I was REALLY looking forward to reading The Last Case by David Guterson, mostly because I loved Snow Falling on Cedars. Thanks to Knopf Dougleday and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for this honest review…and I REALLY wanted to love it.

The story sounded like it was perfect for a well-written book by a truly talented author: An attorney in his eighties, who continues to go to the office despite rarely having any actual work to do, agrees to take on the case of Betsy Harvey, a Christian fundamentalist adoptive parent of a girl from Ethiopia who was found dead a few feet from the back door of their home on a rainy cold night. The child shows physical signs of abuse, and is clearly malnourished. The parents swear they treated her exactly as they did their birth children, although the porta-potty in the back yard and some other clues seem to suggest otherwise. 

Narrated by the  attorney’s adult son, a burned-out writer who begins the book by saying “Awhile back, I stopped writing fiction,” the story seems to be a courtroom drama with associated commentary on racism, adoption, fundamentalism, aging, and justice. And those are all there, along with some truly horrible characters, particularly the defendant, who rants about all the ways White Christians are oppressed in contemporary America, without providing any specific detail. It seems clear the parents neglected the poor girl until she died, supported by testimony from the other children in the family. There is so much digression about the author’s thoughts on writing, aging, and justice that it felt like the dead girl had been forgotten, but the story circles back enough to provide resolution to the specific case (although not in a straight line from the trial’s beginning to end).

Maybe it’s just me, and my expectations for a story with a beginning, middle, and end. And maybe the book reflects actual life more than a TV movie or courtroom drama, because life events often lack a clear or obvious beginning, middle, and end. I’m curious to hear or read from the author as to whether this is deliberate — or maybe a strong editor was needed?

In any case, Guterson really is a terrific writer, but this one didn’t really do it for me…although because I keep thinking about the characters and the story, the author clearly accomplished a challenge: keeping my mind off the pandemic,election, etc. If I could round up my 3.5 stars to 4 I would, but it really wasn’t one of my top reads of 2021, so I’m going with three.