Trial

Patterson (Eden in Winter) returns with an earnest if overwrought legal drama. Malcolm Hill—a young Black man whose mother, Allie, a Georgia voting rights advocate who will remind readers of Stacey Abrams and whose work has attracted death threats on the family—is driving after midnight, slightly drunk. A racist deputy, George Bullock, pulls him over on an isolated road. After Bullock spots a loaded gun on the front seat, he grabs it. A struggle ensues and Bullock is fatally shot. Malcolm is charged with Bullock’s murder, and his prosecution becomes a national sensation and something of a political football involving incriminating text messages, revelations about Malcolm’s parentage, and adversaries including a right-wing congresswoman. Though Patterson offers a clear-eyed view of the area where the Hills live, describing it as tainted by “decades of bad history... once a cradle of slavery, so dangerous for Blacks,” the mostly unsurprising plot drags on longer than necessary, and the clunky writing doesn’t help. This one’s for Patterson diehards only. (June)