so I picked it up and read the back. To be truthfully honest at first I didn't realize what it was until I completed reading the back of the book. After realizing what it was I didn't hesitate for a second to purchase it. While reading Show of Evil I received a lot of joy and ended my curiosity of what happened after Primal Fear. The book was Excellent and well written and kept me suspense from beginning to end. Thus I recommend this novel for all to read
»Show of Evil« is the sequel to the novel »Primal Fear«. In that first book, the morally ambiguous defense attorney Mart Vail saves from an almost certain conviction a young man who murders Chicago's archbishop. In the face of an almost certain conviction, Vail managed to squeeze out an insanity plea based on the youthful defendant's split personality – normally he's the sweet and unassuming Aaron Stampler. When aroused or angered, he becomes the cruel and sadistic Roy, neither one able to recall what happens when the other takes over. At the end of »Primal« Vail is convinced that Aaron/Roy's disorder is invented – but by then, he's won and Aaron/Roy is institutionalized and immunized from prosecution. »Show picks up 10 years later. Vail is now Chicago's No. 2 prosecutor, the head of a gang of rapacious homicide ADA's who show no mercy. While his office juggles two high-profile homicides, Vail is forced to confront the impending release of Aaron. Hardly convinced as his doctors are that Aaron/Roy is cured (and has shed both previous egos for a new honest one named «Ray»), and learning of a string of copycat murders in which Aaron's former friends have become victims, Vail is determined to crack Aaron/Roy/Ray.
This was a pretty shallow story – with Aaron barely making a dent in a plot that spends much of its time concerned with the two other murders being prosecuted by Vail's office. The events of «Primal» mostly arise as a consequence of «Show»'s focusing on Vail's renewed romance with Jane Venable, the prosecutor in «Primal» and – to complete the reversal of roles here – the defense counsel in one of Vail's homicide cases. (When the hints prove insufficient, Diehl just drops Aaron's name in spots of narrative that have nothing to do with the case). Finding improbably close links between Aaron's handiwork and that of a serial killer who claims two of Aaron's former friends, Vail struggles to tie the murders to a man who's been institutionalized for a decade. Diehl, like Aaron, doesn't know when to leave well-enough alone and, once Aaron returns to the novel, he quickly and unceremoniously spills the beans. Suffice it to say that those looking for a real twist will go hungry (I thought Aaron, Venable and Vail would team up and implicate a high-level Chicago fixture much as they cooked the archbishop in «Primal», or otherwise link the copycat crimes to the other seemingly unrelated ones ala «Hollywood Confidential»). The mystery of Aaron's power to manipulate from beyond the walls of an insane asylum isn't even a mystery (although it might have been to some in 1993, only a couple of years before Netscape's legendary IPO). Instead, «Show» is incredibly fake – everything from the ambitious and merciless ADA's who run Vail's office (as if the Cook County DA's Office existed to prosecute only a few homicides) to the pseudo-hardboiled dialog of his cops («look, we ain't lookin' to cause the lady no grief.») Even the setting seems unreal – Diehl's Chicago lacks the verisimilitude of the fictional Kindle County of the Turow novels. That «Show» is supposed to be a mystery is undermined by how little detail Diehl gives us to work with. (After the climax, Vail's team turns up details that explains everything – ala «Scooby Doo». What really kills me is that this is supposed to be a legal thriller and, despite pumping us up to the legal talent available, very little of «Show» takes place in a courtroom, and Diehl's ADA's talk about «maxing out» the people they prosecute without doing much to prove they could prosecute a shoplift. (The cops, on the other hand, are dismissed as inept apes, who parade the prisoners they collar like war-trophies, without much regard for their possible innocence.) Had he taken the defendant in one of «Show"'s subplots to trial, Diehl could have substantiated his opinions about his prosecutors and his cops in one swoop, but that's obviously more effort than its worth.
Fast forward ten years from Diehl's excellent novel, Primal Fear. Main character Martin Vail previously a premier, unrelenting, sharkish Chicago defense attorney has undergone a metamorphosis. Disillusioned soon after his most famous and demanding litigation, the Aaron Stampler murder trial, Vail chucked it all. He signed on as chief prosecutor and assistant D.A, of Chicago. Vail recruited a carnivorous band of legal eagles he affectionately calls the Wild Bunch to handle the plethora of crimes passing through the D.A.'s office. They are presently up to their necks with investigations when a series of brutal crimes become uncovered that have similarities to the Stampler case.
Aaron Stampler, a country bumpkin from rural Kentucky with a genius IQ was serving as an altar boy to Chicago archbishop Rushman. The exalted cleric was actually a closet pedophile and Stampler brutally slashed him to death as well as two other altar boys. Vail defended him and using a strategy based on Stampler having a multiple personality disorder succeeded in saving his life. Stampler was remanded to a mental facility for the criminally insane where he has been incarcerated for 10 years. When several murders crop up with the same M.O. as the Rushman murder the fur really starts to fly in the D.A.'s office.
It seems as if Stampler is somehow involved in this latest rash of killings but how can he be if he is interred? Vail with the help of his Wild Bunch and Jane Venable, former asst. D.A. and prosecutor of the Stampler case and now corporate lawyer commence investigating these horrific crimes.
Diehl does a masterful job in expertly picking up his Primal Fear story 10 years down the road. Show of Evil is a fast moving, hard hitting and worthy sequel.
This was the first time I read Diehl,s work. I thought it was suspenseful and it kept my interest. The author left a lot of room for a sequel. It is worth the time.
A one-two punch with Primal Fear. Make sure you read the super Primal Fear first then enjoy the continued story … it just keeps getting better. Left the door open for a continuance with another unexpected ending. I hope there is more!!!!
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