Worse than a Lie

When Chicago Metra rail system police officer Hollis Montrose is pulled over by the city’s regular police the night of Barack Obama’s first presidential win, he follows every order. He tells the officers repeatedly that he’s a police officer himself and begs them repeatedly to look at his ID, but it does no good. Hollis, a Black man, is shot 10 times in the back by the white officers. Enter Beau Lee Cooper, a Black lawyer who has made a name for himself as a tough, smart winner. He can see that Hollis, who’s now hospitalized and accused of being the aggressor in the roadside encounter, desperately needs help, the first challenge being the enormous bail that’s engineered to send the badly injured man to jail. From the beginning, and later in court, it looks like Chicago PD and the legal system are targeting Hollis, and it takes everything Beau has to push back. The supporting characters—especially Hollis’s and Beau’s wives, Gigi and Rocky—create a loving backdrop for this tense legal thriller, and readers will be as invested in the lives of Hollis and Beau as they are in the outcome of Hollis’s trial. Gripping court proceedings lead up to a brilliant and satisfying ending. Get this on your reading list!